Boards vs staves ???

[WillS]

Besides, stave bows take too long, and quite frankly I'm too lazy for that

I dunno.  Might have some disagreement there.  The only difference I can see is marking out a profile but with some practice it's just as easy on a stave.

[Wooden Spring]

The only difference between boards and staves are purely aesthetics.

Considering you build strictly board bows. Are you sure of that?

I'm not unfamiliar with staves... That's why I don't like them! 

[PEARL DRUMS]

10-4

[Pappy]

[I'm not unfamiliar with staves... That's why I don't like them! 
[/quote]
Same here about boards. Both make great bows,just a little more to a
log/limb stave than a board. O man did I say that, opened a can of worms right there. hope everyone is in a good mood this morning,break out the popcorn. 
  Pappy

[blackhawk]

Boardhawk here says....boards rule and staves drool!!!!   

[Wooden Spring]

OK, before we get World War Bow started in here, I suppose I should have given my disclaimer first - My views are mine alone, and are merely the opinion of one man. They are neither "right" nor "wrong," just my opinion based on my experience.

Having said that... I love boards.   

[PEARL DRUMS]

That's a good answer WS. My opinion is the opposite. But Ive only built bows for 4 1/2-5 total years, not very long.

[Dean Marlow]

I still can't understand how you know how the grain runs by looking at a board. I fully understand that if the growth rings run straight up the board on the top and sides but how does that tell me if the grain has some wiggle in it.

[Pappy]

Well said WS, only built a couple of board bow,didn't like the process so stayed with staves, I am very much not an engineer or architect so I like crooked lines and things that never work out just like I planed. 
  Pappy

[Pat B]

I started building bows with tree staves(boards hadn't been invented when I started  ) but I went to boards, backing most of them with hickory, then I came back to the real world    and stave bows are where my love is. The hickory backed lemonwood was the first board bow I've build in quite a few years.
 For me, taking a bow from raw tree stave to finished product is where its at...although removing bark and sapwood from 10 year old staves seem to be a lot harder than it used to be.   
 
 Dean, if the grain lines run full length on both the top and sides of the board, with few or no runoffs it should be good for a bow. It takes a good looking over to be sure.

[Wooden Spring]

I still can't understand how you know how the grain runs by looking at a board. I fully understand that if the growth rings run straight up the board on the top and sides but how does that tell me if the grain has some wiggle in it.

In my experience, if you're looking at a quarter sawn board, and on the flat face, you see that the grain runs end to end, what happens on the inside matters little, especially if you're backing it with hickory, which I always do.

When in doubt, play with exotic woods, I love making hickory backed jatoba bows... It's a tough wood, and the grain is usually great because it has a yearlong growing season.

[George Tsoukalas]

Let me talk about board choice a little bit, Knosaj.

There are 3 board cuts. The best way to identify them is to look at the grain on the butt or end (smallest part of the board). All will make bows.

There's plane sawn. End grain looks like this =

There's 1/4 sawn. End grain looks like this ||

There's rift sawn. End grain looks like this  //

For plane and rift, look at the face or edge grain. It must be straight tip to tip with a couple of run outs allowed per limb for a 50# bow.

For 1/4 sawn you have to look at the edge grain and it must be straight tip to tip. No run outs. None.

My site has board info as well as log stave info.

If you want me to talk a little about log stave choice. I will. Let me know.

Jawge

[Slackbunny]

I've found staves to be more robust in general. They break less during the build and seem to outlast board bows in general.

I've worked with hard-maple, hophornbeam, pin cherry, white ash, and yellow birch in stave form. And I've worked with white oak, hard-maple, black cherry, hickory, and elm in board form. I've made half a dozen board bows, and nearly two dozen stave bows.   

I've exploded about the same number of board bows as I've completed, and retired a couple finished board bows due to ticks or cracks that they've developed over time. I've yet to explode a stave, but I have had a few take so much set as to be useless. To be fair though my stave bows are all newer and probably have not been shot as much as some of my board bows.

I don't think there is a difference in the performance of the final product, but I do think there is a difference between the durability and reliability of both the unfinished and finished product. This is in general of course. There will be some board bows that last longer than some stave bows to be sure. It seems there are always exceptions to every rule in this craft. But on the whole I think stave bows stand the test of time better.

I will admit that I havn't been doing this that long though. And I made my stave bows with more experience than I did my board bows. But overall I trust my stave bows more and I don't see myself returning to boards any time soon.

[wapiti1997]

I haven't made a board bow yet, but plan to.  From my perspective, a board is a board and capable of making a great bow.  A stave is personal, if you cut it, split it, worked it, made a bow from it, that bow is special.....

[Joec123able]

Besides, stave bows take too long, and quite frankly I'm too lazy for that

I dunno.  Might have some disagreement there.  The only difference I can see is marking out a profile but with some practice it's just as easy on a stave.

Im gonna disagree with you too I guess if you use bandsaws and belt sanders then yea there might not be a difference but I use strictly hand tools even to harvest my wood and staves are much more work