The Tale of the Cat and Squirrel

[BowSlayer]

Hi all,

Today has been a great day thanks to Del (Del the cat), for some newer members my former handle was "SquirrelSlayer" hence Cat and squirrel.

Once upon a time (earlier today) I got the train to Harlow and he picked me up from the station and we went to his place. When i arrived I got A tour and got to shoot 1 or 2 bows then we got on with some of the detail work like rasping, filing, and buffing some cow horn and also some scraping and sanding on a bow.

We then moved onto a scrap of Yew witch i had a play with on with a draw knife, this was my first time with a draw knife and it was fairly easy once I got the hang of it, with a little help from Del we then looked at a Hazel stave that had a 90 degree twist in it. You can see this in the picture with dowels on each end. To combat this we turned the stave and ran a string from each end and marked out the rough shape of a bow with some chalk Del then ran it through the bandsaw and then i had a play with it on the shave horse and draw knife.

Next we looked at finding a yew stave. The first one we had had a bend in the middle but after trimming it we decided it had about 8 inches to bend and also a few problematic knots that would eventually fail. So we then found a stave with about 3-4 knots but once we actually cut it down to a bow blank we only had one knot which we then excavated and plugged with an off cut from the stave and some epoxy.

We then took a break and had some tea, coffee and egg on toast, Cheers Del  . After this I had a go with some more of his bows and crossbows, which included the primitive and Chinese repeater. This was great fun and IMO I was a pretty good at hitting the bit of paper on the target  . We then took a walk through his local woods and he took his tree adjuster with him just in case. He pointed out many species like hazel, oak, hornbeam and a few others.

When we arrived back i tried some of his home made cider which has now got me inspired to make a litre or two  we then packed up and he dropped me to the station with my yew and hazel staves. I must have looked like a right weirdo carrying wood on the underground through central London  but hey. All in all a great day thanks to a very generous cat 

The End

Thanks for looking and here are some pics including a selfie at the end 











slight deflex but less twist




First yew stave


much cleaner and straigter second stave


bark still on


small hole but has been plugged


Again slight deflex but not a problem


and a selfie at the end with my two staves

[Josh B]

In a word...awesome!  Good on ya Del!  I'm looking forward to seeing how those staves turn out young slayer!  Josh

[blackhawk]

It takes one brave cat to take on that squirell.....bravo del...bravo   

Hope ya learned some important lessons there jez...and not just bowyering

[Badger]

  Your lucky, you have a good mentor!

[bubby]

Way to go del, and you too slayer, you don't know how good you got it right there, be sure to take full advantage of the sage advice del offers up, even if it's not about bows

[BowSlayer]

Gun Doc: Thanks will keep ya posted, im really looking forward to turning this hazel into something, I had my doubts but not now

blackhawk: Yep sure learnt alot and had some great conversations about other stuff.

Badger: Yep can't wait till next time hopefully ill get him some white oak which is what im using at the moment

Bubby: It was great having someone else who knows what there looking at and talking about instead of me just lecturing/boring my freinds. 

[Del the cat]

We covered a fair bit of ground and the squirrel hit the scrap of paper on my target boss with a couple of primitives (Hornbeam and Hazel) and the primitive crossbow and repeater.
The Yew stave wasn't the best in the world, it was that weird sapwood/heartwood stuff (compression wood?) but it has a fairly clean back and no need to worry about reducing the sapwood, so it should make a workable bow.( and any Yew is better than no Yew!)
I threw in a couple of pieces of Waterbuffalo horn and a 1/4 reel of Dacron too (I had to get rid of that Dacron somehow now that I use Astroflite) 
It was one of the hottest days we've had for a week or two so we could work outside, which gave us a bit more elbow room.
By the time I dropped him off at the station I was ready for a cat nap .
It was the least I could do to pass it on after the generosity I received the other week at the Classic.
Del
(I expect you all recognise my 'special' bowmaking shirt I get ribbed about it over here, but I'll get rid of it when it falls off me )

[JW_Halverson]

I am always noticing odd bits that are not the subject of the actual photos.  Things like unusual tools on the workbench, odd staves tucked in the corner, dismembered limbs tucked into the rafters, that kinda stuff.  The one thing I notice in these photos is something I really need to add to my bowmaking regimen. 

The shirt.  I gotta get a shirt like Del's!      I think it is the secret, or the mojo, to his skills!

[Del the cat]

I am always noticing odd bits that are not the subject of the actual photos.  Things like unusual tools on the workbench, odd staves tucked in the corner, dismembered limbs tucked into the rafters, that kinda stuff.  The one thing I notice in these photos is something I really need to add to my bowmaking regimen. 

The shirt.  I gotta get a shirt like Del's!      I think it is the secret, or the mojo, to his skills!

If only I could find a stash of 'em. I could sell 'em along with my 'anti chrysal ointment' and 'hitsall fletchings' 
Del

[rps3]

Way to pass it on Del, and good luck bowslayer. I noticed the shirt right away, and It was good to meet and talk with you at the classic.

[JW_Halverson]

I am always noticing odd bits that are not the subject of the actual photos.  Things like unusual tools on the workbench, odd staves tucked in the corner, dismembered limbs tucked into the rafters, that kinda stuff.  The one thing I notice in these photos is something I really need to add to my bowmaking regimen. 

The shirt.  I gotta get a shirt like Del's!      I think it is the secret, or the mojo, to his skills!

If only I could find a stash of 'em. I could sell 'em along with my 'anti chrysal ointment' and 'hitsall fletchings' 
Del

About that anti-chrysal ointment...do you rub it on before tillering or does it remove chrysals after the fact?

[BowSlayer]

Haha LOL. i acctually liked the shirt if i can find a stright 2 x 4 by monday ill work on heat strightening that hazel and go from there, it really suprised me how well we got a stave outa that thing. On both the Yew and Hazel i plan on using the wood under the bark as the back. but ill see how the hazel works before i start the yew. may also look around for a draw knife. but i got a rasp, axe and spokeshaves so im good-ish for now.

[JW_Halverson]

LOL, the one tool you got plenty of you don't use and the one tool you ain't got you need a lot more of!!!

It's only  time and patience.  So take your time, something at your age you have plenty of.  And to do that, you need to be patient, something I've seen you run short on more than once.  Knowing Del, both staves are likely to have a bow inside them.  He's not the type to give you hopeless wood.

Looking forward to seeing what comes of these two staves and I am willing to wait a good long time to see them turn out. Good luck.

[BowSlayer]

LOL, the one tool you got plenty of you don't use and the one tool you ain't got you need a lot more of!!!

It's only  time and patience.  So take your time, something at your age you have plenty of.  And to do that, you need to be patient, something I've seen you run short on more than once. 

Yeah i know that's something i need to work on. I'll be taking my time with these staves as there the best staves ive got. I plan on hiring a friend of mine to help me harvest some yew, not a stick but a log which im going to try splitting into proper staves.

[Crogacht]

Awesome guys!