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Author Topic: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)  (Read 23608 times)

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Offline lenador

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My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« on: October 06, 2014, 02:59:14 pm »
After hunting through hardware stores I was able to find only one decent piece of red oak and it was 1.5" x 1.5". I figured it should make a decent D bow and I wouldn't llos much if I mess it up. The board has some nice straight growth rings with some thicker ones on what I plan to be the back. I plan to chase the ring on it even though that seems to not be a thing on board bows. I figure since I olan in building Osage stave bows after this it will be good practice and I would figure that having nonrun outs would be best?
 Starting points are 1.5" wide and about 5/8" thick.
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2014, 03:00:03 pm »
Shooting for 26" of draw
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Offline randman

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2014, 06:20:35 pm »
Nice and straight on that face of the board.....what do the side faces look like? If they look just like that, you're good to go....If the grain runs off at any kind of angle, there could be problems depending on how steep the angle.....
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Offline KellyG

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2014, 05:10:28 pm »
Someone correct me if I am wrong but if that is the widest part you can’t chase a ring on that one. The

                                            TOP of the board
grain looks like it should run ||||| or \\\\\ or ///// as seen from the end.
                                           Bottom of the board

Now if it ran top-> ((( <- Bottom then you could chase a ring. I would like to see the ends and sides. You will get run off where you start your limb taper to the tips ya can't stop it. But that is a great looking piece from that little piece you showed us. Can’t wait to see more.
 I am a novice at this so I hope other chime in.   O:) :o
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Offline bushboy

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2014, 06:40:06 pm »
You can't case a ring on quarter saw or rift cut lumber! Chasing rings is for osage and the such.
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Offline bubbles

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2014, 06:41:49 pm »
Yeah, no need to chase a ring.  Can't really chase a ring on that type of lumber unless it was also very deep.  Many an unbacked board bow has been made with an excellent, straight grained back for the back of the bow. 
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2014, 12:58:03 am »
I'm a novice but I figured not having rings run off the board would help the bow resist cracking. Let me try to show what I am doing to help everyone understand what I'm trying to do. Maybe there is a miscommunication on my part as a novice.

 Top IIII bottom. The picture I posted would have been then side profile. Left side being the back and right side being the belly.
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Offline J05H

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2014, 04:01:46 am »
From what I can gather, your board has a square cross-section of 1.5"x1.5" and the picture you showed us is of the right side of the board. Your question is whether or not you could or should chase a ring, correct? If so, then we really can't say for certain without seeing pics of the back and end grain at the very least.

 If the grain is perfectly straight on the back and the growth rings are perfectly parallel to the back, then you could chase a ring, but whether or not you should really comes down to a personal choice. My personal opinion is that it isn't worth the effort. You seem to have a beautiful straight grained face to use as a back. There will be plenty of time for learning to chase a ring later. But, like I said, it's up to you.

If you post some more pics, it will really help us to understand your situation and offer more detailed advice.
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2014, 08:31:33 am »
Yeah exactly. Its a 1.5" x 1.5" piece of red oak.  I'll have to get some pics. The grain is basically flat. It has a little pitch enough to where one ring is barely complete across the width. So about a 1/16th" difference from side to side.
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2014, 09:50:17 am »
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2014, 10:18:25 am »
I would not chase a ring on that but you could.
More on my site.
Jawge

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
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Offline bow101

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2014, 10:19:54 am »
Like Buubles says ........."no need to chase a ring. "   1.5" is not very wide for a board.  I make lam bows @ 1.5" but there again different animal.  70% of the time I end up with prop twist on narrow limbs.  Maybe its just me but I despise twist, a little twist is ok but I still hate it.  >:D

Kind of like soup with to much salt, its still edible but you cannot take the salt out.  >:D
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2014, 11:39:44 am »
I came up with this piece because I found a build along with these dimensions. If you all thing that I could just straight cut this then that's how I'll go. What is a good thickness fonyou think? I was trying to eliminate the what seems to be infamous cracking of the red oak board bow.
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Offline bubbles

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2014, 12:39:59 pm »
I assumed you were showing us what you intended to be the back when you had the pics of those grain lines.    You could chase a ring, if you want, and 1.5" wide is enough for a bend in the handle 'D' bow as you said in your original post.  Jawge has a lot of good stuff on his site about Red Oak "D" bows.  It helped me make my first unbacked boardie. 
Just make sure, if you do decide to chase a ring, you have enough meat (thickness)still left all along the entire length of the bow to get decent poundage. For a 66" long D bow, my bow at the thickest point (handle) is around 3/4" thick.   

I feel like red oak is more famous for chrysalling than cracking. 
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Offline lenador

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Re: My first bow build along. (red oak D bow)
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2014, 05:16:48 pm »
I'm going to browse through jawges site here tonight and see what I can learn.
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