First Attempt at Building a Bow

[Chippintuff]

Nathaniel, I have the bark off 4 staves and Titebond II applied to the sap surfaces. The grain inside runs oddly. The fact there was a dead spot in the tree is probably what made the grain funky inside the log. That's OK though. There are at least 4 more staves in the other 2 quarters. I would go ahead and begin trying to uncover one ring for a back, but the sap wood is just too stringy to bother with. I am a little bit optimistic that I can do it with these rings. If not, it's still fun taking the challenge. What I will do in use the draw knife till I get really close to the dark wood, then switch to scrapers.

I have an old diamond blade for cutting rock. What is the best way to cut it up to use for scrapers? I am thinking that I can use a side grinder, but it might get the metal hot enough to destroy any temper that is in it.

WA

[Chippintuff]

While these staves dry, I keep doing what I can to approach the actual bow making stage. All the staves have been debarked. A few have been shaped to very rough bow dimensions.

Here is one that I am puzzling with. One side of it was close to a dead part of the tree, and it has some worm holes. Do you think there is any way to get a 40-50# bow out of it? The longest worm holes (the ones that are completely hollow) may be posing too much of a problem. One of them is in the handle area, and I think it will be OK. The other is at mid limb. On both of them there is about 3/8" heart wood between the holes and the sap wood. One of my questions is would it be best to try to use some of the sap wood in order to get more thickness?

At present the limbs are laid out for 2" width. I can minimize the damaged areas by narrowing from the damaged side, but I don't know how extensive these holes are. I can stick the end of a paper clip about 1" deep into the open holes. That goes half way across the limb.

Is it better to plan on using this stave when I am ready to back one? I do not want to trash this thing till I know for sure it won't work.

The smaller worm holes that are filled with worm packing are mysteries at this point.

I have plenty other staves to keep working on.