I don't know what to do!!??

[trail walker]

I need help! I have busted my or had to discard all 5 bows I have tried to make and i can't figure out what I am doing wrong! I live in Utah, could i be letting my bow staves dry out to much? what does wood do when its to dry? I so far have had 2 juniper explosions,  one water birch bow had a small section on the top growth ring pop off and now i am thinking i should just scrap it. And a few others. I am at a loss. I think more than anything I have just been blowing off steam, but I am dying.

[willie]

live in Utah, could i be letting my bow staves dry out to much?

might be a good possibility

where do you keep your staves and bows you are working on?


any pics?

too dry usually is a dramatic explosion as you say, compared to too wet.

[Weylin]

I would find someone to sell or trade you a nice straight, clean seasoned hickory stave. They are not that expensive. Make yourself a simple flatbow. Hickory will handle the super dry climate that you have really well. It is so strong in tension that it thrives in dry weather where other woods fail. You will have a high probability of success with that plan and you can get some confidence and enthusiasm back and have a bow to shoot. Then you can take your time and figure out your local woods a little better. I'd talk to Chuck Loeffler about Utah bow woods. He lives there and makes amazing bows. Good luck.

[trail walker]

well that could be it then. I have had the staves in our sun room. I will post some pictures of the last juniper bow after it decided it wanted to become a fire cracker. It gave me a bloody lip.

[Limbit]

Mate, juniper isn't all that easy to turn into a selfbow. Especially if you are using a desert variety that has a lot of pin knots and twist. Usually, people will sinew juniper, but I wouldn't try that until you've got a firm grip on how to make a bow. If you get a chance to do that in the future though, please do because it makes a hell of a good bow. Birch is a fine wood, but not all birch is the same. Typically, yellow birch is what is used. Grain is king in most cases, so finding clean wood is essential, especially for a beginner.  Chuck Loeffler recently made a bow out of scrub oak which he located in your region if I remember right. Also, tamarisk wood might work. It is invasive in your region. Mesquite will make a bow, but it is pretty difficult to find a clean piece. Maybe you have mountain mahogany around if you look. Past that, try your local lumberyard and get some hickory. It is very forgiving.

[Bryce]

There are quite a few bowyers in your state. I’d suggest meeting up with them and get some        one-on-one time.

[TorstenT]

well that could be it then. I have had the staves in our sun room.

What do you mean with ´sun room‘? Sounds like it‘s even warmer than in other rooms in your house. The humidity of wood (I think it’s called equilibrium moisture) depends on the ambient temperature and relative humidity. So warm and dry will make your staves and bows too brittle eventually. 
There are tables available in the WWW to find out the equilibrium moisture of wood depending on room temperature and air humidity. You should get a hygrometer and look it up in one of those tables. Most bow woods need around 8 or 9 percent of relative humidity. Too moist and it will take too much set, too dry and it will break. Hickory (hence Weylin’s advice) is very tolerant to violations of the grain and can handle only 5 percent of equilibrium moisture. So trying that first is sound advice (as to be expected of Weylin and all the other awesome bowyers in this forum ).
Probably your basement would be a better place to store your wood.

Torsten

[Stick Bender]

 +1 Hickory even in strait grained board form the probability of successes is high , when things get dry here I olny shoot my hickorie bows , pay close attention to your tapers on any bow uneven tapers can kill a bow quick, if your stuck with local wood, if it was me I would go longer wider and less draw weight tell I found a design that works ! and most importatant dont ever give up dust off make another !

[bjrogg]

Trail Walker good to see you here again. I was thinking the exact same thing Weylin said. I've never made a hickory bow but from what I've heard, it should be just what your looking for.
Bjrogg

[George Tsoukalas]

What you do is keep trying.  I had 14 failures before I finally got a hunting weight.
Yes, hickory is good for dry environments.
More on my site.
Jawge
http://traditionalarchery101.com

[jeffp51]

I live in Utah. If you have a basement, keep your staves there, out of the heat. I bought a humidifier especially for the winter and try to keep the room at 50% humidity.  Siberian elm is a weed around here and can make a good bow if you keep it long and wide. Juniper needs sinew.  If you can get Osage, it does well here.

Where do you live?

[Bayou Ben]

Instead of guessing you could get a good moisture meter or even better cut a small piece off and measure the weight, then heat all of the moisture out and re-weigh the piece to get the MC. 

I agree with stickbender, not having a good even thickness taper before I started stressing the bow was my number one problem when I first started out.

I also agree with trying hickory.  It can take a lot of abuse. 
 

[Bayou Ben]

This reminds me of a test I did with a hickory board bow.  I decided I didn't need this bow anymore, so I was determined to pull it until it broke.  I think I pulled it 33" inches and it didn't break so I decided I would keep it....It's only like 62" long.  Took like 3" of set though...Long story short, the wood is tough
 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Without knowing a thing about your bows, its all speculation and guesses, plenty of them. Was the juniper backed? Was the tiller done right? Were the bows laid out in accordance to the woods strengths and weakness'? Dryness would be the last thing I would concern myself with. 

[trail walker]

Thanks for all the advice guys! It looks like I need to look in on the hickory market, I feel like I've been pointed to a more stable starting point.

TorstenT i live in an earth ship so the sunroom runs along the entire front of the house, its where we grow our winter produce. I thought it would be more humid in there than in the house but there very similar. So probably to dry.

jeffp51, I do not have a basement. . I live in Huntington 15 minutes south of Price.

Limbit, I know Where I could get Scrub oak, tamarisk, and I bet I could find a long enough piece of mountain mahogany if I went on a hike up the mountain.

Bayou Ben, that is pretty sweet! sounds like what I need. I went to Rabit stick primitive skills gathering up in Rexburg ID, last year and met a guy named Bill McConnell. He had a pretty sweet and simple 50'' plaines style sinew backed hickory bow, I may or may not have fallen in love with it. I think it would be fun to try making one like that, time will tell