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Author Topic: Unbacked black cherry.  (Read 5655 times)

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Offline PatM

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #15 on: December 30, 2018, 12:33:32 pm »
Back in the early days of PA a guy wrote an article on Black Cherry bows and no mention was made of backing.

 Tim Baker showed an unbacked Cherry pyramid bow in TTBB.
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Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #16 on: December 30, 2018, 12:43:43 pm »
Good to know. I've got a good ring on the back of this stave and the other piece from the same tree took well to bending so hopefully this on will go well. The backing on the other bow looks nice enough,  but it really is pretty wood so it seems a shame to cover it up if I dont have to. I have a total of about 3 hrs into heat straightening at this point, with just the kink in the far limb to take care of. Second pic is from earlier in the process for comparison.



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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #17 on: December 30, 2018, 08:43:51 pm »
So I went to draw the first black cherry bow earlier and heard a small tick. Upon inspection I saw the resin/linen backing had developed a crack. I put it on the tillering rig and gave it a few pulls and a whole section of the back popped off. I removed the rest of the backing and there is no damage to the natural back of the bow. I've worked it pretty well on the tillering rig and hand drawn it several times, it seems to be working well, although the loss of the backing did lower the draw weight several lbs, so it's not going to be a hunting bow anymore.  I guess I should have used tite bond instead of resin for the backing. The resin doesn't appear to have penetrated or bonded to the wood at all, it just seemed to have formed a shell on top of the wood surface.





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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline DC

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #18 on: December 30, 2018, 10:11:00 pm »
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Polyester Resin doesn't bond well to wood. There has to be a reason that everyone uses epoxy over polyester.
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Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #19 on: December 30, 2018, 11:26:14 pm »
Well lesson learned there, but at least this gives me more confidence going into the larger unbacked cherry now, as the first one is still shootable without the backing.
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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline bentstick54

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #20 on: December 31, 2018, 07:09:28 am »
Can you clean up the back of your first bow, and re- back it using a better suited glue?
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Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #21 on: December 31, 2018, 08:25:31 am »
I already cleaned the back up, I think I'm just going to leave it as is unbacked.
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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #22 on: December 31, 2018, 11:45:58 am »
Nice and straight.

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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline High-Desert

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #23 on: December 31, 2018, 12:22:44 pm »
 Congratulations! What a great start. Would love to see the bow once you get it dressed up with those footprints of your daughters. What a great idea.
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Eric

Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #24 on: December 31, 2018, 01:51:08 pm »
On the bow that the backing popped off of I think I'm going to do a little experiment. I'm going to reapply a linen backing to it with tite bond II, then glass cloth and resin over the linen. It won't be a true traditional bow anymore, but it's to light of draw to be good for much so I figure I may as well take a shot.
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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #25 on: December 31, 2018, 01:54:24 pm »
please dont put the glass on it,,
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #26 on: December 31, 2018, 02:09:08 pm »
If you put glass on your bow I'll have to move this to "Around the Campfire". I doubt the glass and resin will stick to the TB glue, anyway, at least not well enough to hold up to the bending. Might be time to set this pone aside or give it to someone and make another.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #27 on: December 31, 2018, 02:14:09 pm »
Ok I'll put that idea on the back burner for now. In the meantime the other stave I'm working on, which had a good bit of natural reflex, was a bit uneven so I evened up the flex and I'm starting to shape it with the surform.

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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear

Offline Marc St Louis

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #28 on: December 31, 2018, 02:18:53 pm »
If you backed the bow with linen then you can't call it unbacked

The first bow I ever made out of Black Cherry was unbacked, it was also mostly sapwood.  I made the bow  in the Mollegabet style, back then they were known as Holmegaard.
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Offline IrishJay

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Re: Unbacked black cherry.
« Reply #29 on: December 31, 2018, 02:20:48 pm »
Marc, there are two bows being discussed. One was backed until the backing popped off, the other I'm just starting and planning to leave unbacked.
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"The best camouflage pattern is called, 'Sit down and be quiet!' Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat, think about that for a second." - Fred Bear
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