First post, first bow.

[willie]

the closer the stave is to bow thickness, the sooner it can dry. you can do a lot of reduction to help it along, maybe be shooting in a month if you watch the drying carefully

do you know what kind of bow you want to make yet?


welcome

[katzmoor]

the closer the stave is to bow thickness, the sooner it can dry. you can do a lot of reduction to help it along, maybe be shooting in a month if you watch the drying carefully

do you know what kind of bow you want to make yet?


welcome

I'll let the stave determine what bow comes out of the stave, but I'm hoping for a gullwing style bow. I hear they get high fps, and they're quite pretty. Who knows though, I sense maple will do best with a simple light reflex or straight form.

[Sidewinder]

I'm with PatB on the developing good habits from the start on harvesting wood. I use this method on every stave I harvest.
1) once cut seal the ends with shellac ( it dries fast and seals in the moisture to control checking
2) split it into halves or quarters depending on the size of log,with sledge and wedge.
3) debark and seal the back with shellac again.
4) let it rest for awhile. ( this is the part that is subjective based on the wood species, and how anxiuos you are to work it)

If the moisture content is too high when you start building a bow you can induce set easily and make it a sluggish shooter.

The main thing is I'm trying to control where the moisture is released and a split belly is just the right place without checking. Shellac is perfect for this and is easliy removed with denatured alcohol.

[bassman]

Sugar maple ,and vine maple can make a good bow. The red maple not so good for me at least. I have made three attempts with no luck. The belly either crushed for me, or the limb separated a long its length. Couldn't get the balance I needed to make a self bow. I have never made vine maple, but John Strunk has made some very good bows from it as have others on here. I have made 2 decent bows from Sugar, or rock maple as it is some times called.Maybe you will have better luck than me with red maple.Most of us on here would agree that hickory, white and red oak, walnut, and ash will make a good bow.If you try the red maple make it wide,wide, and long,long.