anyone ever heard of sour wood?

[recurve shooter]

much simpler. got just the guy to give em to.
seriously, do ya use a bathroom scale, fishie scale, or some much more complicated gadget?

[david w.]

here is a great spine tester build along by waterlogged http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,4589.0.html

[recurve shooter]

thats exactly what i was lookin for. gonna build one this weekend at my grandpa's house.

[Kegan]

When the wood is green, you can just bend it by hand- no heat.

[recurve shooter]

i messed arond with it some last night. will it stay bent like that? i thought it would bend back. well, i got some layin on my front porch in the sun and wind. gonna go work on it in a minut. still tryin to catch my breath form powerliftin/football/shotput practice.

[Kegan]

It will bend back slightly, but as it dries, it will bend back less and less until you find it's nice and straight and dry as well. Then you can just plane it to size and sand them up .

[recurve shooter]

HELP, THEY BE CHECKIN!!! WAT DOSE I DO? just like 3 out of the eight did it, but they had small splits in the ends. can i save em, cuz as luck would have it my best ones did it.

[Kegan]

A little checking doesn't hurt. Just cut it off, or work it so it will be cut out for a nock/point.

[recurve shooter]

i'll do my best. if this batch fail, ill just chock it up for experience. first time ya know!

[Pat B]

Leaving green wood of and kind in a breezy area of full sun will dry it out too fast. I have not had a green stripped sourwood shoot check yet but they stay inside either bundled or laying on a flat surface. This time of year wood is the wet!!!  All that moisture has to go somewhere and if it does too fast the wood will check. Arrow making is more critical than bow making so patience is paramount. Even though you can have an arrow from green wood in just a few weeks doesn't mean the wood is "cured". It can take a year or more to cure and the curing process can change(stiffen) the spine weight of the arrow.
   I have a viburnum arrow I made a few years ago with stone tools. It checked in three places along the shaft. I sealed the shaft with pitch and added extra to the checks, just cause! The arrow still shoots well. Those checks may also act like the lightning grooves that were used for keeping arrows straight. In most cases, checks are only a cosmetic problem. The deer that it goes through won't know the difference.        Pat

[recurve shooter]

pat, i kinda figured that the outsideness, especially the sun, would dry it to fast, but i am real impatient. other than the checking, the arras are going good. streightening them is remarkably easy. of cource, they aint storebought streight, but, to use your own words, "the deer it goes through wont know the difference! " uuh, yall did say that a lil snakeyness is cool right?

[Pat B]

I love snaky arrows as much as snaky bows!     Pat

[recurve shooter]

im gonna get me one o those snake bows. they look cool as reptile in antarctica! ok, that was lame. but ya get my point

[greenbean]

Thanks Pat. Sorry I haven't post recently but I've been gone. Does the Sourwood ya'll are talking about grow in this area? If it does we call it something else. Also in my area Blue Beech is calle Ironwood also.

[Pat B]

Chris, I have seen it called "Lily of the Valley Tree" or "Sorrel Tree" because of the flowers.  One other interesting thing about sourwood is the honey the bees make from it. They keep it separate from other honey in their hives, either by putting it in its own super or dividing a super between sourwood honey and all the other types. The honey is very light colored and milder than other honeys. If you know any beekeepers they would know if you have sourwood in your area.     Pat