45# Maple Flat Bow

[Don W]

45# Maple Flat Bow

• 66″ nock to nock
  Limbs are 1 5/8″ to mid section
  Then 1/2″ to tips
  9/16″ at mid limb
  9/32″ thick at tips
  Handle is 1 1/8″ x 1 1/8″

Last fall I had some trees removed from the back yard. In January I split one of the maple logs sitting at the saw mill for bow staves. I stripped the bark and put them inside to dry. Some were pretty twisted. I tried to make a bow from a few staves before this bow and they all broke, mostly from my inexperience in tillering.

[airkah]

I think you do more bows in a week than I do in a year. Keep it up, I can really see improvement from one bow to the next 

[Pat B]

Don, I think you are getting the hang of this bow building stuff!    
Well done. 

[SLIMBOB]

Nice!  Careful, or you’ll find yourself with a room full of bows, a shop full of staves and grass that’s knee high.

[Don W]

Nice!  Careful, or you’ll find yourself with a room full of bows, a shop full of staves and grass that’s knee high.

first two i already have. Luckily the wife likes to mow lawn!

[gutpile]

Don your bows are really improving .. looks like bottom is bending a lil more mid limb than top to me.. anybody else seeing that?... gut

[boomhowzer]

Maple is tough stuff! Good work Don! I’ve got about a thousand Norway maples on the property that have to be cut. I worked a couple down to near bow dimensions but like yours, they twisted quite a bit. What did you do to get the twist out?

[Don W]

Maple is tough stuff! Good work Don! I’ve got about a thousand Norway maples on the property that have to be cut. I worked a couple down to near bow dimensions but like yours, they twisted quite a bit. What did you do to get the twist out?

Several steamings and a final heat hardening

[StickMark]

Don, that is a nice bow. Great to see you making...

[boomhowzer]

That’s what I was thinking too.. How did the maple do with the heat hardening? We’re you able to notice an increase in the strength of the wood?

[Don W]

That’s what I was thinking too.. How did the maple do with the heat hardening? We’re you able to notice an increase in the strength of the wood?

It was very moderate increase. I'd say it was less than 5#.

[Green Wood]

How hard was it to split the maple log? So far I have split poplar and black locust logs, and they both split quite easily into quarter logs (staves).  But maple doesn't look like it has the easy to follow growth rings like black locust. So I am concerned about cutting down a nice maple tree if the log isn't going to split well.  I have a yard full of what I think is sugar (hard) maple.

[Don W]

Typical maple splits easier than locust. And typically I remove the bark of maple and that becomes the back of the bow, no need to chase a ring. I suppose if you had a stave large enough that you would get a second bow inside the log you may want to, but I've never tried.