Vine maple stave help

[afurman25]

Hello all,

I am fairly new (about 4 bows in) to building bows. I’ve got a 72” vine maple stave that I have some questions about.

1. At what point is the best time in the process to heat bend the stave. It’s about 4” wide and 2.5-3” thick at this point.

2. At one end there is some (what looks like) spalting. Is this usable wood? I was planning on keeping it and soaking it with a penetrating epoxy. What do you guys think? Should I just cut it off? I would lose about 4” of wood.

3. I have a 30” draw.my target weight would be around 50lb. What dimensions for design are recommended? I’m not building this for hunting so keeping it long is not an issue. There is a fair amount of crowning. I’m looking for limb width/ where to start tapering the width of the limbs.

I’ve attempted to read as much as possible before posting questions but I can find clear answers.

[TimBo]

Spalting is produced by a fungus, so if it looks fungus-y, that part (at a minimum) needs to come off.  Was this cut from a living tree?  How was it stored? 

[afurman25]

I purchased the wood from Craigslist in my area. Not sure how it was stored but the seller said he used to teach bow building/ seemed very knowledgeable so I would assume he stored the wood appropriately. Ends were sealed on other staves other than this end.this may be why this end got spalted.  I see others have used spalted maple in lam bows but didn’t know if this would fly on a limb tip on a self bow. It seems to be stable but I can’t tell 100%.

[TimBo]

Since the tip won't be working (much), it might be ok.  Also since it's on the tip, you would have plenty of stave to cut off a bit (lengthwise, with the grain) for a bend test. 

[afurman25]

That is a great suggestion! Thank you.

[TimBo]

Good luck with it!  The other thing is that with 72", you could easily just make a shorter bow, even if it ends up needing to bend in the handle.  I would do a bend test even then to be safe; the idea of compromised wood would make me nervous.  Hopefully it only made it as far as that spot you can see though.