Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Stanley2015 on June 13, 2012, 02:31:33 pm
-
Hey, im new here so hello all! I have a few questions sooo....
1) how long do i have to season bow wood before i start shaping it?
2) ways to improve flexibility? (i tried saturating my first bow (which failed) with veggie oil, seemed to work)
3) help with wood ID? I'll post pics of it as soon as i can.
4) can i shape the bow with a pocket knife?
Any help would be great! Thanks!
-
A fresh cut tree, depending on size, type, humidity and heat of the environment can take from a few months to a year and a half or more. I live in Georgia, and the summer here gets pretty sweltering. The tree i cut down last weekend, if left in my attic to serve as a kiln baking at 90-100° for a few months, it may be done by August. If I keep it under the house where its dry bbut cool, definitely a year or more.
A pocket knife would take you a very long time to shape and tiller the wood.
Most of the information I've gained has been from the Traditional Bowyers Bible. 4 volumes, not that expensive, and well worth the investment if you're seeking knowledge.
Welcome, btw.
-
If it helps, i live in southern michigan, i literally cut the wood 20 mins ago (oak i think?), and currently its clamped to a piece of wood down in the basement where its cool and dry. A year? Wow. Thats a while :/ any way to speed it up?
-
There are instructions on different websites on how to build a hot box. Go to poorfolkbows.com and see if he has one. I think he does. Until then, you can use predried boards to practice with. They're pretty cheap depending on where you go. You can Google different trees to compare and contrast leaves and bark to figure out whether or not it's oak.
-
I'll definitley have to check it out. Thank you!
-
Stanley go ahead and start building your bow now. By the time your done doing it with a pocket knife it will be dry enough.
-
It's ok to start building when the wood isnt 100% straight?
-
Sure. Hang out here for a few weeks, read what you can and you will answer most all your basic questions quickly. They are covered on a semi-daily basis.
-
I definitley will, thank you all for the advice!
-
I'm not trying to be a smart @$$ here, but start reading before you start asking questions. Really, you are asking some extremely basic questions here. Run a search on this forum. Then run a search on another forum called Paleoplanet. Since you have internet, you may even consider using Google for simple questions such as "how long does it take for wood to dyr?" or "how do I identify wood?".
All your questions, any many, MANY more, have been answered in great detail in the book Traditional Bowyers Bible volume 1. Go buy or borrow that book! While your wood is drying, read it from start to finish, and then again.
-
I will try to get the book, also i've tried MANY google searches and searches within the forum. Never could get a straight answer
-
Thats just it Stan. There is no straight answer. You will notice as you hang around more that there are six way to do everything. I built a sapling bow from stump to bow is 5 weeks. Some say you need a year to make good bow wood, some say 6 months, some say it depends on your humidity levels, some say it depends on the wood, some say it depends on wether your tempering it or not. Should I temper it? When should I temper it? Can I temper oak?
See whatta mean?
Your gona love this place I promise. Suck it all up over a few months and refine your methods by picking apart ours. You will use bits and pieces from several folks to find your own way. Remember your dealing with "living" raw material and nothing is the same twice......by design of course!
-
Pearl drums said it perfect. No piece of wood is the same. The best thing you can do is practice and learn to be able to read what you can get out of each piece. I believe the longer it seasons the better but I will guaranty that a primitive man without a bow would wait 1 year to eat because his wood wasn't dry enough. Tiller it down and SLOWLY heat it over a fire or grill and let it be for a couple of days. That will knock weeks off the dry time.
-
So basically bow making is trial and error? Wow, that's a relief. Also, thoughts about making my stave into a flat Bow? 1 inch diameter at the top and used to be at least 2 inches at the bottom.
-
I don't think that's exactly what they were trying to say. There is a ton of accumulated knowledge about making bows that will help you get an effective bow in the end. It's not just a crap shoot. What they were trying to say is that there isn't just one simple answer to the general questions you were asking. If you just wing it and go by trial and error you will likely end up with a broken/poorly preforming bow. The best way to get started is find a friendly, competent bowyer in your area that is willing to show you the ropes. If that's not possible then you should do a lot of reading and ask a ton of questions here as you go along. Darksoul is right about using the search function to find valuable information on here but don't let that completely scare you away from having your own conversation about your bow. That's what a message board is for. You should post pictures of your stave and give us more specific measurements so we can better guide you on a design. Also, we need to figure out what kind of wood it really is.
-
Ok, i'll try to post pics today, however i'm using my phone for all this so it might take a while so bear with me
-
Stanley, all depends on what you are trying to do with your bow. I make self bows for physical exercise. Nothing much matters other than spending some time moving my body. If you wanna hunt deer with your bow, you probably need to buy it for now. If you wanna pretend to be a primitive hunter, just string a small sapling and shoot it. I bet you can make a survival bow in a couple of hours. If you wanna become a proper bowyer and routinely build selfbows that shoot over 160 FPS, read the book, please. Good luck.
-
I highly recommend going out and buying a hardwood board to start your first bows on while you wait for staves to dry. They are already dry so you could literally start working a board today and have a finished bow before the weekend is over.
Red oak is probably the most common, and its a great starting point. But you can find boards of cherry, maple, ash etc, and all can make good bows. Just make sure that the grain is as straight as possible. Straight grain is absolutely key for board bows. If that means walking out of the building supplied empty handed, and waiting a couple weeks for new stock, well so be it. There is just no way around it. Crooked grained boards will just be a source of frustration and discouragement.
Boards bows aren't usually as reliable as bows made from an actual stave like you have, but they are great for learning how to tiller, and to experiment on.
About the pocket knife, you could use that, but if you are going to get serious, you'll probably want a drawknife and a wood rasp. Luckily both of these things can be picked up pretty cheap, and they will make processing your bow much faster, and more enjoyable in my opinion.
-
I just bought a drawknife off of ebay. Very good condition for $21. Below are pics of my stave...
i've already de barked the stave and begun to shape it from the bottom.
-
how long, how wide and what kind of wood is it? i would recommend not taking any more wood off until you have a game plan and a design in mind.
-
1 inch wide, 60 inches long, im not sure on the type of wood, and flat recurve
-
what is your draw length and your intended draw weight? I don't think you should try a recurve for your first bow, especially with a mystery wood. Recurving a bow creates more strain on the limbs which means the tiller has to be that much better. It is also harder for beginners to judge the tiller on a recurve. Better to make a simple straight limbed bow that you can really focus on getting a good tiller on. Depending on your draw length it is likely that your bow will need to bend through the handle to safely make it all the way back.
-
Draw length 28" intended draw weight 40-50 lbs.
-
Take a look at this. Gordon made a beautiful bend through the handle hazelnut bow with a 3" diameter 60" long stave. With such a thin stave yours will come out a little differently but this could be a valuable reference for you as you go along.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,4815.0.html
-
That branch is a funny piece of wood to practice your woodworking skills and tools on, but don't expect it to become a shootable bow. It is too narrow, too short, too mysterywood and too knotty in my book. I would still highly recommend you to read the first Traditional Bowyers Bible. It will be an amazing eye-opener.
-
with my recent purchase of an 8 inch draw knife, i should be able to shape it a lot faster now. Also, i harvested another bow stave, Mulberry, 2 inch diameter, 42 inches long. What shall i do with it?
-
with my recent purchase of an 8 inch draw knife, i should be able to shape it a lot faster now. Also, i harvested another bow stave, Mulberry, 2 inch diameter, 42 inches long. What shall i do with it?
You can probably make a flatbow out of it,
especially if you are willing to read this book:
"North American bows, arrows, and quivers [microform] (1893)"
http://archive.org/details/cihm_17444 (http://archive.org/details/cihm_17444)
-
Hmmm, do you think i could recurve it?
-
42" is awefully short. Recurves (and sinew) might help in getting the string angle right. But with your limited experience, I would highly advice against it. Get the basics of woodworking and tillering first, before you start making things complicated with things such as backings and recurves.