Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Weylin on October 11, 2013, 02:47:47 am
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I'm working on a new yew bow and it has one or two woodpecker holes in one limb. ::) I'm wondering if anyone has made an unbacked bow like this and had it survive. I know yew can handle a lot of anomalies on the back that other woods can't but maybe this is too much. I could go down past them if I needed without a lot of trouble. They aren't very deep. But the character that they add is pretty cool. What do you all think?
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/olivewn/DSCN6916_zpsec57b255.jpg) (http://s38.photobucket.com/user/olivewn/media/DSCN6916_zpsec57b255.jpg.html)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/olivewn/DSCN6915_zps38cdc04d.jpg) (http://s38.photobucket.com/user/olivewn/media/DSCN6915_zps38cdc04d.jpg.html)
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Oh my!!!!!! That would look cool.....
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Are +you sure they are woodpecker holes? Was it dead standing wood? Woodpeckers will not try to make their nest unless the tree is already dead or diseased. Softer wood.
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I'd say the sapwood is worse than useless. Rip it off on a bandsaw and back it with something.
The advantage of that is you will get an idea of what the heartwood beneath looks like.
I made the mistake of trying to make an ELB with Yew with some tiny bug holes in it.... BANG.
You can always paint the patern on... >:D
Del
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The darn sap suckers! Those young peckers well peck at anything.
Weylin, I know a guy in Alberta who builds yew bows for a livin. I was talking to him one evening about a yew bow he had made that was nothing but woodpecker holes. He covered the back with ca glue and burnished it with an antler tine.
I would say give is a shot. If it doesn't work out. Hey! Yah got more wood jack.
If it comes down to it I'll be glad to take it off your hands ;D
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The darn sap suckers! Those young peckers well peck at anything.
Weylin, I know a guy in Alberta who builds yew bows for a livin. I was talking to him one evening about a yew bow he had made that was nothing but woodpecker holes. He covered the back with ca glue and burnished it with an antler tine.
I would say give is a shot. If it doesn't work out. Hey! Yah got more wood jack.
If it comes down to it I'll be glad to take it off your hands ;D
Burnished?
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I would clean it up some more and give it a sand. They only drill far enough to get at the sap so they shouldnt be too deep.
Worst case maybe just chase a ring or so to remove them, well as best as you can anyway.
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I have one stave that has some damage like that, I will have to watch this one close.
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Thanks for all the replies. To be clear, they are sapsucker holes which only go down through a growth ring or two, I'm confident that the vast majority of the sapwood is sound. I cut the tree myself and I'm sure it was living, it wasn't a bird trying to make a nest.
Thanks for the anecdote, Bryce. That was the sort of thing I wanted to hear.
Del, I appreciate your caution and a healthy part of me shares it. I wonder though if the woodpecker holes are a bit different in nature than the bug damage which I assume happened after the tree was dead. With the woodpecker holes the tree was alive and therefore had the opportunity to heal around them somewhat. That, of course, could just be wishful thinking on my part but it sounds nice.
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Weylin, I'd go for it, too. I don't think I'd cover the whole back of the bow with CA glue but I'd at least soak some of the thin super glue in each hole.
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My wife's bow is full of the same and shoots great. Lower draw weight though so not as much risk. I cleans it up and CA'd all the questionable damage, sanded to a 0000 steel wool and tru oil'd it. Turned out beautiful. If you lose it, there's more staves available. What dimensions and style are you thinking?
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Dirty little peckers ruinin' that yew! I'd take it off. Worth the effort.
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Oh yeah, get in with a pick and small file to clean out the cadmium. On mine, a lot of the wholes had heals over and were little dimples when I was done. Your a good bowyer, keep working it and go with your gut. Just remember I may be shooting that thing some day! ;)
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There's cadmium in yew? I didn't know yew was rich in cadmium. It must be an awfully heavy stave! 8)
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Those young peckers well peck at anything.
Ah! The good old days, I remember them well!
(I couldn't pass it up)
Don
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Are +you sure they are woodpecker holes? Was it dead standing wood? Woodpeckers will not try to make their nest unless the tree is already dead or diseased. Softer wood.
Sapsuckers, a species of peckerwood, as the name implies feed on the sap and probably to a larger degree the insects drawn to the sap of the wounds they inflict on living trees. They peck living trees, often in a series of rows as in Weylin's stave, returning regularly to feed. They maintain these sap pits over generations, so the visible damage on the back of the bow can be traced decades back through the wood, but as Weylin suggested, the tree is continually healing the wound, as the sapsucker is continually renewing the wound.
Weylin, I would scrape down a bit until the craters are about gone. Dave Lawson made a nice hunting weight flatbow with similar sapsucker damage AND lots of rot. To my knowledge it is still shooting.
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Those young peckers well peck at anything.
Ah! The good old days, I remember them well!
(I couldn't pass it up)
Don
Lol I'm glad someone got it ;D
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Ugh. Butchered that one huh? Auto correct and 6:30 in the morning is a bad combo for this ol'boy for sure. Thanks adb :)
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Dan did you ever post your wife's bow? That is one of the finest yew bows these eyes have seen.
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Wood pecker holes, if not to deep, won't necessarily compromise the back of a bow.. this one turned out fine...
(http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g124/rossfactor/IMG_4037.jpg)
But than again it was plum, and you're only working with yew so... i can't guarantee anything >:D
Gabe
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Ugh. Butchered that one huh? Auto correct and 6:30 in the morning is a bad combo for this ol'boy for sure. Thanks adb :)
No worries! I knew you meant cambium, but it made me chuckle!
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All the old timers yew bows had the sapwood thinned down to an even 3/16" or so, you could get away with with 1/8" for looks or even a heartwood stave. Better to be safe than sorry, as yew isn't cheap.
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Thank you Bryce. She likes it. I never posted any pics that I remember. I'll take a good one of the pecker damage for Weylin's benefit and post here.
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Weylin, this is the bow Carson was talking about. This is a yew bow I built during a John Strunk get-together. After building it and shooting it John told me this was the one out of about 6 other bows, that were built that weekend, that he didn't think would make it! haha It has had a lot of arrows through it and is shooting good. Hope to kill a blacktail buck with it in Nov. The first pic is of a rotten knot that I had to remove. We mixed some yew sawdust and superglue and filled it in. I think if the tiller is good yew will hold up to quite a bit. That's my limited experience and knowledge for it's worth.
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That's cool, snag.
Thanks for all the input, everyone. I decided to scrap down past the woodpecker holes. They just seemed to be begging to lift a splinter. It's still pretty interesting looking underneath. I've been working on it at the Forest of Arts festival at the Hopkins Demonstration Forest in Oregon City. I'm doing a "bow making demonstration" which is basically me working on my bow while people come by and look at my bows and ask me what kind of wood their make of. It's been fun though, At least I get to spent most of the day working on my bow.
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Sounds like fun Weylin. Here are a couple pics of Sherry's bow. I soaked the damage with CA and have had no issues.(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag157/dankirkpatrick/IMG_8354_zps39d47690.jpg) (http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/dankirkpatrick/media/IMG_8354_zps39d47690.jpg.html)
(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag157/dankirkpatrick/IMG_8351_zps58f8885a.jpg) (http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/dankirkpatrick/media/IMG_8351_zps58f8885a.jpg.html)
Good luck!
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Gorgeous Dan-o. Where did you find that piece? >:D