Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DC on February 22, 2019, 12:50:21 pm
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I have a stave that has about 1" of sideways bend. When I was laying out the bow it occurred to me that I could avoid steam bending it if I took all the wood off one side. It goes against my grain ;) ;) to do it but is there actually a problem with having all the grain runouts on one side of the bow?
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Good question. I have wondered about that too. If it's in a none working part of the tip, I don't see it being a problem.
I always wonder about a true pyramid selfbow. Grain run out on both sides.....
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That's a no-no regardless of what part of the limb it is in. Even if it doesn't bend, it hold weight, its a lever.
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We taper the tips anyway but If it were more than 6" or so I would straighten it. .
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I'm steaming it as we speak but I was curious. The picture kind of distorts things but the bulk of the one sided run out would be in the last foot of the limb. No matter where I put the tip the number of runouts would remain the same. The only thing that would change would be the angle of the runout. At least that's the only thing I can think of.
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I do it every time. Not a single failure yet, at least, not from that. Tapering a limb cut fibers on both sides, but without causing breakage. So now, instead of cutting fibers on both sides, you are only cutting them on one side. The ONLY non cut continuous fibers on a bow are as wide as your nock between the notches you cut. Its more important that the fibers be smoothly faded, and not an abrupt cut than anything else.
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A wide pyramid bow steps across the grain the entire length of the limbs.
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I would just straighten it,, but I am used to doing that,,
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Maybe if a person was planning to recurve the bow, cutting all the taper on one side would eliminate the need to reheat a section in order to recurve the bow. I was just posting on Bubbles "Should I remove the twist or not" so it got me thinking about having to reheat sections and all the problems that can entail. If I straightened this with steam and then decided to recurve it I may be reheating a section and the crook may try and come back. If I had cut on the red line I should be able to recurve it with no problems.
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The degree of run out is the main concern. 90 degrees is an obvious break waiting to happen. The degree is still in line with the limb on your tapers so it poses no problem. When it runs across the limb, your asking for trouble.
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DC,, you could be right about that,, but I feel a bit nervous about it,,
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DC,, you could be right about that,, but I feel a bit nervous about it,,
I have been doing it like that for years without problems.
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I do that routinely in the last 10" or so. I don't think it would give you trouble but there is some risk involved especially if you have some swirls in the grain in that area that might increase the angle some.
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I think the grain swirl thing is what makes me hesitant,, I had a bow like that,, at the tips too,, i put a wrap on it there where the run out was,, it was lifting a splinter,, well in an effort to make the bow better I decieded to make the tips more narrow,, I took the wrap off and made the tip more narrow,, I was gonna put the wrap back on, but decided to pull it to half draw,, because im not that smart sometimes,, the bow exploded,,,, hmmmm
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My first question is the type of wood, unless I missed it.
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I was really a hypothetical question but it's Pacific Crab in the picture. I'm just finishing my third steaming session but I'm being a little fussy with this one. I want to try for almost perfect tiller on this one so I want it straight to start with. I'm going to fume it for a couple of weeks first.
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(-P
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I'm stoked you posted this, it is a query that I quite often have when I am roughing staves out.
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I have a few where I just leave them like that and they shoot good. I just adjust the knocks so the string tracks as close to the arrow pass a I can get it. These bows have worked out well for me.
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I always straighten that kind of runout, but I am never in a hurry building a bow ;D
Leaves me the question: Why do you steam that? With minimal bends like that I narrow the tip to half an inch and use a heat gun to straighten it, takes about ten minutes and a cup of coffee after that and I am ready to start tillering
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Good question. I don't know for sure. I usually use steam until it's almost tillered. I guess I feel I get better heat penetration with steam.
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Good question. I don't know for sure. I usually use steam until it's almost tillered. I guess I feel I get better heat penetration with steam.
Try the heat gun the next time, you will not be dissapointed! ;D
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DC,
I have done it both ways, but that decision would be made from seeing all sides of the stave. Sometimes those sideways natural bends will not take to steam, or heat, and eventually move back toward their original state. Vine Maple has done this to me a limited number of times, the result would look similar to your red line in your first post.
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Ok next time bend it straight,,,cut the stave and make that the handle,..use the straight part for recurves
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I mostly avoid cutting in to the sides that much. Why take chances?
However, it gets more "OK" the closer you are to the tips, the less bend that area takes, and you can get away with more of it on a more highly crowned stave. I learned this when I discovered that I could make bows from some woods like serviceberry, apple, hawthorn, and plum where the grain does complete barber-pole revolutions around the stave, as long as I started with a small diameter piece. This of course means that the width of the stave limits how much, as well.
But, I would absolutely have roughed out such a stave (so little deviation) and done the straightening at the same time I did the belly temper.
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I mostly avoid cutting in to the sides that much. Why take chances?
However, it gets more "OK" the closer you are to the tips, the less bend that area takes, and you can get away with more of it on a more highly crowned stave. I learned this when I discovered that I could make bows from some woods like serviceberry, apple, hawthorn, and plum where the grain does complete barber-pole revolutions around the stave, as long as I started with a small diameter piece. This of course means that the width of the stave limits how much, as well.
But, I would absolutely have roughed out such a stave (so little deviation) and done the straightening at the same time I did the belly temper.
Exactly, and although it is taking a small chance, like almost every limb bow that is not split......you run the same risk, it is really species dependent.