Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Muskyman on March 11, 2023, 07:51:33 pm
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Started chasing a ring on a few billets I’m planning on making into a takedown bow and the first one I chose has good rings but the wood is different colors. Normal? Or is it just a bad piece of wood.
First picture is after applying polyurethane second is before applying polyurethane
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Picture #2
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Rings
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This is the billet I was chasing the ring on. The first ring picture is the second billet I’ll be chasing the ring on
Thinking about chasing a ring or two down to see if the color gets better. Or do you think it’s okay
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It is probably just a reaction to the poly with that piece of wood. If the rings are good then go for it.
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Some of the wood was darker then the normal Osage color and seemed funny when I was chasing the ring. This picture is before the polyurethane
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Terrible wood. Send it to me and I'll get rid of it for you...Hehe. ;)
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Mike. I might also be inclined to get two bows out of that stave.
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Mike. I might also be inclined to get two bows out of that stave.
I was thinking the same Dave, but it can be risky. If it splits good it should work.
I have had some Osage with that color that really performed well. It was more streaky than that thought and the streaks seemed to keep growing in size and color once exposed to sunlight.
I hope that’s the case for you
Bjrogg
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I have noticed that splitting those staves with thick late wood and thin early wood are trickier to split. The ones with thicker early wood usually behave pretty predictably.
The thinner the early wood the more unpredictable the split.
Bjrogg
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It’s actually a billet. It’s about 40 inches long. I’ve got five of them from when I cut Osage late September last year. Actually just trying to get them closer to size hoping they’ll dry out faster and then I’ll tuck them away for another 3-4 months. The early/lighter wood was the brown color that is showing in the billet. I was concerned that it might be funky..
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This is where I might be tempted to split theses billets.
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It’s only about 3 inches tall Dave.. I’d be scared to completely trash it and I’ve got five total billets so I’m going to just play it safe.. got the other one chased today. Now probably do a little limb shaping then tuck them away till late summer
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Was talking these down a little and I’m thinking I might have a bug problem with one of them..
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Another spot
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Also the brown looking wood is pretty dry and crunchy. Might have to try another piece. Tried to get it off but might go to deep into the billet to be viable for what I want to do.
Might be on to plan B
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Just looking on my phone, but I’m thinking wind checks.
From my understanding they are caused by the wind twisting the tree while it’s growing.
If they are not running off the edge they should be ok. I treat them like drying checks. Fill them with thin CA glue.
If they are delaminating grains I might be more concerned with them.
Bjrogg
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I have one I’ll post
Does it look like this?
Bjrogg
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These go all the way through my stave.
Bjrogg
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They kind do. I’m hoping I can cut them out before I get close to limb thickness.. hope you’re right Bjrogg. The brown wood is worrisome too. If I had more experience with the wood I might not sweat it so much.. It just seems really dry and crunchy. I took a lot of it off and it seems better.. might take another billet down and work it down and see if it’s better..
Thanks for the photo and thoughts on this.
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If they are going through your stave from back to belly and running length ways. They will probably be fine.
Reduce your stave. If you still have them soak them really good with thin super glue. Let it run in from every direction and then let it sit a day.
Then it should be fine.
If they are running between rings from side to side of the stave. Delaminating. Then I would be more concerned.
Bjrogg
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Wind shakes, it is rare osage tree I cut that doesn't have them, I just work around them.
This is a bad example of what I cut, I get good staves or billets on either side of the cracks.
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Thanks Eric, that’s similar to what the piece looks like that I got this from. It had a side that had lots of brown wood on it. Starting to feel better about it with all the knowledge about the wood coming my way from this site.. It’s what makes it such a great site. Can’t find answers for questions like this in a book or online..
Thanks