I think, for the time being, I'm done with boards for bows.

[Sempertiger]

I'm not saying that boards are bad, just that I have had bad luck with them. I've put together half a dozen hunting weight board bows, mostly Red Oak, and have had all of them break in some way or form. I think the issue is that in looking for good boards, I'm finding wood that is close to good bow wood, but just isn't quite good enough. The wood I do find, I put aside, then continue going through the stacks. After I've seen everything, I get the best one or two boards and take them home. So far, with the exception of a Merbau bow I've made, they raise a significant splinter, usually under the backing. I try to fix them with a bit of super glue and wrap them with hemp or jute. A day later, after the glue has dried, they break.


I'm going to continue to look for boards but I'm only getting boards that I'm sure are good. In the mean time, I think I'm going to pick up a stave or two of some good straight bow wood and see if it's me or the wood. If it's me, the stave bow will break again. If it's the wood, then the bow will survive.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good wood to try out on? I'm thinking that if I get a green stave, I'll rough it out then let it dry out for a few weeks, or until it reaches equilibrium with my area. I know it's a lot harder to work with, but I was thinking about picking up some Osage, since it seems like it's everywhere for sale. I do plan on gathering around here, but I'm waiting on a permit so I can be legal.

Here is my latest issue:




JS

[tattoo dave]

I feel your pain I had a lot of the same problems with red oak. I rarely use it now, unless I can find quarter sawn boards. I like Hickory, ash, and maple, but maple likes to twist. Not sure if thats me causing the twist or not. I also like a lot of the exotic woods. As far as the bow pictured goes, it seems like your fade is really short, with a really wide limb. I like making bendy handle bows, I found that I started breaking a lot less bows with a working handle. And they tend to be a little lighter, less mass that is, not lighter poundage. I hope that helps some. Good luck my friend!

Tattoo Dave

[lesken2011]

I agree with TD. I still use red oak some on lighter bows, but I really prefer hickory for heavier bows and as a backing material. It is a very forgiving wood. I haven't tried ash or hard maple yet, but I just did a glue up of hickory backed ipe. I hate to see you give up on boards, but if I had a good source for staves, I probably would make that move too.

[Sempertiger]

Believe it or not, red oak is one of the better woods I have available. The local store has oak, teak, alder, purple heart, maple, cherry, poplar, walnut and birch. Except for the oak, the store hasn't had any new boards in the other woods in three months.  There just isn't a lot of turnover. I've never seen anything quarter sawn.

[jermcramp1]

You better be careful saying you dont have any bow wood on here, you might come home to find you dont have room for what shows up at your door...Where abouts are you?

[Bryce]

Pm'd

[Gordon]

Make your fades longer and more gradual. An abrupt transition like that is asking for trouble.

[Prarie Bowyer]

Avoid oak.

[Sempertiger]

Where abouts are you?

Juneau Alaska

I should be able to find some bow wood locally, there's still way too much snow on the ground to get into the high country to get some good dense spruce or AYC. there is probably between 10 and 15 feet of snow at treeline and probably more. We got a truck load of snow in the mountains this year. I know of a few areas near here, where the company I work for has equipment, that have more than 30 feet of snow below treeline. Most likely, I won't have access to it till early to mid June. In May, I'm going to do some trecking around on the beaches and see if I can find some of the hardwoods on my list, but except for spruce and AYC, i'm not familar with the bark enough to identify a tree without looking at the leaves. I might try to get into some elevation bird hunting this spring, but it depends on how fast the snow melts.

It's really too bad that Alder isn't a good bow wood. There is sooooo much straight wood locally. My wife, daughter and I took a drive and I lost count on how many pieces I would have cut, if it was worth my time. I might give it a try in the mean time anyway. the worst that can happen is I use it to smoke some fish or meat, if it doesn't work. I could cut some test samples out of a log and have solid SG and SBT results in a week. 1/2" square pieces of wood can be dried fast.

Bryce, Pm'd back

Make your fades longer and more gradual. An abrupt transition like that is asking for trouble.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that with my next one. I'm curious, How much longer should I make my fades? from the widest part of the limb to the end of the fade is ~ 1/2 inch. should I double that or more?

JS

[Josh B]

Gordon nailed the problem. Your fades should be at least an 1 1/2". There is nothing wrong with oak.  There have been way to many fine board bows made over the years to discount it.  IMHO white oak is a little better than red oak, but I have made some fine bows from both. Lengthen your fades and you should have a lot better result.  Josh

[bubby]

Gun Doc is right, and with the right board red oak is fine, but white oak is dang near bullit proof, hickory is tough as nails too, on my pyramid's i've gone to a 2 1/2" fade, Bub

[Pappy]

What Gordon said, :)got no choice but to break when it bends at the fad where you make the transition and violate the longitudinal grain. I don't do board bows
 [no real reason just have plenty of staves] but a stave bow will break also if you do that.
   Pappy

[Sidewinder]

Made that mistake once on an osage stave that was a bit snakey right out of the fades. Got it to about 22" and was looking good and then"pop". It did'nt totally break in half but it was ruined for sure. Learned a good lesson there.
 I make my bows in the 58-62" range. Stiff handlesd. On bows of 50-60lbs I make my fades 1 3/8" wide and 2" long so as to provide a smooth transition and not concnentrate the pressure there. .
I also was thinking that if you were making your fades wider than you might want to make them longer. I'm not sure what a good width to length ratio is but since most of my bows are osage 1 3/8" at the fades and fades 2" long from a 1" handle width, I would say that a reasonable assumption could be made to make your fade length 30% longer than the width and it should be ok. There are many variables of course and many styles that work. Thats jsut what I have become comfortable with.  Danny

[jimmy]

I've made a few board bows just for kicks. Good quartersawn maple, in my opinion, is the way to go with boards, unless you can get hickory. Grain lines (and proper fades) are everything when it comes to board bows.

[George Tsoukalas]

Consider forgetting about glued on handles. As Gordon  alluded, those builds are a bit difficult. The wood you used looks pretty good. It is just that fade area is tough to get right.  Looks like you were bending in the handle area. My site has info. Also, don't narrow the handle leave it full width. Go with 1 3/8 inches. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/