Maple Pyramid

[Billbob]

Made a couple hickory bows and want to try a different wood. Was thinking of making a pyramid bow out of maple, 2" at fades to 1/2" nocks, 60" ntn drawing about 55lbs @26".  Getting it to brace and then pulling it into reflex and putting 2 or 3 layers of sinew on it. Do you think this will work? Thanks for any help/info.

[Hrothgar]

Sounds doable to me. adb is the one to ask concerning maple.

[adb]

Stave, or board? Sounds like a solid build, except I'd ditch the sinew... especially if it's a board. I've never actually sinewed a board. Save the sinew for a nice short osage stave. I'd also go a bit longer if it's a self board bow... maybe 64-66" ntn. JMO.

Maple is great wood, and definitely my favourite backing material. A pyramid bow is the best design for a selfbow IMO, but I haven't had really great success with them in terms of set. They seem to take a bit more set than if you use it as a backing material. Maple backed maple also works good.

[bubby]

You won't need the sinew for those specs, and I'd go 62" ntn maple makes a quick bow  you should be happy with the finished product

[Marc St Louis]

I've only sinew backed one Maple bow but it does well with it.  The length will be good with a sinew back and your sinewing plan should work well.  I would go with 3 courses

[Billbob]

It's a stave and it has a little bit of a curve to it so I'm probably have to heat it to straighten it. Do you have to follow the vertical grain as much as possible? Or can I get away with laying out the bow a little off center? Was looking to try sinew for the heck of it. Maybe make it 58"ntn. Don't have access to any osage.

[SLIMBOB]

Two schools of thought here and I agree with both of them.  If your stave is sound it shouldn't "need" a sinew backing.  I'm working on my second Hard Maple (tree stave) bow and I love the wood.  Incredibly strong and just as flexible as well as being light as a feather.  No need for me to use sinew on it if I'm using it as insurance against some kind of failure.  If on the other hand you just want to sinew back a bow for the learning experience, why not.
And yes, follow the grain regardless.

[bubby]

what slim said, i'm not trying to say don't do that, but ya'll asked for opinion's and this site is FULL of them

[Billbob]

The stave is in good shape. Thought I might need the sinew to keep/pull some reflex into it. I'll follow the grain and straighhten the limb when I get it floor tillered?

[bushboy]

Rock maple response to heat treaing fairly well,I'd skip the sinew and cook it instead.

[SLIMBOB]

One of the sweetest things I have learned about Maple, at least on the ones I've worked, is how easily it heat bends. Dry heat, no oil, and you can Add all the reflex you want. It bends like steamed noodles. Heat treat it and it should hold it well.

[Marc St Louis]

Maple does heat-bend well but it not take to heat-treating as well as HHB or Elm.  Contrary to what some people may think heat-treating does not make a wood more elastic it only increases the compression strength of the wood.  If you want your bow to keep a fair amount of reflex then use the sinew but use it intelligently.  Use dry heat to take out any "character" the stave may have, you can even add some reflex with it, then apply the sinew.  Some of the fastest bows I ever made were sinew backed white-wood recurves

[SLIMBOB]

I've never tempered HHB nor Elm, so I am sure your right Marc.  My sample size on Maple is small, but my experience in tempering it has been very positive.  On par with tempering Hackberry.  I've never considered what tempering does to improve the elasticity of a wood, I suspect very little as you stated.  It does improve the compression strength, so the belly does less work at a given draw length, reducing set and allowing you to better maintain a given profile.  I learned this from Marc St Louis.  Sinew will certainly allow you to maintain an even greater amount no question.  I'm not making a case here for what is best, just what is possible.

[Marc St Louis]

Bob
I haven't tempered that many Maple either but the results were somewhat less impressive than Elm and HHB, better than White Ash though.  The elasticity of a wood is inherent within that piece so heat-treating does not improve it.  It does, as you say, make the back work harder.  I've had some Rock Maple bows explode violently at full draw and believe me when they go it is explosive, it was in the Winter so they were a bit on the dry side.

A 60" long stiff handle bow on a 26" draw is getting a bit on the short side for a durable bow hence my recommendation for the sinew.  With the sinew though you could go down a couple more inches in length.  For a durable bow without sinew I would go with 64" in length

[Billbob]

Was thinking of using the sinew to keep the bow intact and to hold the reflex. Besides I have a bunch of sinew and I've never backed a bow with it yet.  Try something new. Think I'll stick with 59-60" with 4.5" handle. Hate to have 1 blow up at full fraw.