Vine Maple Questions

[Aaron1726]

Last year Mr Walski was kind enough to gift me some staves, among them is a beautiful piece of vine maple.  I think I'm ready to dive into it, but have some questions.

A search on here for vine maple seems to yield a variety of opinions on growth ring violations and if it's ok with vine maple or not.  This stave has some pin knots and a couple spots of tear out, but not bad.  My thought was to clean up the back best I could which will likely violate a ring here and there, so thinking to back with rawhide.  But is it necessary?  Some say it's like hickory and can handle it, others not.

Also, curious how it takes to heat treat?  This also weighs in on my uncertainty as to back it or not, and when to back it since I'd like to try and heat treat the belly too if this is possible or a good idea with this species.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[JW_Halverson]

Tossing a throw-away comment here to hold my place. I'm interested in the answers.

[CCopland]

There is quite a lot of vine maple that grows in the area where I live (SW British Columbia). Finding a straight one can be a challenge. I have made four vine maple bows and they make for a very snappy bow. I have my eye on a tree on my property that is big enough to get two staves from. I will not cut it down until late spring, as that is when the bark comes off easily. It practically slips off and gives you a clean back to work with.

I cut the new stave down to near dimensions and then straighten and clamp it to a 2X4. I glue the ends and back with titebond glue to prevent cracking. Then I leave it for a couple of months to dry. It seems to be quite crack resistant. If you do not clamp it, vine maple will end up curl up in a big arc!

In my experience, vine maple takes heat well and I have heat treated the bellies on all the vine bows  I made. I have found that vine maple takes heat well BUT RESISTS HOLDING THE BEND! All the more important to make sure the stave cures  straight on a form to begin with.


I backed two of the bows but do not believe that it was necessary to do so.  Good luck on your build.

[Aaron1726]

Thanks for the info CCopland.

This stave is very straight, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.  Steve did all the work to get it to that point.

I think I'll start out with out a backing to begin tillering and go from there if it looks like it may need it.  Or I get to the point I cave and put one on 

Thanks again

[Wallski]

Hey Aaron, I couldn’t agree more with Ccopland statements, I live near Seattle where vine maple grows like a weed but, hard to find reasonable straight.   It’s super snappy and lite weight, which makes its a top shelf bow wood.   The back can handle minor imperfections without backing, if you heat the limbs for a ligament, you need to over compensate for the snap back, and if you reheat for any reason, it will return to its original state.   If it isn’t fully seasoned, it will arch but, this is when can heat treat the belly.

[Aaron1726]

Thanks Steve, and thanks again for the stave.  Going to give it my best.  I'll be sharing progress as it goes.