Forsythia

[Mounter]

I have a large bush in the yard that has a dozen or so possibility's.  Anybody tried it before?

[DC]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,56839.0.html

[bjrogg]

Yes Mounted  I've made a couple dozen forsythia. Look for the nice straight ones that seem thicker than you would need. They get thinner after you take the bark off and they dry. I took bark off a few days after I harvested them and let them dry. They didn't check on me at all and they straighten pretty easy with a little heat. They are hollow except at nodes and I use hardwood foreshaft and hardwood knock. I was just starting building arrows when I used them and really don't know what they spined and never bare shafted one but they actually shoot pretty good from my 48 lb rawhide backed ash bow. I got a good supply of red osier now so I'm not using the forsythia now but it will make a very shoot able arrow. I wrapped sinew anywhere it might split.
Bjrogg

[Mounter]

Thanks. I cut a dozen today that looked about right. Also 7 or 8 lilac that were about the right size. Now the wait. I hate that part!

[bjrogg]

I've never use lilac but I think it checks really easy and needs to dry slow with the bark on. The forsythia dried pretty quick. I actually used the fat end to rear on forsythia I think that might have helped my spine.
Bjrogg

[DC]

Arrows don't take that long to dry. I'm running a little experiment right now. I have a Snowberry shaft that I weighed right after collecting and every day since.
Day 1-589gr
  "   2-494gr
  "   3-467gr
  "   4-454gr
  "   5-440gr
  "   6-436gr

The last was today and it only lost 4 grains. This was no special treatment, just laying on a shelf. It's been 85-90 degrees but the humidity has been 75-80%. I'm thinking a week and a half or two should be pretty good. I won't use it yet because I have 40-50 bamboo and Ocean Spray shaft that are already dry and this will just go in the stack to be used whenever. I go for a walk back in the bush almost every day and I've made a habit of getting one really straight shaft every time. My stock of good shafts has been building steadily

Day 7- 434gr
 "    8- 433gr

Enough of that

[loon]

Woah, that seems pretty fast. No cracks or anything?

[DC]

Nope. And it was sitting on a gas stove. The stove isn't on but the pilot light is. It provides air circulation I guess. 70-80% RH may help or maybe Snowberry doesn't check, I've never used it before. It's still 433 today, day 9. Oh, I left the bark on two inches of each end.