Author Topic: Hazel tension  (Read 1370 times)

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Offline DC

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Hazel tension
« on: January 30, 2019, 11:10:07 am »
How strong is Hazel in tension? Would it stand a Yew belly? I have a Hazel bow I screwed up. I also have a couple of thin slats of Yew.

Offline dratera

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2019, 11:48:21 am »
From what I know it is very strong in tension and weak in compression. I made a 90 # bow from a sapling with more or less circular back and completely flat belly and it held up fine

Offline stuckinthemud

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2019, 11:49:42 am »
crysals?  I reckon its got to be worth a go, could be an excellent combination, but, hopefully Del will chime in on this

Offline DC

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2019, 12:42:01 pm »
I haven't worked much Hazel and this piece worked well with a spoke shave but a scraper didn't work well at all. Anyway I used the spoke shave. You can really take wood off fast with a spoke shave and soft wood :-[ :-[ :-[ After chasing out a couple of hinges it went in the corner.
My Yew scraps are only 1 3/16" wide and 1/4" thick. The Hazel has a high crown. It's going to be a real guessing game to know how much to thin out the Hazel. I guess I'll make it a comparable thickness to one of my backed yew bows.

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2019, 02:54:48 pm »
It's on my to do list as I think they would be well matched :)
Del
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Offline vinemaplebows

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2019, 01:15:43 pm »
Heat treat the belly.
Debating is an intellectual exchange of differing views...with no winners.

Offline DC

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2019, 01:21:37 pm »
I did that before I threw it in the corner ;D. Right now it's all glued up and I'm giving the epoxy time to cure.

Offline WillS

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Re: Hazel tension
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2019, 11:19:35 am »
I did a couple of hazel/yew bows about a year ago, and was very impressed with the combo.  One was 120lb with an almost dead flat hazel back, and went off to a customer who I think is still shooting it on and off.  The other was lighter, about 80lb I think and was a spliced yew belly with highly crowned hazel back.  I was experimenting with tied on nocks at the time and ballsed it up twice so ended up scrapping the bow but it was fine until then!  I didn't heat treat the belly, but the yew was exceptional - the really tight, dark English stuff that starts to look like teak with some oil and sunlight!

I was quite reluctant to let the heavy one go as it shot better than a similar bow with a yew belly from the same tree and an elm backing which surprised me.

On both bows I kept the belly fairly rounded but not quite as round as the typical Victorian D section.  I trapped the back much like you do with a heavy yew warbow, leaving quite a narrow strip of the hazel running down the back but I would imagine it would work just as well with a more modern/Victorian laminate style with full width backing.