Short Rawhide-backed Red Oak board bow

[CuriDaIII]

I recently just finished a rawhide-backed red oak board bow, first time using rawhide and artificial snake skin. It is only 60" ntn, really short for a 6' guy like myself, and draws 30# at 28". I painted the edges of the art. snake skin to make the edges a little more defined. Good staves and wood is pretty hard to come by where I am, so I've decided to experiment with boards, since there cheap and available. However, this specific bow started on a particularly ill chosen piece of lumber. Any thoughts on improvements would be greatly appreciated!

https://gyazo.com/0cce38f81ba7b12ca07f586297e994fe
https://gyazo.com/cb47823d622124571d5a7c3f039a97be
https://gyazo.com/581269dc208ca3d091b7531a36325956
https://gyazo.com/98bb87f021ab2be225348fe693ccb4b3
https://gyazo.com/72f6cedfe502d207cc34cdd1370d71dd
https://gyazo.com/5dbcae266245c0bfb961183ed90fbe23
I saved the photos as screenshots in URL form.

[willie]

pretty cool looking snake skins, and surprised you got your first bow to bend so far.

going longer will help if you are trying for more poundage on the next one. there is always some sort of staves that will work, what part of the country you in?

and, welcome to PA

[CuriDaIII]

pretty cool looking snake skins, and surprised you got your first bow to bend so far.

going longer will help if you are trying for more poundage on the next one. there is always some sort of staves that will work, what part of the country you in?

and, welcome to PA

Thanks!
I was surprised too, a real learning experience with rawhide. I've made a few longer bows, between 63-67" long, but shortening this one was more of an accident than anything.
I live in Canada, there aren't any suppliers of bow staves or wood around here. I also don't have a property to harvest from, sadly

[bownarra]

If you can't get maple in Canada something is wrong
Check around for big mills you might be surprised what you can get.

[DC]

Depends where you live in Canada. Hard(Sugar) maple is an eastern species. Out west we have Big Leafed Maple which apparently isn't very good and a few smaller species like Douglas, Vine and Rocky Mountain Maple that are good but are more difficult to find. If Big Leafed were good we'd be laughing. After Red Alder, it's the most common broad leafed tree around.

[willie]

CuriDaIII. are you sure the queen wont miss a 3" sapling from behind the landfill?

where there is a will there is a way, and recommendations here at PA if you are more specific. Lots of guys here from canada, btw. and lots of good woods also. whereabouts you from in canada?

if there are mills nearby, you might want to find the smallest

[CuriDaIII]

Lol, perhaps not willie, I wouldn't be opposed to it either!

I live in Southern Ontario which is highly cultivated, so a lot of farmland and cities, and very very very little crown land or bush lots, unfortunately. Most of the maple here I believe is red, white, and sugar maple, are they any good? You'd have to go up north a few hours drive to find actual bushland and a larger variety of trees. I do know some people with bush, though, so I might hit them up and see what's around.

On a very different note, I have some bamboo flooring, so bamboo planed down and laminated, and I'd like to know if that would be a decent-ish backing for an Ipe or oak bow?

[willie]

sugar maple is one of the best along with elm, ironwood and hickory. most farmers are very approachable if you see some timbered creek bottoms or hedgerows.  there are a few guys here fro ontario that will respond with more specifics if you post a new thread about "finding staves in southern ontario"

one good advantage to finding your own wood is you have control of the quality,  selection, harvesting, drying etc. all are important for bowmaking, as it requires exceptional wood to make exceptional bows.

[CuriDaIII]

Okay, thanks for the advice, I will definitely look into it. I've made a few board and laminate bows, but would like to start real selfbows. How long should a stave typically dry for, if I don't have a moisture meter or anything to tell the, well, dryness? Do the winter months have an effect on that process?

[willie]

how long a stave dries depends a lot on the storage conditions and how thick the stave is. a green stave reduced to almost bow dimensions. Say,a 3/4" by 2" piece reduced from the back of a sapling or log and monitored for weight loss can tillered into a bow a month off the tree. The most useful tool for that is a gram scale. one of those kitchen types often found for less than $20 works fine. you need to be willing to move the stave to increasingly drier locations, and watch for checking if it is too dry where you store it. some woods dry faster than others without checking. once the weather cools, and the house or shop are heated, finding a dry location is easy.

not knowing exactly which woods you have to choose from and having had the experience of drying them, I think that would also be something you could ask in any thread you might start about wood in southern ontario, my own experience is mostly with birch which is easy to dry. not all birches are as dense, but yellow birch is one of the better ones and may be in your area
serviceberry might be in your area also