Too much character?

[gstoneberg]

What kind of length you got to the crook on the short limb?

It's about 18" to where the bend starts, 23" to the center of the crook.  There's a little less than 4'  from the other end of the crook to the end of the stave.

George

[Pappy]

I would go for it,just be careful in the bend,usually if they are going to give trouble it will be there.I have made several takedowns using the sleeve system for Yancey or 3 rivers. I ant sure what to much snake is,never seen one yet I wouldn't try,don't all work out but when they do they are to cool.
   Pappy

[George Tsoukalas]

Yup try it. She'll teach ya. Look at the tiller from both sides make sure the bends are doing their share of the bending. Knots and other suspect areas should not bend as much as the rest of the limb. A good trick is to measure of each limb in 6 in increments and use outside calipers to get a taper. Put on the first 6 in line. Tighten. Give it a few twists. Keep removing wood until you get to the next 6 inch mark. Continue. Take your time.  Jawge

[gstoneberg]

OK, I'll give it a go.  I've never used calipers to build a bow, but this does sound like a good time to start.  Maybe if it isn't too cold in the shop I'll go get started tonight.  Thanks.   George

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Go for it,

check this out, and my wood isn't as good as Osage

[Diligence]

Great lines!!!!  gotta love those curves

[gstoneberg]

Oooh, I like that a lot.  Very nice.   George

[Timo]

What ? Manny in long britches? 

Love that bow son!

[gstoneberg]

OK, I cleaned off the work bench, brought in the stave and started work.



The wood around that jog in the stave is nasty looking.



Looks like I'll have to bend a limb to get the string in the handle.



Removed the bark and marked out a centerline.



This time I did quite a bit of work up front on the belly as I'm a little afraid of wood problems
and I'd just as soon find them before I go too far chasing a growth ring.  There's quite a bit of
water and insect damage in this spot.  Also, the wood here is very hard and really worked
the draw knife (and me). 



There are some deep checks on the belly.  Not sure at all if there's a bow hiding in here yet.



The good news is that it's slow growth and therefore strong.  The bad news is there are 20 rings/inch,
staying on a growth ring is going to be a pain.    There is a nice one about 4 rings into the heart wood. 
I'll shoot for that as the bow's back.



Enough for one evening, I'm out of energy.

George

[Diligence]

I'm really interested to see how this turns out....looks like a challenge

[gstoneberg]

I'm going to start a thread in the HowTo's and Build-a-longs area and put the rest of the bow construction pictures over there.
Here's a link, http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,18169.0.html

George

[George Tsoukalas]

You have a nice ring just under the bark there.  Looks like you are following the longitudinal grain well. That first pic with the string strung from end to end was just to give you an idea where the string fell on the handle. Right? More on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[gstoneberg]

Yes Jawge, I was just checking out how much heat bending I had in front of me to get the string in the handle.  There will be a bit of that required it looks like to me.  I hope I can use that top ring, but I'm skeptical due to wood borers.  I've also sometimes had the top ring turn back to white wood further down the stave.  If it's too bad I'll sinew back.

One thing I found interesting is that the wood deep in that bend splits out to a much shallower point on the ends of the bow.  I'll have to be careful draw knifing the belly.  I'll probably use a rasp and a drum sander on that jog just to be safe.

George

[DCM4]

No reason to change anything but that twist in the snake is what gets you.  I've tried 'em, Timo, etc. like that and sometimes you get away with it, sometimes not.  The effect of torque is I think what causes the trouble.  You'll see Manny's example is excessviely snakey, but stays in the same plane in terms of twist.

Never say never, but be mindful this is it's Achilles heal.  Hard to day what you got till you get it all backed down, laid out and reduced to floor tiller.  Just in case, leave beaucoup wood in that area till you get an idea how it's gonna bend there.  Might even consider a little heat manipulation if it looks like it will help.

[gstoneberg]

Good points, this is the first snaky bow I've tried that has twist in the limb like this one.  I'm also worried about how hard the wood is in the belly of that little jog.  So far it is much harder than anywhere else in the bow.  I'm hoping that the wood up where the bow will be will be normal, but if it isn't I'm not going to have any luck getting it to bend.  I won't put in a handle on this bow until I have it bending well.  That way I can splice a different limb onto it if I need to (or make a take-down).   George