rounded edges

[Justin Snyder]

I knew only the old timers would get it. Head'em up! Move'em out! Jawge

Hey Im not an old timer and I got it. Justin

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 u may not be an ole'timer yet BUT keep hangin' around with the ole far## and u will be one soon enuf' !   ....bob

[jpitts]

Maybe he's Mr. Favors.....or maybe Wishbone

[Justin Snyder]

Im not old, just lazy.  Justin

[tom sawyer]

I do like Pappy, I round more judiciously on the back just so I don't pull too much of my back ring off.

In addition to preventing splinters, I think the outer edges of a limb do less work than the wood nearer the center.  So you are getting rid of less-working wood by rounding.  There's something called the Poisson effect, its where the edges of a board curl up when you bend it.  I'm not quite sure of what is going on here but I think it demonstrates that there are not equal forces acting across the limb.

[jpitts]

Tom Sawyer,
I think, from what I've read of Poisson's ratio , and the effects of Hooke's Law is that the back is trying to narrow due to the stretch tension applied, but, the compressive forces also applied to the belly counteract the effect.  I think....

[tom sawyer]

Makes sense.  I suppose I'll have to actually look it up one of these days. 

[Kegan]

Round all the edges, especially for wide flatbows. For ELB's round the back just a little, and the belly a good deal, diving the cross section of the limbs a "D" shape.

[duffontap]

Leaving the corners perfectly square allows me to get yew/osage performance out of lumberyard boards.  By roughing out bows on a table saw I can easily build 6 bows an hour.  When I'm finished tillering it I intentionally break it and take extensive notes on the process.--Oh wait, I round my edges and it takes me 4 months to build one bow. 

I really like what Torges has to say about rounded edges in "Hunting the Osage Bow."  I think he handles the subject better than anyone. 

           J. D. Duff

[Uncouth]

It seems to me that many of the Native American Museum pieces I have seen have sharply squared edges, I remember thinking how perfectly square the corners looked, thinking "I can't cant do that even with modern tools".

[D. Tiller]

Were the bows sinew backed? If so I can understand the sharp edges. Sinew would take all the strain on the back then,

[Justin Snyder]

Most of the museum bows I have seen from the southwest are more of an oval cross section.  Justin

[roofus]

This is the beauty of a site like this. This is an old post but I had the same question.
Just shows a little bit of searching and reading goes a long way. Thanks for the info!!

[cowboy]

Well, I might as well chime in. I'm not an oldtimer but middle timer @ 43 . Can't say as I've ever heard of Roudy Yates but sounds like rawhide to me .
 Yup, round them corners.

[sailordad]

ya i'm like cowboy,not a real ol' timer but i did get it right away

i have learned to round all my edges,mostly for asthetic reasons and feel,atleast thats why i do it.
that and cause everyone here has told me to in the past.


                                                                                 tim