Laying out snakey bows ???

[hedgeapple]

Twisted, what Pearly is referring to is the crown on the back of the stave.  Since trees are round, there is almost always a crown on the back.  If you follow the high point of that crown it will give you the center lateral grain probably 95% of the time even if the bow twists and snakes.

[twisted hickory]

Gotcha apple,
That is what I was thinking but not sure. I wonder if that is what happend to my hickory bow I am working on. The stave was bent a little and rather than straightening the stave I just layed out a straight bow on a bent stave...Now I have a heck of a prop twist I gotta take out. I only cheated the natural grain of the wood by 1/4 inch on either end. I will either get it straight or break it trying

[osage outlaw]

Dave, it is a very handy ruler for bowyers.  It is a real time saver when laying out bow dimensions.  I had some printed on clear plastic at a local office supply store.  Here is a link to it.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,20462.msg280953.html#msg280953

[hedgeapple]

Thanks Clint.  I can see where those rulers would be quite handy.

[Pappy]

I do about the same to mid limb,but no circles. Then figure out what I need to drop from mid limb to the tip,depending on how snaky the stave is,I will make 3 inch lines across the limb if it is really snaky 2 inch lines and then free hand to the tip ,keeping the outer limb line running with the center line I have drawn. Works for me. I have seen the stencils used before and looks like that should work good also. While I am freehanding the outer lines I can see the longitudinal grain and make any little adjustments I need as I go along.
   Pappy

[k-hat]

Hm, wondered why i kept seeing circles scribed on the backs in some of the builds on here.  That sounds way better than my method, which is mark 1 or 1/2 inch increments along the centerline, figure my taper (eg: 1/32 per inch), then mark on either side of the centerline increments and freehand using the dots as guides.  Quite time consuming, and a real pain in the butt when you look again and realize your centerline was off after all that work>  Gonna hafta try the circle idea on the next snakey one.