Fred Arnold 2017 Bow Trade, Pictures Please, housekeeping issues

[High-Desert]

I have had that problem with small diameter trees where I spilt than in half, but the more splits I get out of them, I seem to have less problems. Halves are the worst, quarters less so of a problem, and we'll see on these sixths. Trees that are leaning are a whole other story, them seem to twist and warp much worse even when splitting perpendicular to their lean.  With the slight warping I have got with the halves, it was nothing that wasn't fixable with a little heat treating.

Eric

[DuBois]

Woe Man!
That s an amazing bunch of staves!

[DuBois]

How you lilac me now?

She's come a long way baby!

61" total.

Really like this wood!

[penderbender]

Eric that's some nice looking yew. I too usually wait 6 months or so, sometimes more before I split yew. I haven't split much over 6" diameter though.
DuBois I'm really liking what you have done to that lilac stick. Shaping up nice. Cheers- Brendan

[Greenriverwoodcraft]

Here is a picture of the density of the growth rings in the hickory staves I'm working on for the trade bow. I'm thinking a 66 inch flatty with slightly flipped tips. I like small recurves better than extreme recurves personally.  I have made a few bows from this tree and it really nice to work with. Straight staves when split that dry into a pretty significant reflex and zero propeller twist on any of it. Seriously good stuff and the best part is I cut the tree down 50 yards from the back door from my house.

[tattoo dave]

Nice pile of yew. That lilac bow looks sweet!! Can't wait to see that one get finished up.

Tattoo Dave

[High-Desert]

That lilac is coming along nice. Ive only heard good things about lilac, so Im looking forward to seeing it complete.

Now you guys have me a bit nervous about splitting the yew. I've always done it that way, and havent had any issues, I hope I didn't jinks myself by saying that.....
I figure it will make a bow either way, might just be a bit more work.

Eric

[penderbender]

I'm sure they will be fine Eric. I wouldn't worry about it. You still have 13 nice staves haha.
Greenriver that's some nice looking wood. Cheers- Brendan

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I finally got started on a walnut stave. I'm not sure of the length but it's about 6' long at the moment. It has some nice fun roller coastering going on for a side profile, but it's atleast even. With a sort of 5 curve thing going on,  with some snaking to go with it. Though it might become a gullwing knce it's trimmed to length. I think I'll leace it natural when I tiller it out. I worked on gettin. A ring chased to get a thib sapwood layer over heart wood and to get rid of bug holes. But there are still several left. So I might run out of sapwood by the time the holes are gone. Oh well, not a big deal.

Kyle

[Dakota Kid]

High Desert, That pile of logs is a thing to envy. If you get bored workin all that yew and want to trade out for a white wood or BL let me know.

I have one good bend in my elm bow left to straighten which will probably call for stream, then I'll get a pic up. I keep saying well after this next adjustment I'll post, well maybe one more. I have the limbs for the 3 piece take down underway as well. I prefer working with hand tools so the planing will take a while, but I'll include some pics regardless .   

Kyle, I'm liking that walnut. I made a board bow for my old man out of walnut and have been wanting to get my hands on a stave to try. There's some really neat design potential with the contrasting colors. Have you ever seen this bow? One of my top favorites of all time from this site.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,38882.0.html

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I wish I would've seen that bow before I started removing sapwood. I'm liking the look of those thorns.
But I got it roughed out, I still have to clean up the front profile lines. Once I do it'l be 1 3/4" wide till mid limb. There's a lot of fun stuff going on with this one. I was able to get it so thall all but one big hole will be removed by the time I clean up the lines and round the corners. The last one will rl most be gone. It's 8-9" below the nock, so hopefully it'll be under strained and holed. It's on the last ring where most of the color shift happens. So it aughta look great. But even with all the wonky bends going on, both tips are inline with the back and the string should line up with the edge of the handle. So might need just a little tweak of the handle with some steam. There's some back and forth prop twisting where he tips and handle are on the same plane. So who knows what thatll do to the string alignmebt until I brace it up.
I hoped guy likes character bows,  cuz this will definitely be one.

Kyle

[penderbender]

That's looking good Kyle! I'm really liking the color of that walnut. This is my first trade, and it's pretty cool getting to see everything get made. This is gonna be fun! Cheers- Brendan

[upstatenybowyer]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been paying enough attention to this thread. I didn't realize we were supposed to post pics of the progress... makes sense.

So here's what I'm working on for my victim...

Yew 5 curve
63" long
Giving just a little in the handle at full draw
50-60#
rawhide backed

I've got it roughed out and I just set back the handle with steam. I'm starting at 1" thick in the handle tapering to 5/8" thick at the tips, with the width at 1 1/2" at the handle running parallel to mid-limb. For now the width tapers to 1" at the tips cause I'm planning on steaming in some big curves at the tips. They'll be much less wide at the end. All is well so far!

[DuBois]

Everything's looking really good.
Glad to see the pace is pickin up just a little.

Hey Kyle, I like that walnut just fine without the horns buddy.

[stuckinthemud]

I been trying every trick I know to get the laurel to heat-bend - I dry heated it till I nearly scorched it - nothing: steamed it for a half hour, no way would it bend - heck it was still only warm to the touch!  Gonna boil it and if that don't work, I'm cutting into Plan B!