2021 Bow Trade - build in progress

[Fox]

*excited*

Don’t have a bow to work in so I’ve been staring at my staves thinking about the trade!

[Kidder]

Ok, so here are the details of how the draw was done this year. We had two groups - the first group of four who indicated they would ship anywhere and the second group of 9 who were all within the US (lower 48) and would only ship within the US. Everyone was assigned a number and I had my 7 year old draw numbers from a hat as far as who each person was building for. Upon first glance it doesn’t look like anyone is building for the same person who is building for them, but I could be wrong.
Once you receive your recipient information it’s time to start the build. Starting with posting the stave/billets/board etc you will be starting with. Let’s have fun!

[simk]

Man, that makes me nervous already. Just had to check my staves, nothing worthy..... maybe have to check elsewhere 

[stuckinthemud]

Well, noo pressure there then, I've never seen bow wood that good, hope my guy likes a bit of character.

[Digital Caveman]

Are those Osage or yew boards in center left?  I see some wood in that pile I would be happy to use. 

I'll start out with a clean ash stave and shoot for a pyramid bow, or maybe an ELB.  If that doesn't work I'll put together a simple lam bow.  My plans may change if I can get a good HHB stave seasoned in time.

I'm building for simplicity, dependability, and elegance.  Nothing fancy, but it should serve well for years.

[Kidder]

So everyone should have received a PM from me with their recipients information. Just to be certain I didn’t screw it up, please reply and let me know who you are building for. That’ll ease my mind a bit.
From here let’s get started. For ease of monitoring and ensuring everyone is making the appropriate progress please plan to post status reports with pictures for the following stages:
Initial stave/billets/board
Design
Roughed out
Some phase of tillering
Fully tillered
And finished.

For my build I’ve decided to do a bamboo backed ERC bow. Here is a very straight grained ERC board and bamboo backing I selected.

[PaSteve]

I think I'm going to stick with osage for my trade bow. My thoughts are in line with tradcraftsman. Going for a dependable, proven design that should afford many years of enjoyable shooting for my recipient.  I'm leaning towards the longer middle stave that has a nice character wiggle about 10 inches from one end. Hopefully, I'll get started chasing a ring sometime this week. Really looking forward to this build and seeing what others have in mind. Have fun guys and don't put too much pressure on yourself.

[Digital Caveman]

I know I've asked this before, but isn't Boo a little strong for ERC?

[Kidder]

I know I've asked this before, but isn't Boo a little strong for ERC?

I’ve built one very nice shooting bow that has around 400 arrows through it without problem. I believe it really helps to have a slightly trapped back and really thin bamboo (knife edge). The ERC I have is super elastic and seems to compress really nicely without showing much set even. We will see though. Probably why I should have a backup plan.

[Digital Caveman]

I'll start with a 67" pyramid bow 1 7/8" wide at the fades tapering to 5/16" knocks.  8" handle and fade section.  This is almost an exact replica of one of my nicest shooters (the biggest difference is that this is ash, not elm) 

The stave is very straight and clean, but it does have a fairly high crown.  All of the interest in this bow will have to be the design, tiller, and craftsmanship.

[Digital Caveman]

Well, I got it to the start of floor tiller, now comes the hard part ...

[Swampman]

I started on a HHB stave last week but I won't be able to get any more done on it until I take care of the pallet of concrete sitting in front of my tillerring tree.  I need to put a fence up so I can get my shop cleared out. 

I do have a black locust  bow that I just finished up that I can send to my guy if things go bad for me but I don't plan on letting that happen.  It is nice to have a backup plan though. 

[TimothyR]

I just ordered a coffee tree stave.  Anyone have any experience with it.

[Jakesnyder]

Here's the stave I'm planning to use. It's got different color streaks running all the way down the back. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I've seen just reddish streaks but nothing quite like this.

[Stickhead]

Here's the stave I'm planning to use. It's got different color streaks running all the way down the back. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I've seen just reddish streaks but nothing quite like this.

I’m guessing that’s the outermost heartwood ring that transitions to sapwood, hence the lighter streaks.  It’s probably fine for a back, but if you have enough wood to chase the next ring, I bet it will be solid yellow.