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gum tree flatbow build along

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blades7558:
ok, so i mistakenly cut down a gum tree thinking it was an oak i figured i might as well use the wood. ii don't have any pictures of me trying to split the tree but any of you who have used gum for fire wood know that its impossible. those of you who don't know gum is a stringy, twisted and compact white wood. I tried splitting a 6 inch diameter log and it ended only in sweat and frustration with the wedge only in the log about 4-5 inches. Enter man's best innovation the chainsaw. I cut the log in half with that beautiful whining, sawdust throwing machine and had a smile on my face the whole time. not primitive by any means but primitives wouldn't be making a bow out of gum either.i let the wood dry for about 2 weeks with the bark on. I then cut a 70 inch peice off of the smaller end of the tree which had more sapwood.  then drew up plans on the flat belly side of the bow. here are the dimensions: 1 inch nocks (for now) 2inch mid limb width  2 -1/2 inch at the fades. a handle that is 4inches long by 1-1/2 inches wide and slope to the 2- 1/2 inch fades over one inch. there are very few knots in this wood which im happy about because me and knots are not friends at all. i cut down the belly of the bow to floor tiller depth  and im now patiently waiting for it to dry. my moisture meter says its at 22+ % and it doesn't have any conversion ratio for gum in the booklet so ill start tillering at 9-10 % here are some photos. Bear with me because this is my first picture post. the last photo is of a big knot on the very tip of the bow please give advice for what to do with that monster.



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blades7558:
heres the knot 


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HatchA:
That knot looks well and truly dangerous  :-\

Does the strong difference in colour between it and the surrounding whitewood mean it's essentially "seperate" from the whitewood?  Reminds me of the kind of knots that have a habit of just falling out, leaving a hole.

blades7558:
the way i figure it is its close to the nock where it won't be bending a whole lot and its not all the way through the stave i must have cut the knot in half when i shaped the bow so "fingers crossed" it won't be the demise if the bow.

blades7558:
i think i have ran across a neat way to power dry staves. after i cut this stave down to floor tiller i put it in front of my box fan thats in my room on low for a day and a half. it went from 22+ % moisture contentin the limbs and handle to 16% in the handle and 9% in the limbs.im sure every one has cut the stave down to proper dimensions to dry out the stave, i was just amazed at how fast it dried in front of the fan. i have started tillering with a long cord and im following the tillering procedure noted in the bowyers bible and im at the #35 mark with #40 to #45 being the goal. here are some picture of it at an estimated 12 inches of draw on the tillering tree. im pretty sure the right limb is to stiff or isn't bening perfectly but your comments are welcome because i don't want to break this one to.  hopefully ill have more updates tomorrow or sometime this week.

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