Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Completely new red oak elb
gstoneberg:
I told youngbowyer in a PM I'd heard of someone using an angle grinder as a sander. That must've been you. The draw knife isn't a hard tool to learn, just tricky if you have no one to instruct you. I would also say that the draw knife is much easier to use on osage and mulberry than the white woods I've tried it on. I took an osage bow back to a growth ring yesterday afternoon in about 2 hours. It would have been faster if it hadn't had so many knots. Even so, I may try your approach anyway because it sounds so intriguing. In his case it might work a lot better than going it alone with the draw knife. You never know though, he might pick it right up.
I'm trying to find the most cost effective way to send him the stave. Osage is heavy.
George
alanesq:
lol - yes, that will be me
I struggled for ages with a spoke shave then a draw knife but I was getting blisters and only managed to chase about 6 inch
as you say, having someone to show how to use the tools would probably have helped me a lot
out of shear desperation I tried my angle grinder and 30mins later I was finished :-)
I have only tried it on white woods and without knots though
gstoneberg:
Alan, I really think your problem was with the wood. I once tried to chase a ring with the draw knife to make a bow from the lower half of a big hackberry stave. It was an exercise in futility. The thing chattered and before long I had speed bumps on the bow's back. Eventually I gave up and made firewood of my hackberry staves. A clear osage stave (which is almost an oxymoron) is wonderful to work with a draw knife. In fact, therein lies the danger. Just like with power tools, it is real easy to take wood off too fast and go through your ring. It's hard to argue with a 30 minute job on ring chasing though. I call ring chasing bowyers aerobics cause it always wears me out. At my age that's a good thing, I need all the exercise I can get.
Do you have osage over in the UK?
George
youngbowyer:
--- Quote from: LEGIONNAIRE on November 08, 2010, 12:22:34 am ---hahaha funny guys. The oak bow broke because the grain was of the piece on the side. Just an observation. Good luck with the osage.
--- End quote ---
. I just noticed that as well
youngbowyer:
decided to have a go with red oak one more time. This time i think the bow will be a bit more square in cross section. So far i tapered the limbs and should get to rounding tomorrow. Probably start tillering it on wednesday.
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