Author Topic: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.  (Read 9457 times)

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Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2011, 11:35:35 pm »
I can only guess how much more it "hurts" to have one go when you are crossing the finish line...heck, who knows...maybe I'll find out on my 2nd attempt  ;D

Good luck on your next one, are you going to try another ERC?
~ Lee

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"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
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Offline HickoryBill

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2011, 07:44:40 pm »
Not for awhile. It's hard to come by in my neck of the woods.
"He who hesitates usually misses"
"All you really need to make a bow and arrow are some sticks and a deer carcass"
Bill Stockdill
Clarion County Pennsylvania

Offline mullet

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #17 on: February 24, 2011, 11:28:43 pm »
 Lee, I have found the best way to correct twist in cedar is through tillering. Take wood off the strong side so it will bend back the other way. And it doesen't matter if it has more sap wood than heart wood. Actually, I think it is better.

 Bill, Cedar is COOL when it blows ;D. I've had pieces land on my roof. When you pull it back on a pulley, and it gets tight you have to make yourself stop.
Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2011, 12:50:29 am »
Lee, I have found the best way to correct twist in cedar is through tillering. Take wood off the strong side so it will bend back the other way. And it doesn't matter if it has more sap wood than heart wood. Actually, I think it is better.

That's good to hear Mullet...I still have the roughed out bow, we band-sawed the split handle depth off in our efforts to do a postmortem  >:D  I also removed the bark and basically dropped down 2 rings and chased them.  I kept the thickness the same as I followed the prop twisted contour but what you are saying is that in that sap wood I could have simply removed the higher side on the back or the lower on the belly with a rasp and I may have been OK?  I may still try to save the bow (shock of all shocks, my non-outdoor wife looked at all my recent board bow cut outs for my boys and I and asked "so where's MY bow?")  yup, still dragging my jaw around on the floor  :o

Hey HickoryBill, I actually have (what I feel) is a gorgeous, rather large ERC on the back side of my property...it should have minimal to zero grain twist and with the diameter being much larger than the 1st one I experimented on the crowning affect on the back will hopefully be very manageable.  I could set aside a stave of it for you if it turns out good and you are interested?

Thanks guys,
~ Lee

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"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
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Offline HickoryBill

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #19 on: February 25, 2011, 08:24:36 pm »
Lee : that sounds great. Let me know when you wanna do it!!!
"He who hesitates usually misses"
"All you really need to make a bow and arrow are some sticks and a deer carcass"
Bill Stockdill
Clarion County Pennsylvania

Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2011, 10:35:13 pm »
Hey Hickory Bill, went out and secured that nice ERC tree today...it was a lot bigger than I figured  :o  It took me and my 11yr old son about 3 hours to drop the tree, trim the scruff off and cut it into sections (and all that was the easy part) Then we haul to drag, haul the pieces out through our 12" of snow to get it to the road.  Anyway, long story short is that I'm fatter and more out of shape than I though  >:D

Here are a few pics of the haul:









Ended up with 5 long logs that obviously still need to be split & reduced but I sealed the ends right after these pics were shot and I am hoping to get have them split by Sunday.  They are 15" diameter, 13" diameter, 12" Diameter, 10" diameter and 7" diameter.

I also scored a sweet little bonus while driving some country back roads in search of the ever elusive Osage (in my neck of the woods) and drove right up on some utility workers who had just dropped this nice size Osage branch than ran too close to the power lines...it's grain isn't premo but it should provide me with some free practice plus now I know where a land owner lives so I can hopefully get permission to cut/buy a couple Osage Trees.



Regards,

~ Lee

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"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offline HickoryBill

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2011, 10:42:02 pm »
What are the lengths of the ERC logs?
"He who hesitates usually misses"
"All you really need to make a bow and arrow are some sticks and a deer carcass"
Bill Stockdill
Clarion County Pennsylvania

Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2011, 10:45:25 pm »
What are the lengths of the ERC logs?

dangit, I knew I was forgetting something...75"
~ Lee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offline sonny

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Re: Working on an ERC bow, a comment and a question.
« Reply #23 on: February 26, 2011, 01:05:43 pm »
....you may already know this but I feel it's worth saying. Knots in ERC are hard as hell to work around !! The wood
around them desperately wants to splinter,,,,,but I'm thinking that you must be a glutton for punishment based on hauling that wood
out in the snow.

Several years ago I found a straight trunk ERC that had fallen across a creek on property that I used to hunt.
Took the chainsaw back and cut it into what I thought were manageable sizes, though when I threw one log up
on my shoulder I thought my knees would buckle. Ended up going back with a sledgehammer and wedges, splitting into
quarters that WERE manageable. I ended up getting a bunch of excellent staves from that tree, some of which were sent to
buddies across the country.......
Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.