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New Elm Bow
Dane:
Well, here is a new bow, for what it is worth. I am not entirely happy with it, but again, I think it came out okay. This was my first successful stave bow. It was an elm stave Jamie had provided me via the Connecticut primitive gathering that happened earlier this summer, where I got it to the early floor tillering stage.
It is 65 inches end to end, and pulls at 49 lbs. at 27 inches.
I ended up, I think, inducing some set by not having the stave quite seasoned when I was in the early tillering stage, with about 2" or a bit more of brace. Nevertheless, it seems to be a great performer, very fast and no hand shock at all, very zippy. I thought it would be a dog at first, but a few trips to the range have at least put that fear to rest.
I had to steam it twice to get the string aligned to the center of the stave, and that worked out well. The stain I used was unusual. I wanted a natural stain, and made a two part stain out of black tea (Irish breakfast, actually, :) and an iron acetate solution made from letting a big ball of steel wool soak overnight in a bowl of malt vinigar. The tea I boiled, let steep for a few hours, and then wiped on, let sit for a few mintues, and then, I wiped on the iron acetate solution. It began to darken immediately, stopping maybe after 15 minutes.
I made the tip overlays and arrow plates from, believe it or not, a couple of bone folders you buy at a craft store for paper and book making. Cut the pieces out, worked them with a power sander and then file, final finishing, and glued them on. I put a plate on each side, as I wasn't sure which limb I wanted to have as the top limb. The handle is just a strip of oiled leather wrapped on and glued where it needed to stay put.
The decorations are just four strips painted on using acylics. I wanted to try a real primitive pigment, and am moving in that direction. In fact, I had envisioned painting on some neolithic cave animal design, but at the last minute, decided to keep it simple. I made a 200 lb. linen flemish twist string for it while lying next to a salt water swimming pool and the ocean at Booth Bay Harbor, Maine, where my wife and pug and I celebrated her last birthday (the good life, pity it isn't every day, :) a couple of weeks ago. The finish is satin laquer, about five coats.
So, this is my rememberance of the Ct event. Overall, I am happy with it. I wish I had done a few things differently (for one thing, something about the tiller bothers me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It could have been better, I suppose), but there it is, and here at the pictures. Thanks for reading. Oh yes, I don't think this should be put in for the bow of the month contest, however. I've seen far better bows than this one this month.
Dane
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brokennock:
I like it Dane. Nice work. I've not yet gotten to work with any elm.
Pappy:
Nice job Dana,I like the looks of that ,tiller looks ok and don'nt look like it took to much set,
about normal I would say.How do you like working with staves rather than boards ? :)
Pappy
DanaM:
Dane nice first stave bow, I like your idea for staining the bow and I like the simple look also.
Any chance of a full draw picture on the tiller tree? Looks like both limbs could bend more
near the fade and perhaps in the outer third. But hey I'm a rookie too eh :)
How was the elm to work with? I have a few staves from a small tree I managed to get and it was a bugger to split.
Dane:
--- Quote from: Pappy on July 25, 2007, 05:41:11 am ---Nice job Dana,I like the looks of that ,tiller looks ok and don'nt look like it took to much set,
about normal I would say.How do you like working with staves rather than boards ? :)
Pappy
--- End quote ---
I'm glad I'm not the only one up at o'dark thirty. Thanks Pappy. Staves are great fun, and an entirely different animal. I was actually suprised by it at times, and it made me think quite a bit more. I also got the feeling it was guiding me more than me it, if that makes sense.
Dane
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