Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
80" White Elm Warbow Build-along
WillS:
If only Joe Gibbs was a member here! Nobody can build white wood warbows like that guy.
Also, it's a shame you're not a member of the EWBS - there's an entire forum section dedicated to white wood warbows. There's an excellent build-a-long by Alan Blackham in which he makes a 110lb white elm full compass bow, and a lot of beautifully made elm bows scattered across the forum. Not much help here I'm afraid, but I can tell you the dimensions of another guys white elm 110lb bow - 35mm wide and 28mm thick in the handle area, tillered full compass of course. Don't know if that's any help?
Couple of things I picked up from a quick browse just now - keep the wood super dry, toast the belly during tillering and tiller slowly. None of that is from me personally (as I said I am clueless about elm!) but they're various nuggets of info from Joe. Best of luck dude!
Del the cat:
Oh, BTW..
Don't switch off the hot air gun and leave it nose down in your clamp. It can melt the innards, they are designed to cool down nose up.
My fancy temperature controlled one died that way :-[ but I'd got enough temperature daya before it went...
Del
Cameroo:
Will, thanks for the hints. I'll convert those measurements and see how they compare with my finished product. And thanks for the tip with the heat gun Del.
I decided to start the heat treating with the bow clamped to the side of a 2x4 and induce a little reflex while I'm at it with a chunk of wood clamped under the handle area. Del, as much as I love your idea of correcting the tip alignment at the same time, I just could not bring myself to mounting the bow in the jig I built to do that. The logistics just didn't seem like it would work out for me. With the wider caul that would be required, I was too worried about scorching the back, which I have done in the past. So I came to the conclusion I would correct the alignment with heat applied to a small section of limb after the heat treatment is done. I understand your logic for avoiding reheating, but I have also read some other notable bowyers say that that is not an issue. My inexperience doesn't allow me to form my own opinion on the matter :)
Here's a shot of how it's working out so far. I've got the gun running at 800 degrees F (will go all the way up to 1200 but I don't want to push my luck). I'm keeping the gun 4" from the belly at all times, blowing for 6-8 minutes, and then advancing about 3 or 4 inches up the limb. The jig is working out great, it allows me very precise and easy adjustments for the gun position. The wood is actually getting a little darker than it appears in this picture. I'll post some close-ups once it's done. At this rate it's going to be an all day event, but I'd rather let the heat soak in slowly than end up just scorching the surface.
Stoker:
Looking good Cam.. My old drywall shoulders hurt thinking about pulling it... It'll be sweet when she's done..
Thanks Leroy
Cameroo:
Just a quick update. Over the last couple days I was able to finish the heat treating, and then bring the tips into alignment using a different form, shown below. I forgot to take pics, but I had some aluminum foil taped to the sides to block the heat from reaching the back of the bow. Seemed to work ok. The second pic shows the bit of reflex that was added during the heat treatment. Overall I was happy, the tips track straight through the handle again. I'll set the stave aside now for a few days to let the moisture content equalize again. Hopefully I didn't dry it out too much.
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