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Building the Vine Maple Bow - Finished

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Gordon:
Several folks have asked me over the years to do a vine maple bow build-a-long. I had been reluctant because even though vine maple will make a fine bow it can be challenging to work with. The wood may be highly reflexed and have character in the way of knots, nodes, whoop-de-dos and dog-legs. On top of that vine maple wood often has grain swirls that makes it quite difficult to work with traditional tools like a draw knife, spoke shave and scraper. So I didn't think doing a vine maple build-a-long was the best choice for beginner bowyers. But over the last few years I've seen a rise in the popularity of vine maple bows and also there are now sources that can provide very clean vine maple staves (e.g. vinemaplebows) that are actually quite reasonable to work. What follows is a step by step guide to building a vine maple self-bow. Nothing fancy, just a self-bow with a stiff handle and self nocks. I chose to use as few power tools as possible because 1) many novices don't have ready access to power tools and 2) you are much less likely to make a fatal mistake with handle tools. So if you're thinking about tackling your first vine maple bow or just want to see what all the fuss is about, pull up a chair, crack a cold one and enjoy the ride.

 I'm starting with a stave that was harvested from the forests of the northern Oregon coast. It was harvested in the spring and was immediately split and debarked. I have rarely had vine maple check on me so I like to remove the bark while it is easy to peel away. This is a pretty typical stave in my area - it has a fair amount of reflex, several knots and dips and a dog-leg at one end.

Gordon:
The first thing I do is draw a line along the highest point (or crown) of the stave. This is important as the crown is not uniform and you want the thickest part of the wood to lie along the center of the bow limbs.





After drawing the center line, I use a piece of leather to mark a series of marks 1" inch to each side of the center. 





When I'm done, I have a stave that is ready to be worked down to a width of about 2"

Gordon:
Using a hatchet I remove the wood outside of the lines.





Wood removal is much easier if you keep your hatchet sharp!



And here is what the stave looks like after working it down after working it down with the hatchet.

Gordon:
This bow is going to be 62" ntn, so I shorten the length to 64" leaving an inch on both ends for the nocks.



I use a sharp draw knife to clean the edges up.

Gordon:
Using my hand as a guide I draw a line 1 1/2" from the back along the length of the stave (I'm leaving enough for a stiff handle if I want it). I do this on both sides of the stave.

I expect some of you are wondering by now why I don't just draw the bow and cut it to rough dimensions in one step and be done with it? The reason is because I generally do not have a firm idea of what design I want to use at beginning stages of making a bow. By taking many steps I have plenty of time to think about how I want the bow to look and kind of "sneak up" on it. I realize this approach isn't for everyone, but I like giving the wood a say on what it wants to be.





Using a hatchet, I remove the excess wood outside of the lines.





Next up will be locating the handle and working down the limb width and taper to rough dimensions.

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