Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Good time to cut wood?
Ruddy Darter:
I managed to source a couple of ash staves (Fraxinus excelsior), they look quite good to me, clean with only a very few little pins on the back. One will need a little straightening.
They were cut a little under a week ago(not by me) and I've just finished taking off the bark and painted the ends(wood glue and p.v.a.). A couple of pics of where I'm leaving them, they will get a nice little draft from the gap under the garage door. Good enough place?
They are just rough quarter split... Is there anything else I need to do?
Should I tie them to a form at all or o.k. Like this?
And what sort of draw weight could I expect from these staves? (They are 79" long, 4"wide x 3" deep.)
Thanks for any advice,
R.D.
stuckinthemud:
Hopefully you have painted the end 3 or 4 inches of the staves - just painting the exposed timber on the end isn't enough - but sealing with PVA is fine. I know some of the guys on PA tie their staves down to prevent movement while they season, equally some don't - I don't but then neither do I object to straightening the wood, since most of my timber is bent to some extent before I cut it - finding arrow straight logs ain't easy, as you already know ;) If you're going for recurves, then pre-bending green wood is easier than bending it once its dry but that would require you to rough out the stave straight away - not a big deal, and will dramatically reduce its drying time. I'd have thought that staves that size will pretty much give you any draw weight you want.
Ruddy Darter:
Thanks for that stuckinthemud, 8) I'd only painted an inch or so on the ends, just painted some more on.
I'll probably rough them down some over the weekend.
WillS:
Yeah you can make any weight you want out of those. As a rough idea, my last heavy ash bow was 145-150lb ish, and it's 40mm x 30mm.
Start extra long, then knock it down to about 77" maximum after brace height. Keep the belly roundish (unless the wood is telling you to square it off by taking a bit of set) and round the edges of the back quite a lot. Good luck :D
Ruddy Darter:
OK, thank you WillS. 8)
R.D.
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