Main Discussion Area > Horn Bows

Knots in Scythian bow slats

<< < (2/3) > >>

mikekeswick:
Saplings are used because the wood is very elastic before the tree grows bigger.
These bows are a crazy design! Fancy for fancies sake ;)

joachimM:
Saplings because juvenile wood is more elastic, at the expense of being less rigid.
Juvenile wood has a higher microfibril angle in its wood fibers (just like compression wood), allowing more bending before breaking (or set).
Since wood is a lot weaker in compression perpendicular to the grain, knots are generally not a good idea. However, in some softwoods (like larch, yew, oregon pine, ...), wood in branches is much denser (and therefore darker), which compensates to some extent for the loss of compression resistance along knots. 

Tom Dulaney:
Thanks for the advice guys, glad you enjoyed the article. Can I just get a recap here?


 Why does it matter if the wood has tiny, smaller than 1mm knots in it?

 I just can't find any wood here that doesn't have knots in it, and it is driving me insane. Every time I think I got a perfect sapling, I peel the bark away (with torturous care) only to reveal yet another row of God's many disappointments. I'm getting chilld just thinking about it. I'm so angry I'm on the verge of burning all my wood and never thinking about bows and arrows ever again. I can't even find a six inch piece of wood on a sapling that doesn't have atleast two branch eminences in the wrong location, there's literally nothing to work with after cutting down enough saplings to feed a gorilla family of 5 for a week.

mikekeswick:
Look harder!
It matters because knots mean there isn't a continuous unbroken set of straight fibers. Knots are weaknesses in these bows and the core will break there.

stuckinthemud:
Yeh, I do sympathise, hunting for good quality bow-wood is one of the joys and frustrations of bow-building, and finding wood for horn bows is even more frustrating and rewarding!!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page