Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Grain orientation on stave
Del the cat:
Still not sure why you are chasing rings on the belly ???? :o
Del
Ruddy Darter:
So I can accurately define the centre of the exposed ring/rings( where I've stepped it a few rings while working to the handle to allow a safety margin of a little more wood before working to nearer dimensions) and then mark out my measurements for final bow and take off from the sides accurately and evenly in accordance to where the bow snakes a little. Because the rings are tight I break into them when working flat I don't know if I'm sloping off left or right and the back is rather rounded which adds to my confusion, you would probably see it for what it is straight away Del but for me Its just making a clearer picture for me to start with rather than a load of grain lines that would confuse me, until I can read them better from experience I think this is helpful to me. When I cut through that peak on the grain all I'm left with is a load of lines and not knowing which ones the centre and run off the side coz that's the only one showing a flat opening grain.
I can now draw a line in the centre of the valley down the length of the bow knowing I have the true centre and measure off from there for the sides. I hope there is method in my madness and I'm making sense, sorry if I'm not. (before I started doing this I didn't know if I was coming or going :-\)
R.D.
WillS:
You don't need to follow grain with Pacific yew. You could cut a bow out of a stave diagonally and it wouldn't matter. Ignore the lines, the grain, the direction. Mark a straight line, draw the bow out and cut it out.
Pacific yew is brilliant for that reason - even a crazy C-shaped bent stave you can just fit a straight bow down the middle somewhere and not worry.
Ruddy Darter:
Thanks Wills, but to start with I'll continue doing this, good practice if I work on other woods, It feels correct for me to do this to get the optimum from the wood, I may be wasting my time but it feels right.
But thanks all the same, that's good to know, 8)
*I was once told it's always better to have the bow orientated the way the tree grew, i.e top of the tree is the top limb, root end of tree is bottom limb, therfore after looking at the stave closer I've been working what will be the top limb* (I don't know how much this applies to Oregon yew, but I'll work it that way.)
R.D.
Marc St Louis:
I assume you are making a warbow, none the less I would orient the bow so that the back has a more or less convex back rather than concave.
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