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Grain orientation on stave
Bob W.:
Come now Ruddy you can do it, we are watching and waiting. In all seriousness I think you have a good handle on it with a lot of excellent guidance to boot!
Ruddy Darter:
OK :D, I've got a spot of decorating to do for someone, and get some archery in, and that'll give me a break and a think about what I need to do. I'm at a stage that needs pondering and I'm being a little impatient and in danger of messing it up. I'm at a good stage and shouldn't be in a rush. I'll set up my steamer for its first outing and try and tweak the alignment, maybe take a little twist out, over the weekend, (my cheap rubbish heat gun packed up) .
Thanks Bob W. for the encouragment, 8) I'll carry on with this bow. The longer I take the better seasoned my other yew and ash staves will be too.
R.D.
WillS:
It's possible that you're being too cautious and hanging around on a long string for a bit too long. The long string, early tillering stage is really only to check that nothing crazy will happen when you brace it. At the heavier weights, it's far better for the bow and far easier for the bowyer to get it up to a full brace as soon as possible.
As an example - in an ideal world you'd take your roughed out bow (which should be virtually finished before it's even seen a string) and put a tight long string on it, pulling it to about 6" or so. If there's no horrendous hinge, or one limb isn't wildly stiffer than the other, it's on with the short string at full brace. That initial brace shape should tell you almost everything you need to know - where the weak spots are, where the stiff spots are, what the string alignment is doing and so on. You unbrace, sort the issues out, brace it again. Keep going until that brace shape is perfect - movement in the mid-limbs, nothing happening in the handle and reasonably stiff tips. That's when it goes onto the tiller and you start working it down to draw length.
Otherwise, with a long string you're being fooled the whole time - the tips will look stiffer than they really are, the middle will look weaker, the string alignment will be off compared to how it will end up and so on.
The only person who knows what that stave wants to do is you, but if you let the long string guide you down weird paths you'll end up having no idea what should be happening, and will start forcing what you want to happen onto the stave.
Remember that countless bows have been made with HUGE amounts of twist, bend, warp and so on. Your stave looks really clean and pretty straight considering you opted to follow every little grain movement.
Ruddy Darter:
Thank you WillS for the long string advice, at a push I might be able to get it on a low brace now although I think it would incur some set in places (and flips on to one side a fair bit) as it's moving nicely throughout the bow, it's got a nice bouncy spring to it.
I could carry on and remove off one side to steer the twist but I feel I would lose a fair bit of wood and draw weight, although that is a secondary consideration, and the string alignment is offset to the opposite side of the bow hand, which would not be good.
I reckon if I hit it with a spot of steam and tweak it in a better direction I won't need to remove so much wood off or go thin on one side.
I've marked a spot that I'm going to hit that will allow me to slightly de-twist and align in one move. Shouldn't take long and can get that done tomorrow, I'll then leave it be for three days(I think that's the recommended time for wood to recover) and back on tiller. I want to try out my wallpaper steam stripper too. :D
This the plan in action.. :BB
R.D.
Ruddy Darter:
Unsuccessful first attempt steaming, slipped under clamps which I failed to notice.
Had another go, didn't bother about the twist and just went for simpler string alignment, so far so good and seems good enough to carry on with. I'll even out some wood and get it back on tiller in 3or4 days.
... That all seems to of worked, I also took the whole bow down a couple of dimensions(may still get 110+) to square it all up and exclude a couple of knots so now have more movement mostly throughout the top limb. I also put on new nocks to get a better angle on them, did a better job but still not great. Put a string on and gave it a little draw and all bending together in the right direction.
Just going to wait until I really feel like continuing, I've had my fill for little a while and I am at a good stage with a good look forward.
Thanks again Bob W. and WillS for not letting me jack it in and for the helpful advice, things are looking a lot rosier. :)
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