Share your tips and tricks.

[bjrogg]

In the bow section an old post from Badger was brought back to daylight. I was titled something like another crazy Badger idea. I liked it. He wanted to start a book to have bowyers give tips tricks and different ways of building bows. It was perhaps ambitious and never saw print. I thought maybe we could just start a post and people could just and little tricks they discovered and share them. Maybe it could go to a sticky on top if it caught on.

I've learned a lot of tricks from people on this site. Here are two I just kinda stumbled on myself that I would like to share. Hopefully others will pick the ball up and keep it going.

My tip #1 is something I've shared before on this site. You search removing winter Bark and cambium with a power washer. I had about 20 HHB staves that I had harvested during the winter and a Elm stave that was gifted to me that had the Bark dried on for several years. I removed the Bark from the Elm but trying to remove the cambium and still have a pristine back was proving difficult. I'd head about steam or leaving in shower. I decided to try something out of the box. We have a power washer that heats hot water. I removed the Bark and cambium from the approx 20 HHB staves and the Elm in something like a hour if I remember right. The backs were pristine on some very ungulating HHB. It would have been nearly impossible to do this with a scrapper. For more information and pictures search for my original thread.

Trick #2 is a simple one I just stumbled on one night while trying to scrape and rasp tip end of limb. It always seems hard to hold in vice to secure good enough to work on. I noticed a floor squeegee with a hollow handle leaning against the wall. I took it and put the tip of my bow in the end of the hollow handle with the squeegee straight down to the floor. I can strattel the handle and really put some down pressure on my rasp or scapper.
Hope these tips help someone and others share theirs
Bjrogg

[High-Desert]

I like the idea of this post. Good call Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Good post BJ.

[TimBo]

Well, I probably won't have much to contribute to this thread, but it's a great idea!  Kind of like those TBB chapters with miscellaneous tips.

[upstatenybowyer]

Definitely a great idea BJ. Let me ponder this a bit and see if I've got anything worth sharing...

[DC]

Steaming in a plastic bag. I use this method all the time. I usually use bread bags but I'm doing most of a limb in this case so I used poly tube. Close the ends with a length of sewing elastic and cut a small hole in the bottom for drainage. Enlarge the hole to increase the steam flow. The bag should just inflate slightly.

[bjrogg]

I like that DC. Thanks for sharing your tip. I'll remember it and try it for sure.
Bjrogg

[upstatenybowyer]

DC, what's that white contraption that's producing the steam?

[DC]

It's a clothes steamer. I found it at the thrift store for $5. A couple of weeks later I found another at a different store for $7. I think they are one of those things that get a big push on TV and everyone buys one. Then they find out they ain't that much use and off to the thrift store they go. It provides about an hour of steam. You can also use wallpaper strippers. Just look for anything that makes steam. You can fit a hose to an electric kettle. It doesn't have to take any pressure. Actually if the pressure builds up it probably means you're not getting enough flow to keep the temperature up.

[osage outlaw]

I got a used wallpaper steamer a while back and it works great.  I'll never go back to the pan of water and tin foil

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I like that trick with the steamer. I usually use a wet rag wrapped in foil then heated with a heat gun. It’ll boil the water and the foil will hold in te steam and heat. Sometimes I’ll bend the wood with te foil still on if it’s a slight move of a thick selection. Like a lateral bend or bending a stiff handle.

Kyle

[osage outlaw]

Tip #1.   Scissors make great detail scrapers for working around knots.  I picked up this idea from someone on here when I first started.  I ground one side into a slightly rounded shape and left the other one a sharp point.  You can do some precise scraping around pin or larger knots.




Tip #2.   Take care of your tools!  If you throw all of your rasps and scrapers in a bucket or tool bag they can clank around and dull over time.  I use bike inner tubes for rasp and file covers.  I slide a larger tube over my draw knife before I put it in my tool box.  I made leather pouches for my scrapers.  I am very particular about my tools.  The cutting edges never come in contact with metal. 

[upstatenybowyer]

Wow Clint, now I gotta go make something to protect my drawknife, it's one of a kind and was made right here in Rochester like 70 years ago.

[dylanholderman]

i like the inner tube idea  looks way easier and more likely to happen then wrapping them in rags

[osage outlaw]

I rip through more sapwood than I care to keep track of.  I have never had to sharpen my draw knife.  I think keeping your tools protected significantly increases their useful lifespan.