Main Discussion Area > Bows

knot going through side of bow limb??? advice please

(1/4) > >>

rcoen2:
Hey, so I'm trying to help a friend make his first bow. We're still in the roughing out phase.  Got a ring chased and the bow profiled out but not yet to floor tiller. 

On one of the limbs there appears to be a knot going through the side of the limb, appearing as a dark spot. 
Does this compromise the limb?  How is it best to work with a situation like this?  Unfortunately I think we would lose too much of the limb if we were to try and reduce the limb thickness to remove it. 

Advice on how to proceed?  The bow is Oregon ash and based off of comstock's wide limbed design for whitewoods.
66" long, 1 3/4" most of limb.  We're shooting for 45#ish.

IMG_0598 by Ryder Coen, on Flickr

thanks,
Ryder

Hamish:

If you are on a clean growth ring on the back you will be OK.

You do need to leave a swelling at that spot for the depth of the limb, as you floor tiller, all the way through tillering.

As you remove wood through the process, you can tell how much leave, to compensate for the knot. Any amount of knot is treated like it was a hole in the wood, with zero strength.

rcoen2:
when you say a swelling do you mean a bulging on the side of the limb?  Like an increase in the limb width around where the knot is?

superdav95:
Ryder.   I don’t want to speak for h Hamish but I think he might mean thickness at the knot through the tillering process as the knot can be weaker.  If it were me I would also go a little wider at this spot as well to give it some protection around the sides of the knot.  It will add a nice character to the bow and shouldn’t effect performance.  I’ve had some bows that were fine with filing down the knot and finishing at the same level as the wood around it depending on how solid the knot looks.  Other times I’ve e had failures at knots that looked fine and later had issues.  Like what has been said I would leave some extra thickness or swelling and leave some meat around it also.  Best of luck with the bow. 

Cheers.

rcoen2:
Okay, thanks.  So what I am hearing/understanding is that essentially a knot going through the side of a limb isn't much different from a knot going through the belly.  I was concerned that having it go through the side considerably weakens the limb more than a knot just going through the belly...

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page