Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Deerhunter21 on April 09, 2022, 09:15:20 pm
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Working on a hickory bow… it started getting darker and then I realized it’s heartwood sneaking in…
Do I just continue like normal? It’s not violating the grain… thought???
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Just work as normal if following a ring. Sometimes there are rings with a mix of heart and sapwood. The fibers are still continuous.
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Alright, thanks ryan!!
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+1 what Dr. Ryan says.
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Earlywood and latewood are ways to describe parts of a single growth ring.
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Sorry bownarra… I meant heartwood sapwood lol. Had a little brain fart there
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Only white wood I have ever chased a ring on was a white oak stave with thick growth rings. Results were about the same as just removing the bark for the back. Unless you are experimenting you need not chase white wood for your bow's back. With Osage, and black locust I always chase to a heart wood ring. Seems to make the best bows doing it that way on yellow wood for me. From what I have read though heart wood Hickory bows have set some records in the past for flight shooting.
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Just in the title. The content of the original post is fine.
IMHO, for Hickory staves, for the usual draw weights, nothing much matters. I just remove all defects on the back and make it reasonably flat. I never had any need to follow a ring. I bet we can even use the contrast for camouflage or decoration.
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Only white wood I have ever chased a ring on was a white oak stave with thick growth rings. Results were about the same as just removing the bark for the back. Unless you are experimenting you need not chase white wood for your bow's back. With Osage, and black locust I always chase to a heart wood ring. Seems to make the best bows doing it that way on yellow wood for me. From what I have read though heart wood Hickory bows have set some records in the past for flight shooting.
i would have loved to just take off the bark, but this was a belly split piece. Is really hard to chase since the rings are so thin but im chasing a ring above the ring im going to use, then im going to scrape down to it Im honestly just glad i could get 2 staves from the one quartered log so i cant complain too much!
scp im really interested in your process for making a hickory bow because i just talked to a guy who did the same. what do you mean remove all defects, and when you say make it reasonably flat do you mean you just de crowned it?
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With hickory logs, I almost always save and use belly split staves over one inch thick. I don't chase any growth ring. I just trust the way it was hand split and clean it up with draw knife and scraper, often flattening the back. I also use the vertical grain on the back sometimes, making the back flat like a board. I usually trap the hickory bows slightly. I do de-crown some white wood saplings or branches.
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If you violate any wood it can fail. Trees grow with intact growth rings for a reason :) Hickory can take violations but it is super easy to chase a ring on most ring porous woods....I don't know why you wouldn't bother. Taking shortcuts when bow making will lead to you getting bitten at some point....
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For most white wood staves, there is no reason to violate the growth ring unless the top layer is damages or defective. But people hunted with bows with all kinds of ring violations for thousands of years. I just like the idea of letting the stave split as it wants. Much easier that way with primitive or hand tools. All depends on what you want to do with your bows. I just make them for fun and making them itself is my main physical exercise. If you want to sell them, it would be reckless to do things my way. If you hunt, it would be worthwhile to spend dozens of hours on perfecting the back. I just do what the stave wants to be and what I feel like to do at that time. I would say I am just making unfinished bow blanks that are shootable. Just enjoy bow making in your own way.
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Yes bowanarro I agree. Single growth rings on the back and the belly make kick ass bows. Osage is the present king. But hickory bows are not to be taken lightly. Arvin
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I learned to chase rings starting with hickory. You got this Russell! Osage will feel like a piece of cake! :BB
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cedar is a bear to chase too.. but I have done it before.. slow and I mean slow ... good luck ..a dull drawknife is best.. gut
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Thanks Ryan, thanks gut! It’s a slow and steady process… a couple inches every day!
So how do you guys deal with knots when chasing a ring??
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I’m now approaching the really hard part
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Russell, when I'm chasing a ring and come to a knot I leave a small island of the ring around the knot until I've finished the rest of the back. I then come back and tackle each knot by starting along the top of the knot and scrape down around the knot removing that island. If you try to go up the knot from the back you could get tear outs violating the ring below.