Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: riden on August 03, 2011, 08:29:56 pm
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I am a school teacher and a master woodworker. OK, maybe not a master, but certainly a pretty good work worker. I teach woodworking in different ways in some options classes. These are just fun classes that I want to be hands on. Last year we made board bows using nothing but hand tools. I was very pleased with the way they turned out, especially for my 1st time teaching it.
To be clear, I am good with wood, not into bows at all.
We used ash boards and an old plan from a 1950`s Popular Mechanics. It had a chart on sizes that corresponded to the poundage of the bow. 45 lbs is a legal hunting bow here so that is what they all aimed for, and they were miserable to pull. I doubt the chart was right.
I ordered the Bowyers Bible, I should have had it earlier. But I woudl like to order my wood this week.
Some have told me they think ash was a poor choice, any suggestions on a better woodÉ . Is it worth the work to laminate different species?
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Hickory-great wood for board bows- also maple. That is just my opinion. Have used both and either one will make a nice bow. H
http://www.pinehollowlongbows.com/productdetail.asp?ProductID=221
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I like red oak but that s a personal preference. There are 3 keys to making a board bow. First, is choose a board with straight grain. Second, is choose a board with straight grain.
Third, is choose a board with straight grain. My site has info. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
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Riden, I suggest you read George's site. Lots of excellent info from beginning to end. Plus, George is a teacher's teacher!!! ;)
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maple and hickory are great, but white oak is damn near unbreakable in my experience
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You say they were miserable to pull?
Did you do any TILLERING at all?
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Ash is a fine wood. There are definitely better specimens such a hickory. But I have made several Ash board bows. I bought a very straight grained piece of ash that was 2" x 8" and 72" long, I believe I got 9 or 10 staves out of it. Have had no trouble making bows in the 40#-55# range. As Jawge said the most important thing is a board with straight grain. If you can straight grained hickory that would be your best bet.
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I would go with red oak. Easy to get, and makes a fine bow!
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Red oak gets my vote.... It may not be the most durable but is easy to get, easy to work, and makes a damn good bow...
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george you need some updated pics!
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Wow, lot's of responses, thanks guys. I should mention, I have an account at a hardwood wholesaler, so I have access to a lot of wood types.
Not many votes for ash huh?
Yes we did tiller them, but I suspect the chart that indicated the thickness and width was wrong or didn't apply to ash. The draw weight was sure more than 45 lbs.
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look at some of halfeye's posts, he has good success with ash
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Hickory, hickory and hickory are the best board bow woods in that order........in my book anyway. You cant break it, it can have more grain violations than oak and still hold together.
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I don't know if it's an issue or not, but most hardwood dealers don't differentiate between Hickory and Pecan. They're sold as the same wood at a lot of places.
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Pecan is hickory!
Riden, instead of following the directions as to the thickness, tiller your bow out until you get both limbs bending evenly and together then remove enough wood, evenly to reduce the weight.
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Thanks, Pat. :) Jawge
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Riden,
With the Ash boards I have I typically start off by reducing the limbs with a taper from 5/8" at the fades just out of the handle down to 3/8" at the tips. That gets me pretty close to floor tillered, maybe a few more swipes to be able to get it on the tree with a low brace height. Then I just keep going from there to make sure everything bends evenly and keep working til I hit the weight at the draw length I want.
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with wood there is no "formula" for a particular weight as wood density varies.
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OK thanks guys.
How is hickory with hand tools? I have used hickory a fair bit in my shop and I find it a difficult wood to work with, splinters quite easily. Doesn't like the router at all. My students will be using hand tools only on this project. Does anyone think that may be an issue?
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It can be done but as you said it'll be a little tougher. But that's also probably why it's a solid bow wood because of it's toughness.
~Barry
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If you're going to order the wood without picking through it for straight grain I would definitely go with hickory. It will take more grain violation than any other wood. Even if you're going to pick through it I would still use hickory.
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like many have said I would go with hickory, by far the toughest wood out there for unbacked board bows and with some hand files and scrapers it works easy enough to make the difference worth the extra durability. wood files eat it up and scrapers work well to.
Sap wood (white wood) is far better than the darker core wood with hickory
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if you are doing a class project I would suggest fully quarter sawn hickory or white oak, in a pyramid design, I just fill for the most success in a group of newbie's, that would be your best bet.
and you can watch ranger 1's video series in the how to build a long's. good luck to ya, Bub
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I've worked with quite a bit of Ash and I'm fond of it. I believe with either Hickory or even Ash, you want to ensure you have the appropriate moisture content (low) to ensure it keeps it's 'spring'...(I believe Elm is in that catagory as well but haven't ever worked with it). I hear out 'West' that they love Hickory and use it a lot and are very happy with the results (lWest = low humidity = low moisture absorption = good) whereas in the Midwest and specifically eastern central Missouri, there is ample high humidity 75-95% that you either have to account for by ensuring a good, uncompromised sealer/coat to keep moisture out (once it's at the proper moisture content to begin with, of course), or consider alternate wood choices which don't appear to as sensitive (porous perhaps?) as some of the white wood choices...my two cents worth...cheers, P1.
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if you are doing a class project I would suggest fully quarter sawn hickory or white oak, in a pyramid design, I just fill for the most success in a group of newbie's, that would be your best bet.
and you can watch ranger 1's video series in the how to build a long's. good luck to ya, Bub
Can you dummy up Ranger 1's video series for a noobie?
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if you are doing a class project I would suggest fully quarter sawn hickory or white oak, in a pyramid design, I just fill for the most success in a group of newbie's, that would be your best bet.
and you can watch ranger 1's video series in the how to build a long's. good luck to ya, Bub
My hardwood dealer does not have quatersawn hickory, but quatersawn oak is available.
I am kicking around the idea of quatersawn white oak for the girls and hickory for the boys. I found last year the girls struggled a little bit as they just didn`t have the strength to work at the blank for an hour without slowing down.
Comments
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riden with a pyramid you can do alot of the work on the tablesaw, if you want I can work up some plans and pm them to ya, kind of talk ya thru it, and quartersawn red oak will work just fine, built a 50# and 42# and they spit the arrows out with authority, Bub
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Red oak for girls and hickory for the boys is a great idea. The red oak is easier to work and will produce a weaker bow for same dimensions (usually) than hickory. I LOVE my hickory board bows. Actually, i don't have any. I've made three for other people and fell in love with each one and it broke my heart to letm go!! I'll have my own soon though ;D
I'd definitely get them workd down to very rough dimensions with table/band saw, then let them do the rest by hand. Just my 2cents :)
I've also kicked around the idea of doing this with my physics classes, glad to see other teachers passing on the tradition!
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riden with a pyramid you can do alot of the work on the tablesaw, if you want I can work up some plans and pm them to ya, kind of talk ya thru it, and quartersawn red oak will work just fine, built a 50# and 42# and they spit the arrows out with authority, Bub
Actually, I am really interested Thanks. Does a pyramid bow have to be quatersawn?
I have the kids for 22-25 hours for this course and then we are done.
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no it dosn't have to be quarter sawn, can be flat sawn, When does your class start so I get ya the info on time, Bub
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No time soon, not until Sept, I am just ordering my wood this week
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ok man, i'll get something worked up, hopefully give you enough time to build one and work out the kinks, Bub