Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: sailordad on February 07, 2009, 01:33:17 pm
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well i managed to get my hands on a piece of black walnut,not a lot just a part of a limb that was growing down towards the ground.
the owner wanted it gone and so i volunteered to remove it for free ;D >:D
now its not huge,but has some real dar dark heartwood. i have heard that you can use either sapwood or heartwood or a combo.
being that this limb sint huge i was wondering what whoudl be the best way to cure and optimize the use of the wood.this piece is 8ft long pretty much knot free,kinda snakey.also have another piece that has a lot of knots,was going to use for other projects.
should i split it in half or remove all sap wood and keep heartwood whole?
hers a pic
(http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6123/1000125df9.jpg)
as always thanks for the input
peace,
tim
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For now I would split it in half, this will tell you if the grain is straight and it will aid in drying, make sure to seal the ends good.
If the rings are thick enough I would remove most of the sap wood and go for a two tone bow, not because ya have to
just think it would look cool 8)
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What Dana said. I have made a few BW bows. One was sapwood with a little heart in the handle and the other was a hickory backed heartwood. A combo of both with look good and the sapwood would probably be a good backing for the heartwood. Because of the diameter, if you do split it in half you will only get heartwood in the handle, I believe.
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Tim the last one I made from a Limb of Black Walnut I got from my Friend John in Tennessee....I just took a power planer and took the bellyside down to the Heartwood....and thats as far as I went....sealed it all....and let her dry good....it never split or checked at all....and I ended up with Limbs that were both Sap and Heartwood.....looked great too.....this may not have been the right thing to do.....but it worked for me.....
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not me, I am all about the heart wood. plenty of great woods to make bows form out there, not as many that are as pretty as the heartwood of BW. i would sacrifice getting 2 bows for one beautiful heartwood bow, and from my experiences, heart wood has been much better, but perhaps that was my design or specific tree. -Ryan
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I would take my chance with one nice bow rather then spliting in two. It looks like a piece of chokecherry I've been saving for ayear or so I'm going to use as much hardwood as possible than sinue. It looks like a nice piece good luck with it. I thought only us canuaks had the metified tapes? Thanks Leroy
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I would try to split/saw, then use the split/sawn surface as back, so you get most of the heartwood in the bow. Since black walnut isn't very tension strong, it's a smart choice to decrown it, and I think the way I described gives the most wood.
it's gonna look awesome with the heartwood running through the limbs, with the sides being covered by a little sapwood...
It's a gorgeous stave, and I'm drop-dead jealous! ;)
goodluck!
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There is a good looking bow in there.Good luck.(Seal them ends) Frank