Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: TheWildCat on June 06, 2011, 06:28:56 pm
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I dug out some a my old CDs the other day and found a couple a CDs bout Buildin the Primitive Bow. What I found interestin was that the feller completed the Bow while the wood was Green, and then cured it. Gotta give it a try. I have this Gut fellin that there could be some warppin goin on while ya dry the bow. I am also wonderin ifin the bow would pull the same draw weight after it is cured as when it was green? Seems to me that some a the properties would change with the wood dryin out and all? What do Y'all think?
TheWildCat :-\ :-\ :-\
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I don't know how he could of "completed" a bow while green and not taken massive set. you don't want to go past floor tillered stage while green. then it's best to clamp it down (maybe even in reflex) to avoid the stave from twisting while it dried. taking the stave down to floor tillered stage will help to avoid it from cracking as well.
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I'm certainly no expert but I agree with Eric. It is hard to imagine tillering a bow to full draw while it is green and not taking a ton of set. As he said, alot of people will bring the stave down to bow dimensions so it is just starting to bend during floor tillering and then dry it from there. I wouldn't follow that particular technique that you saw unless you really aren't attached to your stave at all and are just curious to see what would happen.
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I'd guess you could get it to floor tiller stage, then it would cure/season pretty quick as the wood would be much thinner.
Then you could final tiller/finish it.
I've sort of done it by working a stave down fairly quick and putting it on a radiator as I progressed.
Del
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Apparently, I can be done by certain German guys, in winter, and using abo tools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX7PyULwJFI
Seriously, the properties would definitely change as the wood dries. Most wood becomes more elastic but some wood becomes less elastic. IMO, I think that many bows were made (and shot) green but this is the exception to the rule.
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I just made a green survival bow last week....but this is what happens when you draw wet wood to full draw.
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/44710/tree-to-bow-in-an-hour#.Te1T6mfEZTo
Just tiller it out to 8" of bend floor tillering and set aside to dry for a couple weeks.
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I can tell you from personal experience that roughing in red elm while green is a real bad idea. I was in a hurry to make some bows for a buddy's four boys, so I quartered a 10" pipe straight red elm log removed the bark, and floor tillered all four staves. I left for a couple weeks and when I got home, all four of them had warped side ways anywhere from 8 to 12 inches. One of them had propeller twisted to almost 180 degrees. Disheartening to say the least. :'(
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I took a dripping wet hackberry scrap to dimension and cured for a week inside a car parked in the sun. The bow was strapped to a 2x4 to cut down on twist. I sinewed it after the week of curing and let it cure another month in the car sitting in the sun. I needed to do a great deal of final tillering, but that's not uncommon after sinewing a bow. That was two years ago and the guy still shoots the bow.
Maybe I got lucky.
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"I left for a couple weeks and when I got home, all four of them had warped side ways"
Did the same thing with some mulberry, ;D. Never again...
"I took a dripping wet hackberry scrap to dimension and cured for a week inside a car parked in the sun. The bow was strapped to a 2x4 to cut down on twist. I sinewed it after the week of curing and let it cure another month in the car sitting in the sun. I needed to do a great deal of final tillering, but that's not uncommon after sinewing a bow. That was two years ago and the guy still shoots the bow.
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Hackberry has proven to me to be one of the least checkin-ist woods I've ever worked. I used to not even seal the ends on hackberrys when I first started out. (till I got learned up real quick by yall, ;D ). I have had hackberry splits reflex on me while drying though nicely. Full half log splits I mean, not staves. But anyway, my point is alot of woods (like osage) will check horribly if you work green and then let dry afterwards. Always best to let dry slow, at first at least, if ya got the time. Just a couple months wait for most staves and you can take it down a little bit without fear of warping or checking to bad. And then it il dry much faster, but you gotta wait a bit first before you take it down to profile.
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I've found that hackberry is the opposite of elm, curing anyway. I ruined several staves by drying them to slow. I left it in the log with bark on for a month until I had time to split them. Another mistake. It had already mildewed and started to rot. I dry hackberry as fast as I can now. Much better results.
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"It had already mildewed and started to rot."
Oh god ya it mildews easy. I got one that looks like a big cucumber from earlier this year from moldin, if ya ketch it soon it don't hurt it if ya dry it up real quick before it does damage.
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I have seen vine maple bows John Strunk has made green with a hatchet and pocket knife and killed elk with the next day and they are not showing any set to speak of, I know that doesnt seem possible but VM is some really springy wood ill have to ask him if he force dried over fire or what?