Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => English Warbow => Topic started by: fishfinder401 on September 17, 2011, 01:04:35 pm
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i finally got some ;D, im going to need some advide, the stave looks good besides the one knot in the picture, has 1/4 inch of sapwood, and has 24rpi, its also 75inches
thanks
noel
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these are this pics
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Beautiful! That only cost you 45 bucks!?! Their site says they sell staves like that for 200 - 250!?! I would take your time with that stave. No need to rush. Thats the kinda stave that will let you sleep sweetly at night after your favorite bow you put 1000's of hours into blows up out of nowhere, knowing you got this beauty tucked away safely. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: It is very nice. Looks like you can just remove the bark and make a bow with the sapwood only 1/4". Very nice and straight as well.
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what would yew(pun intended :P) do wiht those two knots
thanks
noel
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Yep that is a nice stave, I was going to bid but the postage to the UK put me off.
I would echo the sentient of toomanyknots your don't need to make that bow now, we have seen your bows you seem to be getting the hang of it but why not wait a few years hone your abilities a little and make it then. You will thank yourself for it.
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i would, but this is the only wood i have right now, and with it being already seasoned now, i probably won't be able to wait, but i am going to take my time and make it perfect. i also have some yew that i am getting from a neighbor so, he had some massive overgrown yew hedges, on of which is starting to die so he is letting me take the whole thing, i haven't seen the specific bush, but my dad says i could make 5 or 6 bows out of it, but back to this stave, how would you recommend working around those 2 knots
btw how much would the postage have been for you, for me it was about 30$
thanks
noel
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Hmm, didn't see those knots at first. Leave em proud. Well, I mean don't cut into em. Whatever you do don't violate the wood on them. If you have to use them in the bow, the best bet I would say is to remove the bark and leave em as is, as a kinda character bow. If you have enough room you could try to work around em? Probably don't do ya? If you could also, try to not have it work excessively there either. Probabaly shouldn't be that big of a problem with the length I would think if you do it right. Well anyway I have ZERO experience with yew, so I can't give you too much advice, but this is what I would do with any other wood? GOOD LUCK!
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ok, iv'e made a decision with the knot, the really big one on the edge i will take out, and work around it, give it some character
dont worry though, im going to start shaping out the other side first, all im going to do today is make it more the shape of a bow, debark it
thanks
noel
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i was just looking very closely at the wood, and while one end has normal growthring density, still a little higher than i was told, according to ym eyes, because of a band of EXTREMELY small growth rings, one part has 70rpi ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
ill try to take a picture, but im ot sure if they will show up
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I'd still like to see that ash bow finished up.
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I'd still like to see that ash bow finished up.
oops..... ill take the pictures hopefully tomorrow
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I'd bet a good amount of money you won't. ;)
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ill prove you wrong in 5 minutes while i still remember ::), its done besides maybe a better finish
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i took the bark off tonight and did a little ruff shaping, im trying to figure out the best way around those knots, i'll have a picture of it with what i think drawn out on it, and don't worry im not rushing, I've been going slowly with small hand tools all night, making sure i get the back as perfect, and non cut up as i can
thanks
noel
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That big knot, top centre of the first pic.
It would be nice if you could aviod that sucker or pit it at the grip maybe.
The smaller one lower left looks small enough to live dead centre in the limb.
Whoops, just saw your earlier post... you've already decided on that!
(I'll shut up and sit back and watch) ;)
Del
BTW, those knot's look good and sound... dang I just cant keep quiet :-[
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del, don't keep quite, its good to see people have the same idea on what to do as i do, by the way, the knots are around the mid to upper limb area
noel
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What I meant about taking your time, is when, not if, but when something goes wrong, which is bound to happen every now and again, don't be like me. Ill go out to the woods, take me 8 hours to cut and split out a big old tree, almost kill myself in the process, split into chunks big enough for me to carry to the van, and then season them for a year. Yadda yadda. Put over a year into a stave, and then one thing goes wrong while tillering and I get frustrated and ruin it in my frustration. It's best to take it slow and if you get worked up or are having a trouble spot, sit it in the corner for a while. You know what I mean. Take your time.
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i will, i was so careful when removing the bark i used a tiny knife and did it flake b flake till i could see wood, i guess it also good i work late in the night? erly morning, soif i get to something like that i can just go to bed and sleep of the frustration and think.
thanks
noel
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sorry for lack of pictures and progress, ive just benn taking a little of after school, and didn't remeber the camera, the firt is the main knot i left mid limb, second is what is left of the lager knot that was on the side, then the next one is of a small grain dig in at of course the part i thought was already to narrow,. the next is what the stave looks like de barked, and the last is dedicated to toomanyknots, try to guess why ;) again sorry for the lack of progression, yesterday it looked like only a debarked stave, but today it all f a sudden appeared, im sure other know what i mean
thanks
noel
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Looking good.
I always find there are some knots where you just can't tell if they will disappear or still be there in the final bow.
In your last pic there's one going across the limb which looks a bit iffy, like it will probably need to stay.
Although I'm often surprised how what I thought was a 'problem knots' often ends up disappearing as the bow is worked down.
The sap layer looks nice, not too thick, hopefully you'll be able to leave it whole.
Del
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i was just cleaning the back a little and noticed that because of the rings being so tight, i accidentally violated the back in a few areas the size of a finger nail, is this ok for yew, i only have experience with woods like Osage where you dare not violate a ring
thanks
noel
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I think I have heard nidrinir say it is ok, but I really don't remember for sure. I would like to know too as I have always been curious...
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i thought i hear that somewhere, but wanted to make sure :-\
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I've heard that as well but I'm not sure where. Because yew is so tight ringed it can take that kind of violation as long as it's not straight across. I've made maple bows with some island violation that worked out just fine. If its the size of a fingernail I wouldn't see any reason to worry.
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Yew isn't so fussy about violating rings on the back. Obviously do it as little as possible and preferably in areas where it isn't so important.
E.G On my big old fave Yew ELB I had to remove a fair bit of sap wood at one point, the rest of the back is just the underbark surface.
The Yew primitive I'm working on now is being decroned in parts for the same reason.
Have a look at my Bowyers Diary there's a pic.
I'll post a pic of the ELB tip if, just hang on a minute!.
(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/Website%20stills/100_1571.jpg)
Not the best pic... conventional wisdom would say that back was horrific and would fail. I've had that bow for about 30 years and it's been back to 90# at 31.5" on occaision.
That is actually mid limb!!! There is a big dip in the sap wood there and not much heart, so I relieved the sapwood, see pic below.
(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/Website%20stills/100_1575.jpg)
Given the choice I felt going through 8 sap rings whas better than having a thin point in the heart wood.
There is a fair bit of sapwood taken off at one tip too, for the same reasons.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but with a stave you just have to go with your gut...
Hope this sets your mind at ease a tad :)
Del
BTW, that's the bow on my home page if you want to see it at at full draw (google Delsbows)
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thanks everyone, that does make me feel better, and by the way Del, i have looked at your site many times, i hope my bow turns out as good as yours ;)
thanks
noel
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Yes thank you del, thats good to know!
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Lucky man! That's a nice stave.
Yeah yew sapwood can handle minor violations.
I've seen some yew bow where people haven't followed a ring anywhere eg. just cut through the sapwood rings to leave a flat surface....i'm not recommending that but it can be done....
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Excellent Thread Y'all!
I've got two yew staves, one top notch and one third rate (problem child) that are ready to go standing in the corner of my office.
Been studying them for about four months now, along with a couple of Pacific Dogwood 1st's.
The wood is ready to go but the butcher isn't... :)
I'll be watching and hopefully learning.
-gus
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sorry for the long wait, here are some pics of the little progress iv'e made, i have it bending a little on the floor tiller, the handle areas is bending nice, but i need to take more off mid limb and maybe the tips, i made the decision that i will go with double side knocks out of antler
sorry, i didn't get any floor tiller pics, but it would have almost been non noticeable.
thanks for looking
noel
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Do you have a video option on your camera? Because if you do, you can take a video and import the video into windows movie maker, and then move frame to frame and take a snapshot. That way you can make sure your picture is not blurry, at least this is the only way I can take a picture with my cheap walmart camera thats not blurry.
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Do you have a video option on your camera? Because if you do, you can take a video and import the video into windows movie maker, and then move frame to frame and take a snapshot. That way you can make sure your picture is not blurry, at least this is the only way I can take a picture with my cheap walmart camera thats not blurry.
thanks
ill try that
noel
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just wanted to let everyone know that there wont be any progress for few more days as i am making my cousin his first bow at the moment and experimenting with metal forging
thanks ;D
noel
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Any updates for us Noel,
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not yet, this month has been filled with college applications :'(
in a week i should be getting back to work on it an ill hopefully get some antler tips made to ;)
noel
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Life has to come first, bow making can be done any time.
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welll, i actually do have a small update ;D for the tips, i am getting some antelope horns from JW Halverson so thatt should be cool, how many people can say they have an antelope tipped bow ;)
noel
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What happened, did I miss something?
Lane
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nothing has happened in a while, but i am hoping to make some more progress over thanksgiving
sorry for the delay
noel
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Hello!
Wanted to know if you had made any progress on this in the last month. If not I totally understand, life gets busy, but I enjoy following these buildalong threads. What happened to the Yew stave, eh? :D
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did a little scraping, but nothing noticeable, I've been busy with school and the Christmas exchange
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>:( >:( >:( well hurry it up will ya...I've had jeopardy music playing in my head for 3 months now...lol :laugh:......just messin with ya ;)
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Antelope horns look real good on ELB's. I used them on a yew take-down in 2004, you'll like the look. Just be carefull cutting and drilling, they can be thin in some places.
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When you get it finished, better start practicing with it because I intend to be your host out here in South Dakota this coming year to hunt antelope with it...big mojo to get a speed goat with it, ya know?
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to tell you the truth, i have never been hunting before, but that sounds interesting, antelope with a warbow, think it might be a little overpowered >:D
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While you are at it, look into South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Good math and science school, waaaay under-rated and their job fairs bring in employers from every continent.
I can even get you a lead on where to find bowstaves in the area. >:D
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a little to far for my tastes, the farthest i'm looking at is 2 1/2- 3 hours away, i'm a little to close to my family to go that far, i also like being close to my workshop ;D
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well with midterms coming up i figured i would relax a little and do some scraping with my new scrapers i got for christmas, i dont think you will see any difference yet, but tomorrow i will have pictures up so you can see the progress
tanks for being so patient
noel
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Awesome, looking forward to seeing your progress, even if it's hard to see!
And good luck on your midterms!
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So are you thinking about giving this up for the bow trade? The stave I mean?
Josh
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do you mean stop working on it, or using the wood to make the trade bow?
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Using the wood for the trade bow? ;D
Josh
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if it wasn't my first piece of yew i would, but don't worry i have a nice piece of hickory put aside for it ;)
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Hi Noel
Looking forward to seeing how your bow goes, a week after you got your stave I looked on ebay and got a very similar one, described as a character stave. Just finished mine at 130lb at 32".
I am sure you have but I am just checking you have stored your stave in a good place while you haven't been working on it, although mine was described as seasoned, it still needed a little time.
Ian
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i have kept in in my basement, its cool and most of the time is dehumidified, one good part of my waiting to do more work on it is more seasoning can't hurt. how can you tell how season yew is, as this is my first piece so i have nothing to base it off of.
so, are we getting any pictures of yours, you can't mention a 130lb warbow an not put pictures up ;D ;).
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Very difficult to describe when you know its ready, it feels softer I guess. I knew as soon as I put it on the tiller that it wasn't done. If I was you I would not leave it in a basement, I dont know what state you are in and what the temperature is there but basements are to damp normally. Just be careful.
I will post pictures as some point don't worry. ;D
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don't worry, its a fully finished dry basement and it stays at relatively stable temp, probably in the low 60's
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Good good, then there is no excuse for this stave not to turn into an excellent bow.