Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: BowEd on February 22, 2013, 10:57:15 pm
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It's a bit time consunming but putting bark on the back of bows is pretty neat I think.I used birch bark just lately over sinew.Used smooth on epoxy and wrapped it with innertube.Messy clean up but it's pretty neat.I've heard choke cherry bark can be used.Is there other barks out there that can be or have been used.
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I've used birch bark and choke cherry bark for bow backings. The birch is only decorative but the choke cherry can add a little performance too. Both are cool looking! 8)
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The birch bark is pretty waterproof too.I just sanded or peeled it to paper thin and glued it on.The choke cherry bark might be more of a challenge to put on.
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The birch bark is pretty waterproof too.I just sanded or peeled it to paper thin and glued it on.The choke cherry bark might be more of a challenge to put on.
I used a piece of old carpet foam and a bicycle tire inner tube split in half like a giant rubber band.
And wrap it up. Then unwrap an hour or two later, fix any bubbles and wrap around any trouble areas.
And once dry hit it with steel wool. Even on an uneven surface this method works. The results are excellent. Can't say enough good things about cherry bark.
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh544/bryceott/DAB94DDD-9088-4269-B597-C26E642E9D29-2873-000002B30A6D83EC.jpg)
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That is a beauty Bryce. I would like to know if anyone has ever tried erc bark? In the summer it peels off in long sections and has that pretty brownish-red color to the inner bark. Looks like it would make a really pretty backing if sanded thin enough, Im just not sure how it would hold up under tension.
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ERC bark has very little tension strength and any bark backing has to be strong in tension or at least give a ltlittle if stretched.
I did similar as Bryce with the cherry bark but used blue board insulation board between the bark and the tube wrap. The insulation board(like the old carpet foam) helps keep the pressure equal on the irregular bark backing.
Also, I cleaned off the lichens and mosses form one bow I backed with cherry bark but left it on another for came and it worked well.
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I'm gonna use the patB method next time and leave the lichens on. Makes good camp for sure!
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Okie, Cedar bark (inner cambium bark) has no tension properties but if you soak 1/2 wide strips in water, they get soft and supple and you can wrap it as a handle wrap (leave it the natural thickness of 1/16" or so). Shrinks and hardens as it dries (like rawhide). Makes beautiful all weather handle wraps. Natives around here (puget sound) used the bark for baskets, hats and clothing and lashings. They used western red cedar but incense cedar, erc and all cedars (and some cypress) have a similar inner bark. I never throw away cedar bark.
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ERC is a juniper
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is there a how to thread on here for backing a bow with bark? Also what kind of birch is used for backing the bow?
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Yeah, I knew ERC is juniper ;) But the same goes for juniper bark, been used for baskets, sandals, cradles, cordage and thatching by indigenous peoples for eons. Which makes me wonder, what if you made cordage out of the bark fibers and then glued the cordage lengthwise on the back of a bow? Might look real interesting and maybe add weight?
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I've always kinda wanted to try this. Would sycamore bark work too?
Kip
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Hmmm... I've made rope from cedar bard and it was very strong. But as a backing? I'm not to sure it has enough stretch.
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I've made handle wraps and strike plates from it. I'm with Bryce, not much stretch if any in it.
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youngbowyer....I think different types of birch bark can be used.It peels or sands in layers to nice creamy brown colors of different shades.I like it from larger diametered trees but smaller ones will work too.You can use either side of the bark if you wish.Whichever looks the best to your liking.I took mine down to paper thin[less than 1/32" thick] as thin as a lot of snake skins and it still was very tough.I think tougher than snake skin myself.It stretches very good.It has resin qualities in it that function very good in waterproofing a sinew backed bow.Birch bark oil can be extracted from it too.Total addition of weight added to the bow was only 1/4 ounce per limb @ 20" per limb.To put it on a regular self bow would'nt be neccassary.Stain or something of that order could be used for that.The old time horn bowyers in Asia knew the value of it and used it all the time on their horn bows.So you know it stretches very good for their backwards C profiles.
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Paper birch(or canoe birch) seem to be the most consistant and can be harvested in a big enough piece for canoes. Both the birch and choke cherry bark have their fibers that go around the tree instead of up and down the tree like most others. I haven't tried sycamore but I doubt it would work as a backing. Any backing has to be very strong in tension or at least be able to stretch when the bow is bent. When I used birch bark I use only one or two "sheets" from a multi-layered bark. You can peel off one layer at a time if you are careful. I think the thicker it is the less effective it would be.
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The trouble I would have possibly with choke cherry is that when choke cherry is young it has this smooth texture to it on a small tree say lower than 3" diameter.Now as it gets older to about an 8" diameter tree the bark gets scaley.That would be a problem maybe.Now unless a person can use choke cherry off a sapling lengthwise even though like Pat said the fibers go around the tree that could work.I think if I was to try it I would get the bark off say in the early spring then clamp it between two boards to dry nice and flat.Then sand it to thickness.
I have a choke cherry roughed out bow on my express line to be sinewed sometime.Other than that I just used choke cherry saplings for stakes for my tee pee cutting spaced rings of the bark off towards the top of the stake.Looks great with the set up.
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Interesting thread Ed. I've been wanting to use some choke cherry bark to back a bow for a while now. I seen that Carson is offering up some chokecherry bark on his add. If i ever get a little more flush with whispering money instead of my usual small bit of clinkin' money, I'm planning on ordering some from him. Any info on how to apply it is always appreciated. Josh
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Choke cherry bark has to be stripped from around the tree. If you peel the bark from a sapling in spirng and press it to flatten it the fibers will be going across the limb and may split if put under tension. I believe most folks harvest choke cherry from dead trees, the bigger the better. You can splice it with a scarf joint and it will hold well.
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I've used birch bark twice and hickory twice.
When hickorys green you can peal off larger peices. Not use about the birch traded for it. CUT INTO 1 1/2, 2 INCH STRIPS. Then I trimed to match the bow a little better after seasoned. I pressed (clamped) mine in between 2 boards let dry. When I was ready to put them on. I soaked them in a water trouth untill flexable. Wiped off excess water sanded both the bow and bark with 80 grit. Cessed both bow and bark with TB 11 and the second one TB111 used a ace banage. Put them up high and let dry a week rasped to match.
Both of my came out nice I sold both as far as I know never came off. That was back in early and mid 90's.
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My fears of choke cherry bark splitting putting it on from a sapling lengthwise I'm afraid would come true like Pat said.I would butt joint it then with a bevel type splice piece by piece the length of the limb.Now off of these older choke cherries that have a scaleier bark does a person just scrape it down to thickness.I wonder what that would look like underneath the scales.There are big enough choke cherries here.Say about a 10" diameter which would give a person over 30" of bark strips to use.In doing that a person would have to take the log home for bows because that bark removal would kill the tree.
Gun Doc....Using Titebond III on a self bow or epoxy on a sinewed bow works great.Just get the bark as thin as you can but still be tough.I use painters masking tape applied to the other parts of the limb before wrapping which really reduces the clean up mess.Ace bandage or innertube with even amount of pressure applied all the way does the trick.To me it just adds another aspect of the primitive look on these bows.A bit more tedious work though.
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I appreciate the advice Ed. I got a nice choke cherry alb roughed out that I want to try this out on. Josh
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Super Josh.Look forward to seeing what you come up with.
My choke cherry floor tillered piece of wood is destined to get some copperheads on it.I'm thinking it would look kinda neat with the heartwood and copperhead skins.Gotta do something a little different from time to time to keep my interest tweaked you know.Good luck with yours.