Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: BowSlayer on September 07, 2013, 04:26:48 pm
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ok so i took a look at the wood on my firewood pile and noticed some yew, i had put it here as it was to short but after looking at it it had some nice reflex and almost no knots. the stave is only 37" long and is very short but it had a nice heart/sap wood combo. right now im trying to rough it out into a square as i am undicided to do either a bow with a rounded belly or a fairly simple flatbow? am i being ambitious to even attemt to make a bow from this wood? i know it will need to bend in the hande. ill have to see. here are some pics.
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130907_183653_zpsbdc02563.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130907_183653_zpsbdc02563.jpg.html)
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130907_183658_zpsbe860a91.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130907_183658_zpsbe860a91.jpg.html)
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I've got one like it but 42". It's going to be a West Coast Flat bow as soon as I can finish up some other projects.
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I've got one like it but 42". It's going to be a West Coast Flat bow as soon as I can finish up some other projects.
are you backing it with sinew?
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I am pretty sure that tempting but just toooooo short pieces of good to great bow wood were the reason that Siyahs were invented. I just cannot bring myself to burn a fine piece of what might otherwise be great bow wood!
You asked if it is too ambitious??? ...perhaps, but where's the fun in not trying? The worst that can happen is that you wind up with some more experience making shavings!
OneBow
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I've got one like it but 42". It's going to be a West Coast Flat bow as soon as I can finish up some other projects.
are you backing it with sinew?
Yes.
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If it is wide enough you could consider splitting it and splicing the billets together. Or make the most awesome kids bow ever.
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Splice on siyas, or keep till you find another billet and splice them at the handle.
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My first thoughts at looking at your piece of wood there is a flat bow with sinew.Bendy handle.I would'nt induce any more reflex either.It's go enough on it's own.
Now depending on your skill level you could glue some 4"dove tail joint spruce levers onto it of say 8" apiece.Then you'd have your self a 53" bow.Quite a project but the outcome would be awesome.
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Know where I could find pics of that dovetail joint on a bow? I couldn't find anything in a google search. I don't mean to hijack but that sounds interesting.
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The only joint to use to attatch syhias or molly stlye levers is a 4 inch v- splice.
Which is what I would do with this stave.
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hmm, sounds intresting. but yery difficult. but i think i will give it a try. does anyone have any pics as an example?
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A dove tail joint is the same thing as a V splice.Just Like the letter V.Top to bottom a total of 4" although you can get by with less.Make your V shaped lever first with the V shape a total of 4" with an additional 8" length or less maybe of lever 3/4" wide.Now trace the V shape with the point of V onto the center line on the end of your stave to the top outside edges.Cut em out with a hacksaw slow and precise and perfectly perpendicular up and down to the surface of your stave.I keep em seperate and mark them A & B.Each lever to each specific end on your stave.Dry fit it good to each other.Sand where needed to make a good fit.No need to have a curved lever for this but set it in at an angle for more reflex.To watch this being done google up YamtarCeri on you tube.
I'm afraid if you have to ask what a dove tail joint is you may be getting in over your head here.Otherwise a short flat bow sinewed bendy handle would still be an awesome bow too with a little less work but still the wait time for the sinew to cure.Google up one made by simson on this PA forum.His is a perfect example of what your dealing with here.
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Yeah there is no way I would attempt anything like that yet. Just curious if its the same type of dove tail used in other aspects of wood working. I was just wanting to see a visual ill dig around some more thanks!
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I would split it and splice it... You might even get 4 billets, especially if you got a bandsaw... Brian
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Excuse me.... a dove tail joint DOES NOT look like a V splice.A V splice is the jont to use for levers though.I've V spliced levers into a few bow limbs.You have to be dead nuts in line and level for extremely reflexed bows.But still even on your bow it should be too.You'd have to make yourself a primitive stringer too as getting a string on them is darn near impossible with the push pull method and I'm not a fan of the step through method.
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I just realised I measured it wrong. Its actually 32" long. So I think ill just make a really short kids bow as its the same length as the bow on my crossbow and that draws back to 18-20" I can post pics of that as well but its very simple and in th the development stage.
I would split it and splice it... You might even get 4 billets, especially if you got a bandsaw... Brian
I have a table saw but ive already got it near to roughed out bow dimensions.
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ok here is where im at, i spent the afternoon working on this stave. it has nice even 2" of reflex and the tips kinda line up. my only problem so far is shown in the first picture where the back is slanted and so is the sapwood. im thinking of having a rounded belly. do i just treat this slope type thing like normal? i also left the bark on and marked out a handle section, also notice earlier that i said there were no knots, it turns out theres millions! (slight over exageration) but there are alot more than expected. any ideas of how to get round this sloping back problem? any of you guys ever had this?
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130908_160129_zpsca6ba102.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130908_160129_zpsca6ba102.jpg.html)
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130908_160109_zps1b13b0be.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130908_160109_zps1b13b0be.jpg.html)
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130908_160120_zps80ad69f3.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130908_160120_zps80ad69f3.jpg.html)
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130908_160138_zpsa492814d.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130908_160138_zpsa492814d.jpg.html)
(http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t614/bowslayerjez/20130908_160144_zps74e69e75.jpg) (http://s1316.photobucket.com/user/bowslayerjez/media/20130908_160144_zps74e69e75.jpg.html)
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You're gonna need to reduce that sapwood by a HUGE amount, as it's massively thick at this stage. I'm sure you've read/heard often that yew can take a lot of violations unlike some other woods, so you've basically got two options:
Keep the slope as it is by chasing rings and deal with the twist you'll get as you go. It shouldn't be too catastrophic but some heat twisting might be required
Or
Jump through the sapwood ignoring rings completely so you end up with a flat back. That's what I would do. As long as the violations run the length of the bow you won't have any problems as the shear forces on the layers of wood won't be across the bow but along it. It's violations running perpendicular to the profile you want to worry about.
You could try a few other methods if this is a spare piece of wood, such as twisting the entire bow within the design and chopping edges away so that you essentially force the bow to sit flat within a twisted stave.
As a word of advice when dealing with a piece of wood like this, following "reflex" isn't always the only option. That's a HUGE amount of reflex, and will almost certainly cause a lot of tillering problems if you're not used to it. You'll think the bow is far heavier than it is, as the reflex will ramp up the early draw-weight, making you take more wood off than you think, and you'll suddenly find yourself well under-weight by the end. If you want this to be a kid's bow you've got a hell of a fight on your hands. It's hard enough making a low-poundage bow with a straight stave, let alone factoring in massive reflex.
What I would have done with the piece of yew you photographed in your first post is flip the log over and use the "deflex" side as the back. The rings are tighter, which means less work on reducing the sapwood plus more power as essentially it's got a higher rpi count than the other side. I would have flipped the tips back on themselves and ended up with a stunning little reflex/deflex shortbow which you could have used yourself. Don't always get drawn in by this magical "reflex" term - it's not always a good thing!
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thank's for the reply will. looking back and thinking about it i probably should have just done what you said about the reflex deflex bow. ah well. i think ill do what you suggested and flatten the back. and then have a rounded belly. i am thinking of making this a kids bow or maybe someting that i can just shoot every so often. if anything im sure i will learn something from it and it was going to end up as firewood anyway.
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Should have split and spliced. Could if easily had a really nice long or flatbow.