Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: ryder on March 12, 2016, 01:55:03 am
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Hi, first post. I'm from Darwin Australia and about 8 months ago started to develop a serious interest in making selfbows. I bought a copy of the TBB series, and have been having a crack at making board bows for the last few months.
The first few were with wood from the local hardware store, which was pretty terrible. Darwin is a somewhat remote city with very poor choice and variety for woods, so my only choice was Durian. Turns out, its terrible for bowmaking and i broke 3 during tillering. Made one kids bow that works well but its a 20" draw and light poundage.
Did the standard wood bending test from the book on the wood and the best numbers came out as 16.6lb - 3" - 1/4" - 3.5
But, I learned a lot from it and moved on.
Next, I found a timber merchant who sold a bit more variety and found an ok Jarrah board. Grain was running on a 60 deg angle from the back, but they had so little choice I took it. Tested it and it came out as 18.1lb - 3" - 1/4" - 3.5. Not great, but having bought it I gave it a crack anyway and made a 70" long flat bow that was 2.5" wide, and drew 45lb at 30" (I have long arms) To my surprise it shot fairly well, and lasted about 200 arrows before starting to lift small splinters on one side of both limbs along the back. It hasn't broken, but I have retired it for now. It was a very pretty bow, again, I learned a lot from it.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160223_200426.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160223_200426.jpg.html)
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160221_102458.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160221_102458.jpg.html)
I was hooked after this one! Feeling the bow that you made come to life in your hands for a second, sending an arrow you made flying towards a target, hard to explain but I felt like it scratched an itch in my soul I didn't know I had. Bit dramatic perhaps, but anyway, I really liked it. That bow got a LOT of attention from all the compound shooters at the archery club too, think there might be a few potential bowyers there :laugh:
So I went back to the timber merchant, and had a look at their spotted gum. They had one warped piece that had a good grain, and was long enough to cut a straight bit from. Got it home, cut a 1/2" x 18" test piece, set that outside in the high humidity here for 3 days then tested it. It was terrible. It came back pulling 20.5lb at 1.5", and snapped at 2" without taking a set. I don't know if that is just what spotted gum is like, or if that board had been baking in the Darwin heat for years and was ruined. Either way, I didn't waste my time trying to make a bow from it. It was upsetting though.
After that, I decided my intro into bow making by using boards was over, and it was time to get serious. It was time to cut my own wood. But what tree to get? There's very little information around on what Australian woods make decent bows. In America and Europe, there is a long history of what local tribes used in times gone by, but here the bow was never invented. A few people know some good woods, but there's very little data on the internet. People say 'some eucalypts', but there is 700 types of Eucalypts that grow here. Besides, most of the people who have built successful Eucalyptus bows don't live in the tropics and probably haven't done so using tropical grown woods. So, I just decided to have a crack at it, borrowed a chainsaw and went tree hunting. I figure if I fail but still learn something, I'll be better off than when I started.
So I found this tree, I *think* its some variety of bloodwood. Which is technically considered a type of Eucalyptus. Looked straight with no twists.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160304_162020.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160304_162020.jpg.html)
Chopped it down and split the log. Took it home and put a bit upstairs in the aircon away from the humidity to dry. The one at the back is the log in question.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160305_185714.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160305_185714.jpg.html)
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160312_121631.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160312_121631.jpg.html)
Realised I messed up, and did not cut a shorter log for test strips :( had to sacrifice a quarter log to make test bits out of. Cut some up on a bandsaw and let them dry for a few days.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160309_122824.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160309_122824.jpg.html)
Did a test on them, and they came up pretty good. I think the test bit was fractionally more damp than it should have been though. Tested at 28.3lb - 4" - 1/4" - 4.5". That said, at 4.5" it didn't *really* break, it just lifted a splinter from a sharp corner. The wood was still intact otherwise.
Based on that, I have roughed out a stave to just over 1 3/4 inches and 70" long (length to account for longer draw). The stave is still green, as I cut it down only a week ago. Its drying in the heat of the car at the moment.
Sapwood being shaved off
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160307_185948.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160307_185948.jpg.html)
Stave hacked to width with a hatchet(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160311_163634.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160311_163634.jpg.html)]
Edges cleaned up with a plane
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160311_170053.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160311_170053.jpg.html)
belly roughed out close to size
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160312_142611.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160312_142611.jpg.html)
That's where it's at the moment. Too wet to work much further and may warp if I do. Once its dry I'll do the tips and try to correct a slight twist, probably in a week or two. Like I said, I'm still very new to bow making and have probably made a heap of mistakes, and this may not even make a successful bow. But if it doesn't, I've learned a lot and enjoyed myself :)
Very interested in hearing peoples thoughts and/or advice!
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Welcome to the site ! Looking good so far. Bob
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Very interesting post :) It make me appreciate the timber I have access to in the UK... mind, you have all the funky animals ::)
You are obviously going to enjoy it on here.
Del
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Great first post!
You know you have yew in Australia though right? ;)
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Thank you :)
I haven't heard of yew over here? I mean, I know you can buy saplings as a hedge plant but I don't think there's much growing wild? Would LOVE to be wrong about this, my dream bow to make is a 100lb+ English longbow!
I've heard there's some Osage Orange growing wild in Victoria somewhere, but that's 3,800 km (2,300 miles) from here, so it's not what you might call easy to obtain
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Seems like you have the bow building bug for sure ryder. Look forward to seeing how that stave works for you so keep us posted
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Welcome to the site. Gonna be following this build. Kinda puts a new perspective on bow building. Where I live it takes me a few minutes to find a good stave n I have a variety of woods to choose from. I hope that bow zings an arrow.
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what varieties of eucalypts do you have?
Blue Gum - Eucalyptus saligna (or globulus?) is suitable for bows (I am told..not first hand knowledge, a friend made a D longbow a few years back)
there is this post from Paleo (http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/sreply/441874/Eucalyptus-for-bow)too on Oz woods.
I see there is also Eucalyptus camaldulensis (redgum) up Darwin way. Atlas of Living Australia (http://www.ala.org.au/blogs-news/environmental-discontinuity-in-the-distribution-of-eucalyptus-camaldulensis/). one of the woods listed in the above link.
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Cool story! I'm glad you persevered through many broken bows. It really puts into perspective how much we take for granted being able to walk into the backyard and grab some hickory, mulberry, or Osage here in the Midwest US.. I can't wait to see the end product and hope you find a suitable species to pursue!
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nice looking first bow, and welcome to the forum. I am sure that some oz bowyers may have some good advice for wood choices, but not every recommendation may grow that far north. If you are into looking at trees and saplings, have you researched the woods of choice in PNG?
http://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/EHU/PapuaNewGuineas-BowsandArrows.pdf
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Blue gum grows down south, there is some red gum up here. Will have to try some! Thanks for the links.
I feel certain there are many great bow woods around here, will just have to discover them.
Having an issue with the stave as it dries ATM. Its developing some small cracks along the back :(
Evidently, I should have sealed the back.
Will try superglue in them and seal the back with varnish perhaps, hopefully it's not too late?
Reckon I'll get away with it?
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160313_140829.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160313_140829.jpg.html)
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Welcome to the forum....That should do the trick.If you don't like the looks and it's thick enough you can chase a few more rings off.Every stave I prepare like that gets sealed with something.I use shellac because it dries pretty fast.Usually wider than thicker can help from sideways warpage but if it's gonna warp it's gonna you know.It can be corrected with the heat gun after roughing it out.
I feel as though you might have something there with that eucalyptus/bloodwood stave there.
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Those checks in themselves are not a problem but it looks like your layout runs at an angle to them. Your layout should be following the grain, forget straight lines if there is a wiggle follow it.
However it shouldn't be a problem if you are lucky ;) For now get some shellac, pva glue or similar on that back and slow down your drying. If that is Bloodwood you are onto a good start it costs a lot of money here in the UK.
Good luck to you :)
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Yes, i know the layout isn't perfect :( I angled it slightly to avoid an end check in the stave. Thought at the time when you consider how much the grain runs off the edge on pyramid bows without issues it should be alright? Thinking now it may not have been a great idea :(
Pretty sure its a variety of bloodwood, not red or pink bloodwood but maybe swamp bloodwood. Apparently theres a few varieties around.
It's now sealed and drying inside for a week, will assess again after that. I'm quite inpatient to have a bow again!
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I can quite comfortably promise you that there are some superb yew forests in Australia (and NZ for that matter - probably more of it in NZ come to think of it) and quite a few bowyers out there making some really nice warbows out of it.
You've got a mix of Irish yew (t.fastigiata) and English yew (t.baccata) in Australia but obviously it's a big old country and I wouldn't know where to suggest looking! I'd recommend getting in touch with some Australian bowyers and seeing if they can help you out!
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Hey Ryder, I don't about the suburbs of Darwin, but the NT should have some really nice bow timbers. I would focus on the dense acacias like gidgee, lancewood, brigalow, dead finish etc. I have made some good bows from NT lancewood, spliced at the handle.
Bows have been made from Aust bloodwood, wide limbed 2" +, paddle bows, and pyramid bows. I'm not a fan of eucalypts myself for bows, I find them a bit too temperamental, weaker in tension and compression than its density would suggest. That being said I have seen some nice ones made from various eucalpyts
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Thanks :) looks like i have lots of woods to try now!
Also have acquired some kangaroo sinew. Looking forwards to experimenting with it on another, shorter, bloodwood stave.
So today I used steam to straighten the limb of the stave that was about 15 deg twisted after splitting the log. Out of interest, I weighed the stave before and after steaming, as it was the first time I've ever steamed wood I was curious to see how much extra moisture it added to the stave.
Before steaming it weighed 1868 grams. Afterward it weighed 1865 grams. That seems to imply it lost a small amount of water content during steaming, instead of gaining it?!? Seems very counter intuitive...
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Steaming does remove moisture in fact.
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Wow, would never have thought that!
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Drying of stave has been slowing down a lot, losing only about 5 grams of water a day. Planned to finish the back and sides, get it bending a couple of inches with a floor tiller and set it aside to finish drying for another week. Haven't quite got that far though.
The back is pretty much done, its very smooth. Still a few small visible patches of VERY thin sapwood here and there to scrape off, though they are so thin you can see the heartwood through them.
The grain of this wood seems to have all sorts of crazy interlocking fibers everywhere, I think keeping a consistent width of the back without violating fibers would be pretty much impossible. Also, I'm a bit concerned about the sides, even using a spoke shave they had a tendency to have a few tear outs :( They aren't very deep, but are still concerning me. I was thinking it may be a good idea to drop NTN length from 69 inches to say 65? and have my first attempt at using sinew? Could help with the grain on the back too maybe.
I would be happy enough to just give it a crack as is and see what happens, I do have 2 more (partially dry) staves to hand, but I really want this bow to work. Sucks not being able to shoot at the moment. Interested in any opinions.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160320_170824.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160320_170824.jpg.html)
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160320_171020.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160320_171020.jpg.html)
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/20160320_170903.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/20160320_170903.jpg.html)
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Super interesting post and welcome to PA. I don't have much to add but wondered if you had Casuarina in the area. It's not the greatest wood but I've made succesful bows from it. We call is Australian Pine here in the states. Good look with your quest!
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I'd be sceptical about camaldulensis/redgum; the sheoaks/allocasuarina/casuarina are something I'm yet to play with, but there are a few stands I might thin out, as I've heard it may work; ironbarks are good; I've used white cypress/murray pine/callitris with some success - from bunnings fence pickets of all thing - but getting straight, knot free timber is the trick; some of the wattles are said to be good too; I've heard of brigalow and mulga making decent - if hard and heavy - bows
Jump on ozbow. It's not high-traffic, but there are some very experienced and knowledgeable bowyers there.
I can quite comfortably promise you that there are some superb yew forests in Australia (and NZ for that matter - probably more of it in NZ come to think of it) and quite a few bowyers out there making some really nice warbows out of it.
"Superb Yew forests"? Here? Really? And quite a few bowyers building from it? First I've heard... Maybe in NZ? Maybe in prime drop bear habitat or something...?
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"Superb Yew forests"? Here? Really? And quite a few bowyers building from it? First I've heard... Maybe in NZ? Maybe in prime drop bear habitat or something...?
Trust me ;)
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Feel free to throw a dog a bone and furnish further details ;) ; my better half is a heritage horticulturalist. She's got a pretty good idea about where most of SE Aust's bigger, older yews are, and there aren't a lot she knows of.
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Interlocked grain timber will tear out like that if you use a regular spokeshave, or plane. There are high angled planes and spokeshaves, 55-60 degree bed angles that will do a better job, or scraper planes if you still get tear out.
Rasps, files and card scrapers will also get the job done
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Interlocked grain timber will tear out like that if you use a regular spokeshave, or plane. There are high angled planes and spokeshaves, 55-60 degree bed angles that will do a better job, or scraper planes if you still get tear out.
Rasps, files and card scrapers will also get the job done
Thanks for the info, will have to keep an eye out for tools like that. It only wants to tear at the edge of the bow at least.
I still have the stave drying, had hoped it would be done by now. Every day it drops more weight on the scales.
I worked the belly down a little thinner to get it bending a little against the floor 2 days ago, as it dries this wood is getting very, very hard. Even freshly sharpened my edged tools (planes and spokeshave) just seem to skate off the surface now. maybe I just need to learn to use them better, or maybe all further work will have to be done with the rasp and scraper.
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Another thought, high speed steel blades for spokeshaves and planes are awesome for dense hardwoods.
If you don't already know about it HNT Gordon of Australia sells all of the above. Pretty pricey but top quality. There are cheaper Chinese made ones around on ebay(they work pretty well too, but aren't as well made).
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TBB series?
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A scraper might work better on that grain.
Most everybody has a dull file kicking around. It makes a very handy scraper. For a good hard steel scraper, without spending bucks, you can carefully grind the teeth off of an old file (but don't overheat it). Grind a round profile on the end for hollowing work, and then stone and roll all the edges.
You can shape a file scraper differently for different purposes. And if you want to get fancy with a two handle version, grind the square end into a second tang, heat it to anneal it and, while hot, drive it into a second wood handle. Best on tht type to also drive on a metal ferrule from a sawed off water pipe section.
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TBB series?
My apologies, I mean the Traditional Bowyer's Bible series. Volume 1 is getting harder to find these days, particularly in hardcover.
A scraper might work better on that grain.
Most everybody has a dull file kicking around. It makes a very handy scraper. For a good hard steel scraper, without spending bucks, you can carefully grind the teeth off of an old file (but don't overheat it). Grind a round profile on the end for hollowing work, and then stone and roll all the edges.
You can shape a file scraper differently for different purposes. And if you want to get fancy with a two handle version, grind the square end into a second tang, heat it to anneal it and, while hot, drive it into a second wood handle. Best on tht type to also drive on a metal ferrule from a sawed off water pipe section.
Thanks for the tip, reckon I have a blunt file or two to test that out on! :) I've been using an old steel rule as a scraper, honed with a stone - works really well for fine work, but only for fine work.
Another thought, high speed steel blades for spokeshaves and planes are awesome for dense hardwoods.
If you don't already know about it HNT Gordon of Australia sells all of the above. Pretty pricey but top quality. There are cheaper Chinese made ones around on ebay(they work pretty well too, but aren't as well made).
Thanks again, will check them out!
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The big dreadnought rasps used for car body work are fantastic for roughing out bows. They don't tear the grain, but work like a traditional bowyers flote and while you can hog off masses of wood if you want, they're also great at fine work such as chasing rings. They even leave a polished surface if you use them at the right angle.
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Made myself a hotbox to speed the drying. made it approx 75" long, 18" high and 12" wide, wired up 2 x 75 watt incandescent light bulbs in the bottom, connected to a STC-1000 temperature controller from my beer fridge. Kept it as 40 deg for almost 2 weeks, weighing the wood twice daily as I do not have a moisture meter. It was losing 10 grams a day, a few days ago I got frustrated and wondered if it wasn't getting too dry. Took it out and left it in the lounge room to check, and lo and behold it started gaining weight - grr guess I over did it. Still, it wasn't too bad, it stabilized after 2 days, only over dried it by about 10 grams on a 1400 gram stave.
Also have made myself a better tillering tree, one with a pulley system. I made it with 3 pulleys to give myself a mechanical advantage, and as such it only takes me 25 lb effort to apply 50 lb to the bow. Bought a spring scale for it too. Could use some paint perhaps, but it'll do for now
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/Mobile%20Uploads/20160402_191602.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160402_191602.jpg.html)
Have started to tiller the stave as well ;D having a few small challenges though.
I made the mistake of tapering the tips and roughing out the handle close to its finished size before the wood had fully dried. I found that as it finished drying, one limb has warped sideways a little, and now with a tillering string on it the string is not centered down the grip. It's now about 1/2 inch off the center of the grip, but still inside the finished grip. The grip wants to rotate in the tillering tree as I work, I can stop it from doing fairly easily though.
Lesson learned - will not make that mistake again. Not sure if it will affect how the bow shoots, figured I'd just make that limb the top one and have the string close to the outside of the grip - will that be a problem? If so, the bow is pretty long (70 inch ntn, but as a bigger fella I do have a 30" draw), maybe I could shave an inch off each side and re adjust the nocks. Alternatively, I could make it say 64" ntn, and sinew back it?
The wood is very hard, and now its dry I have no bladed tools that work on it. Everything skates off the surface, or tries to bite in then make ripples, so I'm down to one rasp which works well but is frustratingly slow. Still, I am enjoying the process overall so its not a huge deal.
Also, the wood is a little snakey on one limb, not sure why as the trunk was as straight as you could want before I cut it and took the sapwood off it. Not a warstopper either, but it's first time I've worked on tillering a snakey limb. There's plenty of literature on how to do it though, so it's just a matter of me learning as I go and hoping for the best. The snakey bit at the fade is worrying me, because I don't understand the mechanics of it very well. Will probably post a few pics up for advice as I go, if anyone doesn't mind helping me.
Here's a pic of where I'm at right now
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/Mobile%20Uploads/20160402_191904.jpg) (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/ryder85/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160402_191904.jpg.html)
On the long tillering string, I have the limb tips moving probably 3-4 inches right now. Not enough to string yet, but hopefully will get there tomorrow afternoon!
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Made myself a hotbox to speed the drying. made it approx 75" long, 18" high and 12" wide, wired up 2 x 75 watt incandescent light bulbs in the bottom, connected to a STC-1000 temperature controller from my beer fridge. Kept it as 40 deg for almost 2 weeks, weighing the wood twice daily as I do not have a moisture meter. It was losing 10 grams a day, a few days ago I got frustrated and wondered if it wasn't getting too dry. Took it out and left it in the lounge room to check, and lo and behold it started gaining weight - grr guess I over did it. Still, it wasn't too bad, it stabilized after 2 days, only over dried it by about 10 grams on a 1400 gram stave.
Sacrificing a beer fridge to dry wood---- you've got it bad >:D
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Lol would never sacrifice a beer fridge! It's a removable unit i can plug into my fermenting fridge when needed :)
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Had some time to work on it today, its drawing 13" at 36 lb atm (well, more like 12" in reality, that string is a bit stretchy). Have not drawn it further as i think it needs more wood off the midlimb first.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/Mobile%20Uploads/20160403_170107.jpg)[/URL]
Should get another hour or two on it tomorrow night.
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Finished tillering!
Thanks to everyone who has given me advice on tillering and everything else. The bow is not done yet, but without your help im sure by now I'd have had a 50/50 chance of having a broken bow and feeling very discouraged.
After the advice on the tiller check thread, I had a crack at redesigning the fades and getting it to bend closer to the fades. Here is the result.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/Mobile%20Uploads/20160406_195737.jpg)
Maybe not perfect, but its the best I can do. Next one will be easier from the experience.
If the right limb looks a little odd, the wood was a bit snakey to start with but also i seem to have somehow made it exactly 1" shorter than the left. I wasn't actually going to own up to that one...
Bow finished tillering at 69" NTN, 30" draw @ 60lb. After a dozen full draws it had not lost any draw weight. After testing it on the tillering jig and by hand I immediately unstrung it, it had taken 1 1/4" set. Not sure what it has settled back to now.
I expect the draw weight will drop a little when i finish the belly, maybe 55lb? I was going for 50lb, but i find it comfortable to draw now so im just going to leave it. Tomorrow, I'm going to shoot it in once I make the bowstring, and I'll aee if I can con the missus into taking a full draw photo of it, assuming of course that it doesnt explode.
Also, the warping it did while drying seems to have almost completely vanished, so thats good.
Pretty amped right now, reckon I've earned a beer or two :)
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Finally got around to reading this one, and I gotta say "Bravo"!! This can be a truly frustrating journey with patience being your biggest enemy. Reading this I am reminded of my early days in the hobby and how poorly I would sleep at night - waiting for wood to dry... You did fine work on this bow and looks like you have a nice shooter to show for it. Congrats!
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Bravo is right man....well done!
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If no one has posted it, it took a few seconds googling "Yew forest in australia" to come up with the location. Daintree Rainforest, only 2300 km from Darwin, a short 33 hour drive on A1 and national route 1!
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If no one has posted it, it took a few seconds googling "Yew forest in australia" to come up with the location. Daintree Rainforest, only 2300 km from Darwin, a short 33 hour drive on A1 and national route 1!
Unfortunately:
a. "Southern Yew" is a Prumnopitys, not Taxus - anything (not sure if the timber is even comparable); and
b. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't get far wandering into a world heritage listed rainforest and tourist mecca with a chainsaw...
My wife is a heritage horticulture consultant; one of her best friends is an arborist; my brother in-law is a landscape gardener; I've definitely asked, but between them they can count very few mature, sizeable yews in SE Aust, let alone any that might have suitable staves in it, and then that I might be allowed to take something from.
But if anyone has any leads: I'm all ears!
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Glad it worked out for you, Ryder. This is the same bow as in the "Tiller Check" thread, right? Just a suggestion for future tillering -- if you were aiming for 50 lbs from the start, pulling to 60 lbs was what gave you a lot of your set.
The usual advice is to pull to a little under your final goal during early tillering, and then at a certain point when late tillering pull to the goal weight. But not to exceed it. If you want to tiller to a couple pounds over to compensate for final sanding that's okay, but 10 pounds over is a lot.
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Thanks for that, will keep it in mind. I only pulled to 60 lb when it was over 22 inches draw, and really only went as high as that because it seemed to be happy to do it. More than happy to have a 60lb bow, next time I'll plan that from the start though, perhaps make it a fraction wider?
In hindsight, I've made several mistakes with this bow. I think theres a little more draw than i need, I measured it at 30" on a method suggested by a member at the club, but now its complete, with an arrow nocked my draw only needs to be 29" for my thumb to reach the corner of my mouth. That probably added some set.
My poor tillering technique probably added some set too, making some areas strain more than they needed to before the other areas caught up. With experience i can fix that too.
Also next time i make one, I'll buy a scraper and try chasing the last few inches of draw with that to reduce any losses from sanding / scraping file marks off.
Still, there's 3 more staves from that tree to work with now! Learned a lot from this one!
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I've definitely asked, but between them they can count very few mature, sizeable yews in SE Aust, let alone any that might have suitable staves in it, and then that I might be allowed to take something from.
But if anyone has any leads: I'm all ears!
Go North ;)
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Ryder, well done on your bows.
It's always terrific to learn of another Aussie bowyer.
What's more amazing is that there's another person in Australia (heck...the world) that also does bend testing of wood!
I'm late to this piece so I have a few points:
Spotted gum has great potential as a bow wood. Problem is, like with many eucalypts, the trunk can look pipe straight and branch free, but the grain can still grow spiralled. So a board can have dead straight ring lines, but horribly violated grain. Best way around that is to back it with something, most commonly bamboo.
Red Gum has relatively short grain, in my experience. The shorter grain does not lend itself particularly well to making bows.
I am fairly certain there is not anywhere in Australia, a 'yew forest'. Zip. Nada. Not in the sense that yew trees originating in the northern hemisphere have been grown here in any sort of density above 'peculiarity' level. I've been making bows for about 18 years, and have been on the hunt for bow wood that whole time, and only in the last 12 months have I landed a stave of Yew. On the NSW coast Osage is listed as a pest, but there is not yew in any significant quantity. If there are bowyers in Australia making nice warbows out of Australia-sourced yew, they are not telling anyone here about it and theyr'e hiding the bows as soon as they're finished.
You can indeed make a bow from Blue Gum (E. Saligna). I've made a few myself and they worked really well. Most typically I use spotted gum and any of the ironbarks. When I lived out bush I'd use any acacias I could get my hands on. Do you have Brigalow scrub up there?
Back to you Ryder: You sort of are at a disadvantage being in Darwin - I don't know that there're all that many bowyers up there. On the flip side, you can consider yourself to be one of the very few pioneers of your region; you're the one that will light the way for NT bowyers who come after you.
The very best tool I've found for working Australian timbers by hand is the Shinto rasp. It has a course and a fine side, and can remove honking great piles of wood chips or fin dust depending on your pressure and levels of elbow grease. I could not recommend anything else for working wood bows by hand. I do envy the Northern hemisphere types that get away with using planes and spokeshaves. But them's the apples, I suppose.
For a scraper I use the long side of a chisel. The steel's excellent, and machined to a sharp edge that takes shavings off very well.
Keep up the good work on the bows.
D
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Good on ya!
Well done on making a very good first stave bow. You are obviously learning.
Sounds like you'll be making a few more and keep on with the bend tests ;)
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Thank you for the excellent information and story. Its inspired me to make a bow of eucalyptus here in San Diego, California, USA
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Thanks for the kind words :)
I think anyone living in Australia would benefit greatly from the bend test, knowing how wide to make a bow from a wood of an unknown quality, or even if it's worth the effort, could save a lot of time and heartbreak!
I definitely want to make one of these bloodwood staves into a backed bow, and have been seriously considering making my next bow a shorter, sinewed bow. This particular wood seemed to break in tension not long after it took a 1/4 set on the bend test, but bent more than standard before taking a set. I reckon it may be a good candidate for sinew.
I'll have to check out the east coast of NSW for osage next time I'm down there, will only be living in Darwin for another almost two years. Very, very interested in getting my hands on some of that!
Having a look around for one of those Shinto rasps, ty for the tip! The rasp i used on this was a cheaper one, but this wood blunted it pretty badly just making this one bow! Not going to lie, was strongly considering getting out the orbital sander for a while there and using that.
Papy56, good luck with your eucalypt bow! I'd love to see that when it's done :)
Ok last pic - bow all finished.
Finished weight is 55lb @ 29", 69" NTN. Made a string for it and have shot 50 500 grain arrows through it with no issues except my aim. Follow is 1 1/4 immediately after unstringing. Finish is gloss varnish, which i regret - wish I'd used a more traditional animal grease.
Grip is a simple string grip, nothing special. Only used it because that's what i had.
Off tomorrow to go shoot at the club 3D target round, where i will get to give it a proper workout somewhere thats not my backyard!
Thanks again for your help gents, I hope to return the favour to someone else who is just learning someday.
(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/ryder85/Mobile%20Uploads/20160409_133631.jpg)
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Seal the back and ends of your stave. You'll stop wind checking.
Do this or your stave will seasoned without the wind checks.
I'm perty sure there's yew there also.
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Congratulations on making a fine looking bow! I'm another one who really likes the Shinto rasp. No clue on how they fare with the wood in your part of the world, but they hold up well against the hardest American woods (osage, hickory, and hard maple) I've used.
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That's turned out really well. Well done.
Shinto rasps can be had off ebay cheaply enough; I'm also going to have a play with a dreadnought file soon. Many Australian woods tend to be hard, heavy, and full of silicates which can dull softer blades in a real hurry.
I'm perty sure there's yew there also.
Feel free to throw a dog a bone and give us some more clues...! I'm bemused that the British and American bowyers know there's supplies of yew in Australia, but the Australians can't find it...
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Outstanding first stave bow ryder! I enjoyed your post and predict lots of bows in your future. I think you have identified a good bow wood in your area. A stave that stands up to a beginning bowyer's tillering and yields a good bow with under two inches of string follow is probably a good indicator that exceptional bows are possible from that type of wood. The color is beautiful. I wish I had some of it growing around here. A farrier's rasp is my favorite tool. It has a course side for hogging off wood and a finer side for shaping. A knife makes my favorite scraper. I have an old Glock field knife that I filed a scraper edge on one side that is one of my most used tools. Welcome to the addiction. :D