Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: upstatenybowyer on April 04, 2017, 07:40:13 pm
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Just wondering about people's experience with ERC. I know some folks like it and others won't touch the stuff.
I'm curious, of those of you who have built a successful bow with it, what's your ratio of success to explosion?
Mine is one success (sinew backed) to 5 explosions.
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I had one blow and one fold, top and bottom limb together.
I will give their explosions a 98 out of 100 though! :OK
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I had one blow and one fold, top and bottom limb together.
I will give their explosions a 98 out of 100 though! :OK
Nice! Nothing blows up like ERC! (--)
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Love the stuff but not for bows, not for me anyway. explosions- a lot, successes- big fat zero!
Tattoo Dave
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So far so good. I've only used it on my handles.lol. It sure is pretty though and smells oh so good
Bjrogg
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Never worked with the stuff, but I have worked with Juniper. I'm guessing that its like juniper in that it's more elastic in compression than tension, therefore the back tends to give fairly easy making it difficult to make a self-bow. If it's backed with something like sinew it should turn out but that's just me theorizing.
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Dave, I love it too. I just can't decide to try for another bow or not.
BJ, Ahh yes. The smell is stupendous. Bet those are some pretty handles.
gfugal, never worked with any juniper other than ERC. I wonder how different they are from species to species.
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My ratio = 1 attempt to 1 success.... I made the bow about 74 inches long, hit my target weight of 30lbs, and made the limbs 1 and 3/4 wide at the fades. It was a straight and clean stave, sapwood back and heart wood belly. Everyone in my group of bow builders is so scared of the stuff, they cringe every time I draw it back. I think I will pike it two inches at a time and keep drawing it until I get a proper explosion on video or a hunting weight bow.. (--)
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I'm 2 for 2. One 56" rawhide backed bendy, 35# only drawn to 24". The other a 54" bendy, sinew backed (3oz), 50# and drawn to 28".
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I have had good success with light bows around 35# but 100% failure with 50# or over. They usually last about 50 to 100 shots.
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1 out of 4 success.The one is a stiff handled 68" 2" wide D/R maple backed of about 45#'s@ 28".Fantastic explosions though.
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So far I'm 1 and 1. A light weight sinew backed molle that held up and shot well. And a maple backed warbow that exploded before being bent to brace. I think that one let go due to a faulty glue line. There was a void in the center I didn't see. And I didn't realize the maple had curly grain until after it exploded. It was a nice explosion,, but I feel like black cherry gives it some good competition for which explodes better. I have a video of that black cherry warbow exploding saved in my phone that I can't figure out how to post. I have two more ERC in the works. A long D belly self bow and a long wide ainew backed. I just have to get around to making them bend.
Kyle
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I'm in the process of building a ERC Warbow that's 81" long and unbacked going for a 100# or so. I will post when I'm done! It's based on Del's elm Warbow dimensions.
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link=topic=60230.msg839392#msg839392 date=1491398164]
I'm in the process of building a ERC Warbow that's 81" long and unbacked going for a 100# or so. I will post when I'm done! It's based on Del's elm Warbow dimensions.
[/quote]if it survives the tillering pulley.
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(http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv24/licenseddadad/Mobile%20Uploads/2017-04/IMG_20170405_153934_zpsm7lgf5ya.jpg) (http://s666.photobucket.com/user/licenseddadad/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2017-04/IMG_20170405_153934_zpsm7lgf5ya.jpg.html)Here she is still to thick and I need to get the back to a single ring. I thinned the sapwood, now to reduce the belly to get it around 50/50 and at the Elm warbow specs.. Not trying to hijack your thread Jeff but I had this hankering to try it out and the perfect stave for it. I cut it 6 months ago so I"m not rushing it.
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No worries Bob. That's one sweet looking piece of ERC! I know you'll do it justice!
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(http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv24/licenseddadad/Mobile%20Uploads/2017-04/IMG_20170405_153934_zpsm7lgf5ya.jpg) (http://s666.photobucket.com/user/licenseddadad/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2017-04/IMG_20170405_153934_zpsm7lgf5ya.jpg.html)Here she is still to thick and I need to get the back to a single ring. I thinned the sapwood, now to reduce the belly to get it around 50/50 and at the Elm warbow specs.. Not trying to hijack your thread Jeff but I had this hankering to try it out and the perfect stave for it. I cut it 6 months ago so I"m not rushing it.
Make sure its plenty long. ERC is not an ideal long bow wood. It likes to be wide and thin. It will give out in tension if it bends too far or stressed due to the fibers being further from the neutral plane. The way ELBs get away with this is by being long, thus not requiring it to bend so far. However, thats with a wood better suited for that design (something strong in tension). To make it work with ERC just make sure its even longer than the long bows are normally.
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ERC bows are good to make on the fourth of july. The sound of them exploding blends in with all of the commotion and fireworks happening outside
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I am 50%.
First one was a success. Mostly sap wood, sinew backed. Here is the link to when I originally posted it - http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,38400.0.html. I did shoot a deer with this one 2 seasons ago - still a good shooter.
Second one exploded. I wanted a all heart wood so I worked down to the first ring of heart wood - had some violations however. Backed with rawhide. She didn't hold. Here is this one - http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,44910.msg607200.html#msg607200
My suggestions - make it long, back it, wide back and rounded belly, don't expect much more than 50# at 28. Good luck.
I still want to make a all heartwood erc - next one will be backed with sinew. Someday.
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2 successful sinew backed. One 64" and 45# @26", one 58" and 45#@26"
1'limited success with a selfbow. Lasted about 200 shots, then eventually lifted a huge splinter on the back. Never blew because it lifted when I strung it while too dry. It now lives permanently strung on a wall, with the splinter glued down. It would never survive full draw I'm sure.
The 64" sinew backed bow had the sinew removed and is waiting for new sinew. The 58" is going strong and a very fast shooter. I have another 60" in the works that will also be sinew backed after it gets recurves.
The real trick is that you need a lot more wood than you think. So for light weight or short drawnor both, it's not bad. But to make a heavier bow for 28"+ draw, you'd need a rather long wide stave.
Also, I must live in the land of ERC because there a tons of them, but in all he years and hundreds of trees I've looked at, I've only gotten a few decent staves. I've seen a set of 100% clean billets, but I'm sure they are ridiculously rare.