Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DanB on April 01, 2019, 03:25:36 pm
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Hello all,
I'm new to bowmaking, so please forgive my ignorance. I made a longbow when I was in high school, and I enjoyed the challenge, so I thought I might try something new. I should mention high school was a while ago, so I may have forgotten most/all of what goes into it.
Trying to make a static recurve bow out of hickory. Unfortunately, I live in the city so all I have access to is kiln dried lumber.
I soaked the wood I was trying to bend in water overnight, steamed it for two hours, and as I was bending it over my jig it cracked along the growth ring.
So my newb question is, did I pick a board with growth rings that are too close together, or is there something else going on here?
Any advice would be appreciated. I knew going into this that I would probably break my first few attempts, but now I'm not exactly sure what went wrong.
Thanks!
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Dan, welcome to PA
sounds like you have the required patience, so hope you do not mind if I ask how thick the piece was you were trying to bend?
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Thanks for the reply.
Where it broke was approx. 5/8" thick, but the board narrowed to approx. 1/2" near where I was going to attach the handle.
It was a pyramid limb, 3/4" wide at the tips where it broke, 2-3/4" near the other end.
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What kind of radius was the bend?
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Around 30 degrees, starting 3" from the end of the tip.
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Welcome to PA Dan. Sounds like you were on the right track. It should have bent after 2 hrs of steaming. It had nothing to do with thin growth rings or being kiln dried but it may not have been treated properly from the stump. Sawmill lumber, lumber from a lumber yard isn't cut for bow building although some is OK for bows. If the log had laid on the ground for a while before it went to the saw mill it could easily been attacked by fungi. It really doesn't take long for fungi to attack wood if it isn't properly handled, after all that is the job of fungi and whitewoods like hickory are very susceptible.
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Thanks for the advice Pat, I thought it might have been something along those lines. I don't suppose there's an easy way to tell whether or not a board from the hardware store is any good or not? I've read the first two volumes of the TBB, but I don't remember them mentioning any tricks when it came to that.
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Dan, on some hickory I've had that was bad the wood was almost powdery on the surface where it should have been hard and slick. Others had discoloration.
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5/8 is on the thick side for bending. did you feel it giving way slowly as the bend progressed, and was it a quality board? most of the big box stores sell dubious wood for other end purposes
when the sap rises and the trees start to bud (soon I hope) is a real good time to cut a quality stave. that way you can be assured you materiel has been handled right. the ring could have been compromised any number of ways before you got the board as pat mentioned.
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It didn't really give much indication that it was about to break. It did creak a little, but I expected that.
Unfortunately, I live in a fairly big city, so finding a tree I could cut staves from is pretty much impossible. Kinda stuck with what I can get from the local Menards.
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How does soaking the wood in water help? Just curious.
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Soaking wood makes it 'green" again which is the best state for steaming.
I think soaking and boiling works better for kiln dried wood though.
A lot of recurved Hickory board bows were made by Ben Pearson's company.
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Good luck?
Honestly, it probably doesn't. I just figured it would probably heat all the way through more evenly if the board was saturated.
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soaking overnight might not have made much difference at the center of the board where it appears the rings separated, and sometimes steaming is not always as hot as it appears. hard to tell at this point.
if you want a birch stave of bow quality, i will be cutting some soon.
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Sorry for the (really) late reply, my daughter (1yr old) has five new teeth coming in and has been a handful lately.
But... success! Planed a new board down to 3/8" and tried again. Steamed for two hours, but this time I didn't take the time to soak them overnight. Both limbs bent without any splintering.
Now I'll get to know what it feels like to break a limb during tillering...
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Those are either small clamps or huge recurves. Can you take a picture with a ruler in the frame. 3/8" is kind of thin for a limb. You might have to make two more and glue them together.
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They're small clamps, only 12" overall length. From the floor to the top of the bending jig is around 5.5".
Is it worth trying to make just the two work, or should I bite the bullet and try to make two more?
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It looks to me like you are trying to follow the profile of a fiberglass recurve. That won't work with wood. 3/8" is just so thin for a limb and the recurves are just so big unless I'm seeing something that isn't there. If you doubled it up you would still have those huge bends. Any chance we could see a picture of the whole bow?
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+1 for DC. how I understand it (and correct me if i'm wrong) (and this might be syhas not recurves) but when you pull it it flexes out, and once its flexes out it turns into a lever. A lever to help control the bow flexing. if that lever is too small then you wont get anywhere, and if its too big... well you got a big lever for a small(er) task and you wont get as good of a bow. Dan i'm a newbie here too so im with ya and learning from things too! but seeing how you already tried to recurve a bow... you a step ahead! :OK
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Wow! just looked at the picture and if looks like you have a lot of grain runoff on that back! if that's the case... wear goggles when you pull!
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Welcome aboard, Dan! These folks have a wealth of knowledge to share!
Hawkdancer
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Yikes, what happened to the back of your bow? When using boards, a good grain pattern is a must. Be super critical of what you pick up.
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such a aggressive curve on a board bow seems doomed.. IMO... must be a perfect grain no runoff to even attempt... better to try this on a stave with a clean back...gut
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its a good time to get staves! white woods you can dry fast, read the 1st TBB in other woods, good luck!
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Thanks for the advice everyone, figured out where my math went wrong. Going to reduce the curve on my jig and try again. Probably going to take about six inches off the length of each limb too.
Good catch on the grain runoff, I did not notice that. The other limb looked good, so I just cut the other one out without paying too much attention.
Thanks again for taking the time to help me everyone, it's greatly appreciated!
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danb if newb.... look up perry reflex... and glue you up a bow like that... from a board this will make a fine bow..plenty of performance... not too complicated.. lil tricky to till but with the eyes here you will be fine ...plus it will make a outstanding bow...just a thought... gut..
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dean torges... hunting the bamboo backed bow... is the best video on this type of glue up..doesnt have to be bamboo ...gut