Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bigcountry on July 25, 2008, 10:01:23 pm
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Ok, TBB says black locust is the teacher of tillering. So lets see what mother nature can do with a very interested student. Well at least next year. I cut down a black locust today and got 6 staves out of it. 3 are straight and nice, and 3 have a curve in them.
I sealled the ends with rustoleum. Should I remove the bark to seal the sapwood?
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Big, I would definitely remove the bark and seal, but dont depend on rustoleum...tried it, didnt work well at all...bugs really like black locust, specially if ya leave the bark on. Spray it down good with insecticide. Cheapest way to seal is with genaric school glue..$.50 a bottle! :D....Brian
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I'd do as Brian says, alot of work but well worth the labor.
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Hey big country
I'm no expert either, far from it, but I have been a wood carver for many years. One of the best and cheapest woodsealers I know of and have used faithfully is parafin wax, melt it apply it to the end grain and forget about it
Robb
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Big, I would definitely remove the bark and seal, but dont depend on rustoleum...tried it, didnt work well at all...bugs really like black locust, specially if ya leave the bark on. Spray it down good with insecticide. Cheapest way to seal is with genaric school glue..$.50 a bottle! :D....Brian
Like elmers?
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Got pictures of the tree/staves? I love raw materials :). I've tried shellac to seal the backs of a lot of staves - didn't have any luck, paraffin sounds likely. Cheap regular white glue of any sort works wonders.
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Elmers is a white glue. Just ask your wife for some if she does any canning. Just kidding, but that is the stuff you use. Go to any store that has canning supplies, like mason jars etc. and you will be able to buy parafin wax. It comes in a box in four slabs, just melt one of them and dip the end of the stave in the wax and your done.
Good luck
Robb
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Got pictures of the tree/staves? I love raw materials :). I've tried shellac to seal the backs of a lot of staves - didn't have any luck, paraffin sounds likely. Cheap regular white glue of any sort works wonders.
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/Trees/Locust1.jpg?t=1217115894)
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Guys, think these are firewood? Figured I could give them away to people who are gifted enough to tiller something like this, or cut to 60"
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/Trees/SecondsSnakeyLocust2.jpg?)
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Wow. I'd try a better beginner's wood if it were me. :o I've let BL season for a year or more and then chased a ring. Hurt myself doin it too. Its some kinda tough lemme tell ya. >:(
Theres nothing wrong with a 60" bow.It'll probably wanna bend through the handle. I quit cutting locust, I found it to be much harder to tiller and much less able to handle my poor tillering abilities. :-[ Besides its harder than hickory, hard to work. My .02$
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Wow. I'd try a better beginner's wood if it were me. :o I've let BL season for a year or more and then chased a ring. Hurt myself doin it too. Its some kinda tough lemme tell ya. >:(
Theres nothing wrong with a 60" bow.It'll probably wanna bend through the handle. I quit cutting locust, I found it to be much harder to tiller and much less able to handle my poor tillering abilities. :-[ Besides its harder than hickory, hard to work. My .02$
Well price was right. Only a few gallons of sweat.
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im looking to cut some locust in a couple weeks. so im followin allong and takin notes...
Phil
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well ifn you want to get rid of those,i'll take the one thats 4th from the left, is it about 2x4x66?
p.m. some details and i will pay for shipping ifn the size is right ;D 8)
i,ve been wanting to try b.l.,heck im just about tempted to cut the neighbors tree down to try it lol >:D
peace,
tim
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Whalp, them are pretty knarly ;D - the second picture i mean. From my meager experience with bl it works fairly easy - I've mostly worked with osage and hic. It steam bends really easy too. Now that I know what to look for I've spotted some groves down here - I'll be cuttin some before it's over :). Thanks for the pics..
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Yes, BL is a fine teacher. Go a little wider and a lot longer. 60 inches for what draw? Jawge
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Yes, BL is a fine teacher. Go a little wider and a lot longer. 60 inches for what draw? Jawge
I shoot 29" but I figured if I cut any from the second picture, I could cut off the curled end to 60". Maybe for someone with 26" draw. Give em away to family or friends. But I need to learn to tiller well. So don't want to get ahead of myself. The ones in the first picture are 70".
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well ifn you want to get rid of those,i'll take the one thats 4th from the left, is it about 2x4x66?
p.m. some details and i will pay for shipping ifn the size is right ;D 8)
i,ve been wanting to try b.l.,heck im just about tempted to cut the neighbors tree down to try it lol >:D
peace,
tim
yea man, I can send you one out of that second batch. They are 68" now. But you would have to live with that end on em.
I will be sealing and letting em dry out until next year. I don't mind giving some away.
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If you have the time. I would remove the bark and sapwood both before any drying. I found it much easier to get the sapwood of cleanly when locust is first cut. I usually shellac the ends and backs with 4 to 5 heavy coats of uncut shellac.
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I got the bark off and coated the "back" with elmers glue. I put two coats on it. I was reading in TBB where they recommend also taking the sapwood off. They said it would crack easy. I am hoping the sealing it will keep that from happening.
I might take off the sapwood on two or so and rough em out to dry quicker. But it would take so much time to do it on 6-8staves.
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If ya spent the time cuttin em and splittin them ya might as well at least try to make a bow.
If nothing else you will learn a ton about straightening and tillering :)
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If ya spent the time cuttin em and splittin them ya might as well at least try to make a bow.
If nothing else you will learn a ton about straightening and tillering :)
You think it was a bad choice? I was just going off TBB volumn 4 and thought it would make a bow.
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Straighter would be easier but go ahead and chase a ring seal the back and let em dry, then give it try, you should see all the crooked staves I have :D
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I've had my best luck sealing with shellac, you have to give them a couple coats though. When I use glue, I thin it with some water first. Never tried parafin, wonder if you could melt it in acetone and paint it on like that rather than keeping it warm?
I'd go ahead and get that sapwood off too, it'll help the wood dry faster and you'll see any knots so you'll know better what you have that way. And you could rough out at least one bow, it'd dry a lot faster when its near dimensions and you could play with it this winter.
Don't forget about billets, I see some potential straight billets in your "junk pile". And black locust will bend with heat, so you could probably straighten some of those bendy ones enough to use them. Don't know that you could straighten the ones with the golf club look though. My experience is, I hold onto everything for awhile and periodically cull out the junk when I become limited on space. But don't store anything with bark on it with your good stuff, that bark harbors lots of bug larvae and bugs LOVE black locust.
Black locust makes a good bow. How are your rings? Good ratio of summer to spring wood?
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not sure if you can see em, but rings looked nice. Thin early rings.
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/Trees/IMG_0004.jpg?t=1217263907)
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Hi Big country,
I`m working on a Bl bow at the Moment.
The tree was harvested 2006 in February and the section I seasoned for staves about 2 m long and of diameter from about 15 cm.
I split the tree in halves. The first half I seasoned in the bark. I got a lot of splits and cracks and was nearly not usable for a bowstave after seasoning, so I put it away.
From the second half I removed the bark and secured the tips with shellac. It seasoned well and bent in reflex of about 2 1/2".
This year in May I began to remove the sapwood. It was an awfull lot of work for it was very thick. Next time I will remove the sapwood before seasoning and work te stave down to one ring of the core. Then I will secure the tips and the back with shellac. I think it will work and save a lot of time cause the wet sapwood is getting easily off.
I had to cut the seasoned stave to a length of only 58" because of a serious knot in one tip of the stave. So the bow will bend through the handle and will be backed with rawhide of a deer. I´m going to achieve 56" and 45# @ 28" draw.
It is going to be a thriller. The bow is now ready fot floor tillering and I will have to steam bend the upper limb to get out a serious curve to the right first to get the string leading to center. Then there have to be the tips bent back for about 1 1/2 or 2 " to get a better string angle.
If then the stave is still alive it has to be backed and gets to the tree. Hopefully a bow comes out. This one is the shortest I ever made and I`m confident to get the tillerin right.
The main problem will be the Steam bending.
Your logs look like as if there has to be done a lot of bending. But I think it may well be worth it. I learned a lot of so far.
So I wish you good effort for your plans
so long uhu
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I use dry heat for black locust. Heat it with the heat gun till it starts to change color to a purplish color and it bends really well.
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uhu, good info. I am working on a shaving horse, and will try to take the sapwood off the best one so it will be ready by next year. Good advise.