Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: simson on March 24, 2020, 02:33:10 am
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After a long period of struggle with massive health problems I’m back. Hope some of you remember me and like to see my work again. I haven’t finished a bow in the last months, but sorted out my staves, prepared now and then some of them. So I came over to a pile of staves and bow blanks thought for bendy handle bows. This collection are more or less short (at least the most) staves/blanks, some of them were laying in a corner for years.
What I found so far:
ash, bamboo, barberry, black locust, black walnut, buckthorn, checker tree, cherry, cornelian cherry, cypress, dogwood, elderberry, different sorts of elm, golden chain tree, hawthorn, hazel, hedge maple, holly, juniper, lilac, mulberry, norway maple, osage, different sorts of plum, rowan, serviceberry, sloe, spindeltree, thuja, tree of heaven, walnut, wayfaring tree, yew.
Except osage and bamboo all others are native growing trees or bush in my homeland. Some of them came out of the bio junk container from our local community.
Of course there are a lot more suitable bow woods, I simply do not have staves from all available.
But still have now more than 30 species to choose from. Perhaps I find more in dark corners of my shop/garage, we will see.
I will do lighter weight bows with different designs, symmetrical and asymmetrical and mostly more or less shorties.
Well, I got started already and work on 20 or so parallel to compensate waiting periods (steaming, glueing, sinewing, heat treating, …).
What a good feeling to be back in the shop!!!
Here is the first one.
Holly flatty “holey holly” 34/28 (No. 109)
Some years ago I got some holly (ilex aquifolium) staves donated from my friend Andi (thanks bro!). One of those was split in halves, one half was a good one and made a nice bow. The other half was full of dead branches and I laid it in a corner and forgot about it. Over the years of seasoning the dead branches got loose and could pushed out easily, below and above the knots/holes deep cracks had developed going through the entire wood.
After examining this cool piece again, I couldn’t throw it into the fire wood. I scraped the bark away, leaving some cambium on. The back is an up and down humpy bumpy all the length, I followed bellyside as good as I could.
No steam, no heat, no stain is on wood.
The nine holes gave this stick its name “holey holly”.
ntn: 57”
bh: 6”
symmetrical
mass: 390 gram
w/d: 26/16 mm handle
44/14 mm max
12/10 mm tips
bendy handle
08”: 03,0
10”: 06,5 (+ 3,5)
12”: 09,2 (+ 2,7)
14”: 12,1 (+ 2,9)
16”: 14,7 (+ 2,6)
18”: 17,5 (+ 2,8)
20”: 20,6 (+ 3,1)
22”: 23,6 (+ 3,0)
24”: 26,6 (+ 3,0
26”: 30,0 (+ 3,4)
28”: 33,5 (+ 3,5)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-1-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-2-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-3-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-4-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-5-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-6-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-7-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-8-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-9-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-10-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-11-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-12-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-13-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-14-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-15-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-16-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-17-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-18-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-19-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-20-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-21-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-22-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-23-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-24-von-25.jpeg)
(http://primitive-bows.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/109.-Holly-flattie-25-von-25.jpeg)
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Incredible work on such a tricky stave!
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Beautiful! Glad you are back in your shop Simson. I bet that does feel good.
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Wow... just wow. :)
Del
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Very beautiful,,,one of my favorites,,congrats ,,.so glad u back
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Simson....An example of patience and more patience into a piece of functional art.A unique piece of wood made into a bow not seen too often on this site.Very nice work.Wise not to heat treat.IMO heat treating a knotty stave is a risky business.
Good to hear your health is back on a good track.It sounds like you are in bow wood heaven.This is part of IMO what self bows can offer more so than any other form of bow making.
Beautiful pictures too I might add.Did the site take a while to download all of those?....Ha Ha.I might wear my scroller out looking at all of those pictures.
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Wow Simson, that's beautiful. Glad your health is better and you're making bows again. Love seeing your work.
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Its good to hear you are feeling better. Hopefully are your health concerns are no longer a concern. Stay well, Simon.
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Glad to see you back. Beautiful bend. I love the third picture with the sun shining through the holes :D. With nine holes I was expecting a golf reference, maybe "Front Nine" Great job, Really glad to see you're OK, I was missing your bows.
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I was missing your bows.
and I was also, very nice.
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Simson, and pic heavy...thats a great combination. Wonderful looking bow, and I hope your health is heading in the right direction.
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HOL(L)Y MOLY !!! That´s a really nice-looking bow!
I´m glad to see you back again and I´m also happy that your health is better now. Your bows are always real works of art. So how could I forget them?
Many greetings from Innsbruck,
lonbow
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I really struggle to comprehend the work that must go into getting a stave like that bending so wonderfully. Just the other day I needed a fix and went through your website, it is such a treasure trove, but it is even better to see you posting again. hope all thise health scares stay in the past.
Could you give some information about the other holly bow you made? I have a stave or two at home and have seen mixed reviews regarding holly as a bow wood.
Zach
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Stunning work simson. Glad to have you back and in good health!
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Just beautiful, Simon. It almost looks like a piece of driftwood! Wonderful work and I am glad to see your post and pictures. Best wishes for your continued recovery and well being.
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Wow, It looks beautifull, one of the nicest looking bows i have seen pasing by Here. I love to see character bows. Hope to make one evver too
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Sorry to hear that you were down-in-the-dumps…glad to see you back!
You sure picked a tough stick to get back in the grove – excellent job!
H
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Beautiful pictures too I might add.Did the site take a while to download all of those?....Ha Ha.I might wear my scroller out looking at all of those pictures.
yeah, it took about 2 min, and I thought I've made something wrong. After nearly a year of abstinence ...Glad to see you back. Beautiful bend. I love the third picture with the sun shining through the holes :D. With nine holes I was expecting a golf reference, maybe "Front Nine" Great job, Really glad to see you're OK, I was missing your bows.
... I've no clue about golf, but would be good naming 8)
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Could you give some information about the other holly bow you made? I have a stave or two at home and have seen mixed reviews regarding holly as a bow wood.
Zach, I've made flatbows out of holly staves. Some with induced reflex or flipped tips. Very flexible wood and can polished like bone.
HOL(L)Y MOLY !!! That´s a really nice-looking bow!
I´m glad to see you back again and I´m also happy that your health is better now. Your bows are always real works of art. So how could I forget them?
Many greetings from Innsbruck,
lonbow
Hey neighbour! kennen wir uns?
@ all
thanks guys for that warm welcome. To tell the truth I'm still in the recovering and far away from being fit. I lost so much strength the past year and I'm still out of form. But the bowmaking is like a therapy.
Stay healthy in that covid 19 times!
Simon
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Not in person. I´m just really admiring your work! Keep it going :BB
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Very impressive! That much character and to get a bend like that is something.
Mike
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Boy howdy! That's a fantastic piece!
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happy to see you're back
man...... (A)
It took you just a couple of bows to deplete my reserve of words of praise
at number 109 I can just admire speachless your beatifull art
this one jumps in my top 5 Simson favorite bows
I see you collected some tuja
How do you rate it?
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Thanks again!
I' m glad you like that holey stick
happy to see you're back
man...... (A)
It took you just a couple of bows to deplete my reserve of words of praise
at number 109 I can just admire speachless your beatifull art
this one jumps in my top 5 Simson favorite bows
I see you collected some tuja
How do you rate it?
Some years ago I've built a 70" or so flatbow with about 50 #. It did shoot like hell, because the bow (limbs) are suuuper light by mass.
Bad thing was that bow exploded in a big bang into 5 or 6 pieces and a rain of dust. Good thing was I didn't get one of the pieces in my eyes. I remember the string was flying 3m above me in the air.
So, to answer your question: the wood is not a real bow wood, it is extrem light and somehow brittle. I believe it dries out to real low humidity.
It is a second rate wood for child bows, make it wide and thin.
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I've been checking your site regularly and wondering what you've been up to. Sorry to hear you were having health issues but I'm glad to see you back at it. I hope it feels good to be back in the shop. Your bows have been a huge inspiration for me! This one is especially inspiring. I love these character bows, you really get to know a piece of wood while working on one. I am totally in awe, yet again.
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hello Simon, nice to hear something from you again, your art of craftmanship was missed, not only from me as we can read.
this bow is incredible. I never would try me at that stick.
wish you all the Best, hope your Health comes fully back so fast as possible
Hans
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Good to see you back in action!
Very cool bow, let’s see some more
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impressive, very impressive
best wishes to you, Simon.
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Thanks again fellas!
And a special hello to my German colleges Hans and Andi
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So good to see you back! Sometimes it´s good to take a break, even if it is cause of health issues. Seems like you are mastering the really challenging precious staves now.
very impressive and stunning!
BTW
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Veeeeery nice to have you back! Not many people would come to the idea of building a bow out of that piece of wood! (-S
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I’ve been thinking and wondering about you Simson. I’m doubting anyone here has forgot you sir. That beautiful stick is just one of the reasons why. Beautiful bend on such a challenging piece of wood.
So glad your back in the shop again.
Bjrogg
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Glad your well Simson...Excellent balance
Don
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very nicely executed, made my first holy last year and i am realy impressed with this wood, takes a lot more than expected!