creative imagination and the wood

[radius]

are you the same ohio john who thinks you should just obey the law, no matter what it says? 

I think you and i could be friends,  john...you are a multifaceted person. 

Me, i haven't gotten down to flintknapping yet, but god knows it might happen.  Ravenbeak tells me that oceanspray shoots are great for arrows, so i'm gonna collect a couple dozen of those this weekend and set em drying while i do my other stuff. 

That's the thing:  once i get the bug, my imagination takes off with me, and i can see shapes inside of wood everywhere i go.  When i'm not concentrating on something else or distracted  by women, i'm applying my imagination to this stave i'm working on.

I just now had a good idea for a "new" kind of holmegaard, and it's the kind of bow i plan to make next.  The back is decrowned over the working limbs, but left full thickness at the handle and tips.  It fades up into the tips from the back, rather than down into the tips from the belly.  As with other holmegaards, once i reach full thickness on the lever-tip, i will reduce it down to 1/2 by 1/2 at the nock.  I think in this style a nock groove would serve better than a pin nock...

The belly is one long line, not counting the handle, which will probly get a dished shape. 

I know i know:  decrowning the back is a lot of work!  But i enjoy it. 

We'll see what the stave has to say.

[Ohio John]

 
are you the same ohio john who thinks you should just obey the law, no matter what it says?

That isn't what I said by the way

[Kegan]

Don't get me wrong, it's always wonderful when I get a new bow done that's special for some reason or another. But as I've gotten on the building of the bow has simply become less about the process and more about the finished product. Even if that takes some of the magic away, my final bows have started to finish up neater and cleaner, more elegant and eye-catching. Which, to me, makes up for it when I take them shooting .

[Adam Keiper]

Oh yes, bowmaking is a huge creative outlet for me.  I've dabbled in woodworking since high school, but never got a passion for it, until I began making bows.  The static form of most wood products and the mundane measuring and cutting is rather dull and seems lifeless.  Bowmaking on the other hand, where both the process and end product are dynamic is exciting.  There's little that can be cut to predetermined measurements and work.  We're asking the wood to work and that makes it seem alive. 

When I "discovered" bowmaking, one of the things that really drew me to it was that it meshes so well with the archery and bowhunting interests that I already had.  Getting an eye pleasing, solid shooter in the end is very important, too though, so I'm not just about making shavings.  Just like when I'm hunting, I like to put a tag on something by season's end.

[Michael C.]

Oh yes, bowmaking is a huge creative outlet for me.  I've dabbled in woodworking since high school, but never got a passion for it, until I began making bows.  The static form of most wood products and the mundane measuring and cutting is rather dull and seems lifeless.  Bowmaking on the other hand, where both the process and end product are dynamic is exciting.  There's little that can be cut to predetermined measurements and work.  We're asking the wood to work and that makes it seem alive. 

When I "discovered" bowmaking, one of the things that really drew me to it was that it meshes so well with the archery and bowhunting interests that I already had.  Getting an eye pleasing, solid shooter in the end is very important, too though, so I'm not just about making shavings.  Just like when I'm hunting, I like to put a tag on something by season's end.

I guess it's gone backwards for me, never been hunting in my life, but now that I am making bows I will be this year. I doubt I will get anything as I don't know what the heck I am doing and will probably scare anything within a mile of me, but it will be fun nonetheless.

[George Tsoukalas]

Very interesting thread. I always let the wood guide me. I listen to the wood figuratively, of course. I don't literally plug in my ear phones. Jawge

[sailordad]

puff puff, puff puff,puff puff  pass 

[nickf]

Why do I make a bow?
that's a simple question for me. I want to expand my collection. But whenever I finish a new, better made bow, I throw a couple old ones out of my collection. I'm getting more and more selective. However Ive made close to 35bows, I have less than 10 in my collection. Every new bow raises the bar for me, and for my collection. I want beauties. Not the badly finished ones I used to make.

What do I enjoy about making bows?

everything starts in the woods. I love being there! seeing staves in every tree, picking the best out, chopping it down, bringing it home. then the roughing out, wich is easy when wet. getting big, Beautyfull long curls with my drawknife. Then the initial tempering; the rings start to darken, the contrast between the early and latewood increases, growrings starting to feather out in the handle. I love playing with the growrings!

after that comes final tapering, then the most exciting part; tillering. After tillering comes the finish, unvealing the real beauty of your bow and the wood it's made off. It's one big adventure...

Nick

[broken arrow]

Posted by ravenbeak on broken arrows computer.


I got into bow making through yew, 

I've love carving it ever since i discovered it 4 years ago,  and since share a special connection with it.   Couple years ago i found a yew with the top broken off by a blow down.  It was crying to be carved into a bow.   I harvested split into quarters, and proceeded to carve something which closely resembled a bow.   I had no idea about bending or tiller,  but i had to figure it out, and i'm getting there. 

I build bows because i love carving beautiful things out of yew wood,   these just happen to bend nice..

[radius]

good call, Jamie...

i've got a piece that i'm going to carve into a sword for doing tai chi with.  So far i've just used a pointed piece of poplar, damn ugly.  I'm gonna make a beautiful yew sword and try to keep the light/dark ratio even, like the light and dark sperms swimming around inside the yin-yang or tao symbol.  I should do that right now, while my holmegaard is in the steamer.

radius

[radius]

i also got a new idea for making holmegaards.  Like the one i'm making now, it involves taking the sapwood off the back except at the handle and the tips.  The bow would be 68" long, with 12" levers.  The difference is that the levers would be carved out of the sapwood, and the transition area would actually be the back of the bow!  The belly would not have the change to deal with, but the effect would be the same.

Aaah!  I'll just show ya when i'm done!

[sailordad]

doing it that way,wouldnt that be like leaving a violated ring(s) on the back
well hope it works out,if not you got lots of yew to try again
me i dont have much wood,so i need to make sure and use proper design right from the get go
if i break one,that just on less piece of wood.and then i start looking for more.dont have all that handy free wood like some folks

[radius]

well, they say that yew can handle ring violations...i'm gonna test that...besides, it happens in a place where it don't bend anyway...should be good

[Ohio John]

wait until there is a big storm and buy a chainsaw.... there is always another stave somewhere!

[radius]

a chainsaw, and a bus!