First time making a Bow: Vine Maple

[Aaron1726]

Welcome!  You are in good hands, the members here are always willing to help and offer advice.  I know they have helped me through several builds. 

I just finished my first vine maple bow for the junior bow trade.  I really like it, it's pretty snappy.  Mine was a stave from a fellow member here, was sealed on the ends with paint and that was it.  I will warn that I had to be careful with a draw knife when shaping, it tended to want to split out instead of cut.  So I'd say don't try to shave it too close to final dimensions before you switch to the rasp.

Good luck on your build, and like bjrogg said, we like pictures

[TheDeerHunter]

Welcome to the forum

Never worked vine maple but the advice above is consistent with what works for me with other white woods.

I would recommend only harvesting what you can debark and split, I have taken more wood than I can deal with in the past (side of the road, liable to clearance). Harvested in the spring I have just slipped the bark off and left it but in the late summer or winter the wood can start to spalt or decompose as it doesn’t loose it’s moisture fast enough. Splitting seems to stop or at least slow this.

There are lots of woods that you can force dry but I often find if I dry them too fast they don’t crack or split but can warp into crazy shapes if they are left too thick. Clamping to a form can help prevent this but I then worry that the tensions can build up inside and then be released as you shape them.

I generally split, alllow to dry slowly for a few weeks, then bring into the coolest part of the house and then Steadily move to the warmer part of the house, then I rough out my bow blank to be perhaps twice my final limb thickness, the I put them on top of a radiator until they stop loosing weight

Great info, very good to know thank you! I will just do the one vine maple this spring, a pre seasoned board from the store before that. Then think about future projects when i've got these wrapped up.

[TheDeerHunter]

Welcome!  You are in good hands, the members here are always willing to help and offer advice.  I know they have helped me through several builds. 

I just finished my first vine maple bow for the junior bow trade.  I really like it, it's pretty snappy.  Mine was a stave from a fellow member here, was sealed on the ends with paint and that was it.  I will warn that I had to be careful with a draw knife when shaping, it tended to want to split out instead of cut.  So I'd say don't try to shave it too close to final dimensions before you switch to the rasp.

Good luck on your build, and like bjrogg said, we like pictures

Very cool man, thanks for letting me know about the draw knife and the tendency to want to split. And hahah yep i'll be throwing some pictures up for sure! Hopefully some hunt stories too in the next year or two.

[Pappy]

Welcome to PA, I know you will like it here and look forward to seeing some of your projects.
 Pappy