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  #61  
Old 01-14-2013, 07:01 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Go slow, exercise the limb about 25 times or more at every step during the tillering.
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  #62  
Old 01-14-2013, 10:03 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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ok thanks Pete. I haven't been bending it that much, only 6 or 7 times between scrapping.
Don
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  #63  
Old 01-15-2013, 07:50 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Well trying to get that bend out of the top limb resulted in a catastrophic failure Well I learned a bunch. The bottom limb was looking beautiful. Well I still have that second stave so will lay it out and start again!!
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  #64  
Old 01-15-2013, 09:25 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fatboyz View Post
ok thanks Pete. I haven't been bending it that much, only 6 or 7 times between scrapping.
Don
Next time exercise 25 times, every inch and don't get to discouraged. Remember Birch is not a premium bow wood.
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  #65  
Old 01-16-2013, 06:33 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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I actually learned a ton, and didn't have a lot of time into it. I'll give this other stave a go. At least I'm not wrecking a good osage stave. I may also pick up a floor tillered from a supplier now that I've practiced a bit!
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  #66  
Old 01-28-2013, 12:38 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Well try number 2 is coming along. It's a 70" tamarack longbow with maple tip overlays. I think it is going to be a fairly light bow in the 35-40# range. I also have another birch stave rough shaped that I will work on next. My daughter found me a piece of maple for a board bow but I won't see that until the weekend. In the meantime I bought a nice Checkmate Beaver Creek longbow at Trophy book. Hoping to head to the trad. shoot Friday to get it dialed in.
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  #67  
Old 01-28-2013, 11:00 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Well tonight's project was to build a string making jig, and I made my first Flemish twist string for the Tamarack bow. The you tube videos made it pretty easy!
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  #68  
Old 01-29-2013, 08:32 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Put the serving on my string tonight. Should have the tillering on the bow done by this weekend.
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  #69  
Old 01-30-2013, 08:17 AM
petew petew is offline
 
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Go slow, and exercise it lots along the way.
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  #70  
Old 02-11-2013, 10:33 AM
odie0077 odie0077 is offline
 
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Has anyone tried a birch bow . How hard would it be to back it with sinew . Just a thought .
I have a feeling most of you read primative archer. What kind of interest would there be in a meeting like they do? All the best to your builds
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  #71  
Old 02-11-2013, 12:32 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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My friend and I are building birch bows from staves we cut. He did a flat bow, and so far it's working well. My first attempt failed with a twisting upper limb that broke, but I believe it was mostly my fault during tillering. I'm now working on another one, and a maple board bow with hickory laminated for the handle. I have been giving some thought to backing the birch bow with linen.
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  #72  
Old 02-12-2013, 01:56 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Here is some information on bow wood's and their suitability for makeing bows. This is from Tim Baker, who is one of the best authorities on the self bow.
https://sites.google.com/site/onemississipp/bowwoods

I had good luck with Maple board bows for kids, and for adults when under 50#.
Osage is hard to get here, as are any good staves, but Osage is my top pick, followed by Hop Hornbeam and Hickory. I made some Ash bows that came in light weight, but shoot good.
Red Oak Board bows can be good too , but I realy prefer to use a split stave.
here is a source in canada for some staves. I have not used this place myself.
http://www.amwoodinc.com/productDeta...JZ0jifOw%3d%3d

It would probably be expensive to ship a single stave, but a group purchase might make it worth while. I paid $90 shipping a couple years ago to send 8 staves by Greyhound from New Brunswick to Edmonton.

If you buy staves state side make sure the bark is removed!! or it will not get past customs.

saskatoon can make good bows too, but it is known for twisted grain. look for 1" to 1 1/2" stems.

Pete
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  #73  
Old 02-13-2013, 12:27 PM
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LeroyvdH LeroyvdH is offline
 
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Birch is ok not great. Biuld it wider and thinner and longer. Rawhide backing or a thin layer or two of sinue don't want to overpower the bow. Subject to fretting. you won't get big poundage outta her.
Thanks Leroy
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  #74  
Old 02-13-2013, 02:30 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LeroyvdH View Post
Birch is ok not great. Biuld it wider and thinner and longer. Rawhide backing or a thin layer or two of sinue don't want to overpower the bow. Subject to fretting. you won't get big poundage outta her.
Thanks Leroy
Good advice .
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  #75  
Old 02-13-2013, 06:10 PM
Pudelpointer Pudelpointer is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by petew View Post

saskatoon can make good bows too, but it is known for twisted grain. look for 1" to 1 1/2" stems.

Pete

Curious about Saskatoon, as I know where there is some tall stems, fairly straight, up to 2"-2 1/2". Any more information?

I cut a walking staff from it in Sept. 2011, about 1 1/4". I left the bark on it, but did not seal the ends. It stayed very soft for a long time; I checked it last summer and it still seemed very soft, but in November I checked it and thought "wow, you could make a bow out of that!". It appeared to have suddenly gained some rigidity, not brittleness, just some compression strength.

Do all woods take that long? Btw I am in Lethbridge; I figured it would have dried as much as was possible within a few months at most.
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  #76  
Old 02-13-2013, 06:16 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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It takes a long time to dry all the way thru, and bark doesn't speed it up. Peel it and see what you have there. If it didn't check and the grain is not twisted you might be in luck. I would peel and split it in half, and seal it. There is still a lot of moisture traped inside I bet.

Get those straight shoots when the sap flows, and peel/seal/split them the same day.Then set them to dry for next winter.
I like to season a stave for at least a year.
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  #77  
Old 02-14-2013, 06:52 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Hey Pete what's your thoughts on Linen backing a maple board bow?
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  #78  
Old 02-14-2013, 06:58 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Linnen works well. I used it on Red Oak board bows, but it is so UGLY looking.
Sinew and Bamboo are the only backings I have seen that look good.
A backing strip of Hickory looks good, too. I just went with no backing on the Maple board bows, but now I only make bows from Split staves.
Pete
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  #79  
Old 02-17-2013, 09:47 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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One of the evils of the self Bow is string follow, or taking a set. This robs the bow of all hint of performance and usualy it is the end of the bow. One of My Osage bows took a set and this is how I fixed it. Hopefully the fix holds.
My favorite Osage bow I made took a notion it wanted to have string follow instead of reflex.
Most say it can't be changed, some say it can, so I tried to put it back like it was.
The faulty area was on the lower limb, and just at the fade. The bow is 65" 1" wide at the fade tapering to the nocks.
To try to put back the light Reflex it had I clamped it to a caul that tapers from the fade to 3" at 66", and slowly heated it and tightened the clamps as I went . I used a heat gun to do this.
Next I laid the lower limb on the belt sander to flaten the problem area, from half way up the fade to about 8" up the limb. Next I put it back in the caul and clamped it down and re-heated this area good and hot. While it cooled I found the piece that was band sawed from this area originaly, and cut a patch from it full width and about 1/8" thick. I feathered it to nothing on each end and fit it to the limb and fade section of the riser. Then I toasted the patch with heat. It clamped into position perfectly, and then everything sat for a few months till last week. I glued on the patch with EA40 and cured it for about 2 hours under a 500 watt Halogen flood light.
The next day I had to do some scraping and sanding to get the tiller right on the long string, then on the short string. All was looking good, then as I was drawing it farther I could see the top limb had to be scraped mid limb to make both look even.
It seemed as good as it would be getting so I jumped in and put some varathane on the bare wood, to match the original finish.
It turned out looking great, and very hard to notice the patch. I rounded the patch where it fades into the limb and it just looks like grain here, The riser end of the patch is a bit noticable to me because I know it is there, .Today I strung and shot it for an hour, and after letting the string off it still has reflex.
I am a happy camper now, and just hope it maintains its profile. Shooting it was just like it always was, quiet and no jaring shock.
It was a lot of tedious work, but Osage is so hard to get here it would have been a shame to leave it as it was. In the end I know that sometimes you can fix things when you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
Pete
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  #80  
Old 02-18-2013, 06:10 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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If I was to back the maple with Hickory how thick of a piece of Hickory would I back it with? I think for this first one I'll stick with a plain maple self bow, but I do have access to some hickory.
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  #81  
Old 02-18-2013, 06:20 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Backing strips are usualy about 1/8 to 13/16" or less.
If you have access to Hickory it is better than maple if it is the type of board that has a bow building grain !!.
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  #82  
Old 02-18-2013, 06:43 PM
Unregistered user Unregistered user is offline
 
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Doing early spring cleaning today I had a weird idea. Wooden x-country ski with plastic base (backing?) I'll rough cut with a sawzall and see what happens from there, might save them from the dump.
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  #83  
Old 02-18-2013, 06:48 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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I'll have to see what I can get for Hickory, and maybe make a hickory board bow.
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  #84  
Old 02-19-2013, 10:08 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Started building my Carbon Express arrows for the new checkmate Beaver creek. Also some port orford cedars for the maple bow. Waiting for my Ramin shafts and fletch to come from Git R done.
Pete do you seal/varnish your Ramin shafts?
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  #85  
Old 02-19-2013, 10:18 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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I tried lots of diferent finishes and settled on Varathane. Not the water base, but real stuff. The easiest way to apply is with a small foam paint brush. About 3 thin coats does it. Don't try to flood the varathane on. Thin is far better. I have found lost wood arrows in the grass a year later and they were still straight when sealed with varathane. .
The ramin is a tough shaft. After you get them straight get a seal coat on them right away.
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  #86  
Old 02-19-2013, 11:02 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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sounds good. thanks Pete.
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  #87  
Old 02-21-2013, 06:45 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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Well it's arrow building time. Fletched some port oroford cedar arrows a friend gave me. Also got my stuff from Git R done. Going to start fletching my Heritage carbons tonight then work on the Ramin shafts. They're wt. sorted now I need to varnish them. In between fletching I'll be working on the maple board bow!
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  #88  
Old 02-21-2013, 08:30 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Straighten them before you put on the finish!! Varnish is not as good as urethane/varathane. Water base sucks.
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  #89  
Old 02-21-2013, 10:14 PM
fatboyz fatboyz is offline
 
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I have some spar varnish left from refinishing my drift boat this summer, how will that work? It's the good old oil based stuff.
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  #90  
Old 02-21-2013, 10:31 PM
petew petew is offline
 
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Ramin shafts are cheap so try it. I had the best results with varathane.
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