started a bow today for my daughter out of oak , tried to just remove the bark but there are low spots with some bark still in them. do i leave it or keep shaving it down?
I.m not an oak bowmaker but I'd leave them and sand down in there. You never want to violate rings if it can be helped. Tim is at friendship or else he would have an answer too.
This is Dennis. That's hard to say. When it stops losing weight it should be about there. That's the advantage with working with older dry wood. You have to be careful it dosen't get too dry in there also. Have you let that truck idle all week with the heater on There's cheaper ways to dry wood
John, don't work it till dry or you will have string follow out the wazoo. What you have left on the bow is cambrium layer. Won't hurt a thing and sort of does a camo effect. Pretty sharp bend on those curves. May lead to problems down the road. Anyway if it is green ( did you just cut it ?) I'd wait at least a month at that stage of wood removal and that might be pushing it. If you force it too much it will check on you. But in for a penny, in for a pound, see where it leads.
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I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.- Hank Rearden
i cut it in march, and had it in my truck for 4 days [hot days].it seems to shoot kind of hard for the #'s it is . she can only pull about 20 or 25 lb . maybe good enough to get her into archery, and it also gave me some good experience. it's alot harder to work a stave than it is a board. but also more fun.
how they suppost to be ??? i think it kind of looks like a horse bow, but chelsea likes it . when i first started tillering i would say it was close to 40 or 45 lbs , way more than she could pull . i wanted to keep it and make her another but she said no!!! LOL . i'll post another pic when i get it sealed, and maybe she will come to our next shoot with me .
I've never made one with statics period. Those look great to me. Do they straighten any at full draw? Did you use a steel strap on the belly when you bent those.
At this rate your gonna surpass Tim's bowmakin abilities pretty quick.
Good looking working recurve there John. I have troubles with working recurves. I just finished a working recurve osage bow couple of weeks ago. As usual I got the string on it late and got a 45 pounder for my trouble. I wanted a 60 #.Those 'curves fool you with early draw weight and by the time I hit 20 " on the tree I knew I was coming in light. A trick is to cut double nocks on both ends of the bow and use the outer ones for the long string and to use for bracing the bow. Don't use the normal type of "block" recurve stringer or it will cause a hinge. Glass bows are not a problem but wood bows will hinge. Anyway I have some sinew all worked up to put on my bow to get it to 60# which is where I was headed before I was sidetracked. It will make a nice bow but I really wanted a selfbow recurve. Oh well, next time.
__________________
I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.- Hank Rearden
thanks tim & dennis , means alot to have you guys say it looks nice . even if it is only a kids bow . i'll soon be on to bigger and better so be ready to answer alot more questions!!!
i think it's still alittle green so i put it in my hot box
There's cheaper ways to dry wood
