Ash bow advise

[Big John]

Hi Guys,

I've been seasoning a piece of ash since the begining of the year - it's been in the airing cupboard for the last month, and before that in the garage. I split it and roughed the shape first - before seasoning, so now I have a D shaped stave about 3" wide and 2" deep with the sap wood intact (bark off). A few questions if I may....

1. I've been told that it would need a couple of years to season, but I'm sure I've read a few months is enough - thoughts?

2. I've also been told that I shouldn't use the sap wood on Ash, but I thought that was the whole point?

3. Do I need to 'back' it? This it to stop it shattering if it snaps isn't it? Is it likely to shatter or will it lay down and die quietly??

4. The grain is pretty straight, but there is a kink in it where is bows out by 1/2" or so. It's wide enough for me to cut it straight, but would it be stronger if I followed the grain lines? It comes back again at the end, so the string would still pass over the handle (if you see what I mean).

Sorry for all the questions, it's my first bow attempt so I'm a complete

Any other tips gratefully accepted!

Many thanks,

 

[stovie]

1. sounds like it will be well seasond by now, especially as it has been hewn to rough dimensions. No splits noticable I assume...

2. The sap wood on ash is the back of your bow. As long as the wood is unviolated (ie you haven't cut through the intended back when you removed the bark) it should be okay without backing. But of course that depends on how heavy the draw weight is going to be. Anything above 50# and i'd definately think of backing.

3. see above

4. I have produced several "character" bows from Ash, and as long as you follow the grain you will have a bow that is sound, and unique in appearance.

Happy scraping!!!!

 

[Snufkin]

What stovie said.
If you are worried about moisture content you could work the bow down to close to final dimensions without bending it and weigh it with kitchen scales. Return it to the airing cupboard and if it doesn't loose any weight after a couple more days it's ready to work.

 

[Big John]

Brilliant, thanks guys - I'll get to it.

I'll post pics when I'm done - don't hold your breath though, I have a feeling this is going to be a slow process and not the sort of thing SWMBO will appreciate me doing in front of the telly in the evenings!

 

[nickg]

I have an ash bow drawing 75lbs which I have been using for about 7 years now. Dont worry too much about following grain direction, ash is really forgiving in that respect. I just used heartwood (kiln dried), Ash is not an amazingly strong compressive wood and even the heartwood is very elastic so if you want a heavy ish bow I would say just use the heartwood and dont risk a shattered limb. Ash is noted for following the string and stiffening up with age, if you finish the bow too soon it will probably take a permanant bend within a few months so if you have it roughed out I would seriously consider seasoning for at least a year longer.

Cheers Nick

 

[Aliwren]

75lb :notworthy !!!! lots of respect to that! Having learnt recurve for the last 7 months I am now getting my first longbow and cant wait! - but will only be around 45lb will have to build up my draw weight!

 

[nickg]

Once you get into shooting the longbow 75lbs is really not so fearsome. Drawing any weight at all is mostly technique. Some of the guys I do medieval reenactment with are pulling 95lbs + now that really is a strain. In medieval times they drew twice that (jawdrop)

Here is an interesting line from a 15th Cent chronicler called Harrison

In times past the chief force of England consisted in their longbows. But now we have given over that kind of artillery. Certes, the Frenchmen and Rutters, deriding our new archery, will not not let, in open skirmish, to turn up thier tails and cry "shoot English!" and all because our strong shooting is decayed and laid in bed. But if some of our Englishmen now lived that served King Edward the Third the breech of such a varlet should have been nailed to his bum with one arrow, and another feathered in his bowels, before he should have turned about to see who shot the first.

Written at the end of the hundred years war - and we think that time was the high point of the longbow - what do we know?

 

[Cawolf]

How do you get the heart wood, do you skin the limb down or something (sorry if I sound stupid)!

 

[beowolf762]

How do you get the heart wood, do you skin the limb down or something (sorry if I sound stupid)!

Cawolf, you can use a spokeshave or a drawknife to shave the sapwood off. You want to take the sapwood down to the first ring of heartwood. If you miss and cut through the heartwood, all is not lost just keep shaving and scraping until you reach ONE layer of heartwood. Hope this helps you.

 

[bent-stick]

Cawolf, you can use a spokeshave or a drawknife to shave the sapwood off. You want to take the sapwood down to the first ring of heartwood. If you miss and cut through the heartwood, all is not lost just keep shaving and scraping until you reach ONE layer of heartwood. Hope this helps you.

What might be causing a bit of confusion is that ash doesn't really have an obvious sapwood.

Have a look at this picture:

The piece of ash here is debarked - you can still see the cambium which has been left on in patches. But there is no obvious heartwood/sapwood barrier as you find with osage and yew and elm. And those woods only start to show heartwood when they get to about 5" diameter. If you make bows from a stave of less diameter you end up with a 'whitey', that is all sapwood. I'm working on an elm whitey now in between other stuff.

I'm hoping to get a flatbow out of the outer layer of the ash (with the cambium intact for that camo effect) and a longbow out of the middle.