Primitive selfbow

[stovie]

Oooo! I've just turned native....where's me loincloth????

 

[stovie]

Got a good fire going today, clearing a lot of debris in the garden, and when the coals were ashen and giving an even heat I tempered the belly of the bow and forced her into a couple of inches of reflex

Bending the reflex in

Profile shot showing 2" of reflex put in with heat treatment

Handle tonite and she is there....apart from making a linen string to replace the one I'm using at the moment (thanks Toddy)...

 

[bent-stick]

That's great. You've inspired me, I've had a bit of hazel kicking around for a while now. I got around to debarking in at splitting off the bit that was going to become the belly but didn't take it any further because I thought it would just bend and stay bent.

It's going to be a bow next time I get a chance to work on it. :You_Rock_


Did you get the caramel smell? Lovely. I was drilling some hazel earlier today and got an instant need for popcorn

 

[jon r]

Thats a nice piece of work there stovie!

Ive been making a bow lately too.Got round to stringing it up today but when i pulled the string a few times i saw that one side began to bend more than the other and had a lot of set!! When i was making it, everything seemed fine! But now it just looks odd and i cant see that it will work too well now! The bow it made from Ash wood which i thought would be perfect

I have noticed that on the indide of the bow there are the tinyest little ripples in the wood there the set has occoured! The ripples are so tiny you can just see about them! Is it too far gone! have i busted it!

Is there anything i can do to stop the large amount of set which has occoured on only one side of the bow? Would toasting it work like you did?

Many thanks!

Jon!

 

[locust_jrm]

i tryed making a short bow out of birch "i think" and i got the same little ripples and a little drop in power but there wasen't much flexiblity or pwer to start with how would i improove this stovie or anyone?

 

[jojo]

Are they little lines across the wood of the belly of the bow? if yes I am afraid they are compression fractures or chrysals!
May be the wood was not as dry as you thought and/or you tried to bend the bow a bit too much/quickly.or the tillering created a hinge, (weak point) you should try re tillering the bow , leaving the chrysal area alone. It does not necessarily mean the bow is doomed

 

[locust_jrm]

ahh good idea i'll try that

 

[bent-stick]

Thats a nice piece of work there stovie!


I have noticed that on the indide of the bow there are the tinyest little ripples in the wood there the set has occoured! The ripples are so tiny you can just see about them! Is it too far gone! have i busted it!

Is there anything i can do to stop the large amount of set which has occoured on only one side of the bow? Would toasting it work like you did?

Many thanks!

Jon!

Your little ripples are called chrysals or compression fractures.

There's not much you can do about them really. It's just that that bit of the bow has over-bent past where it wanted to go. Ash is prone to weakening where it is overstretched.

The only thing you can really do is make the bow weaker by taking the belly out until you get to the bottom of them.

I have put 'petals' on longbows that people have been particularly fond of by scooping out the chrysals and putting a patch of wood on them. But that's much more difficult with a flat bow than an English Longbow but on the other hand a flat bow is less likely to show chrysals in the first place,

Sorry for hijacking the thread stovie.

Edit: blimey two posts while I was composing mine.

 

[stovie]

A simple leather handle wrap

 

[stovie]

Lower limb showing snakey form

Close up of handle

Burnished the wood and finished with beeswax...

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

Here in the Netherlands ash is usually not too strong, it needs wide limbs to prevent set, same as hazel. I made a 45 pound hazel bow last year with 5 cm wide limbs (1.60 long) and that has taken little set. I prefer maple and elm. I made one bow of birch, but that was surprisingly weak wood. I'd like to try it again with a birch from further up north. Do you have experiences with birch as a bowwood?
Diederik

 

[torjusg]

Here in the Netherlands ash is usually not too strong, it needs wide limbs to prevent set, same as hazel. I made a 45 pound hazel bow last year with 5 cm wide limbs (1.60 long) and that has taken little set. I prefer maple and elm. I made one bow of birch, but that was surprisingly weak wood. I'd like to try it again with a birch from further up north. Do you have experiences with birch as a bowwood?
Diederik

I made an excellent birch bow once. It was very snappy. I think it depends very much on growing conditions. Birch probably lives a marginal existance down in the Netherlands, while up here it is pretty much in it's prime habitat.

 

[stovie]

I've yet to use Birch, though it is plentiful in this area...though I see no reason why it should not perform quite well if the dimensions suit its character..

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

Absolutely, I read that Sami people made bows of birch with limbs of about the same dimensions as I used. I think Torjus is right: it's where it grows, but I was surprised as birch is rather hard wood, even here. I'd like to know why temperature affects toughness if it doesn't do much about hardness of the wood. Any ideas?
Diederik

 

[bent-stick]

I believe it's speed of growth that affects hardness. In the warm and sunny south (compared to Torus) the same tree will grow much quicker and have less density.

Rainfall probably affects it too.

 

[locust_jrm]

thats true because balsa is a very fast growing hardwood and oak grows slowly but is vary hard to cut. it all depends on the distance between the grain or growth rings.

 

[Snufkin]

It's wise to back birch as it is'nt great in tension (not speaking from experience, just what I've read elsewhere).

 

[jon r]

Stovie, what did you use for bow string on this bow?

 

[stovie]

Stovie, what did you use for bow string on this bow?

That is a temporary string. The final one will be linen...

 

[Gumbob]

Superb that man :You_Rock_ .

Gumbob