Vertical grain

[Rain Man]

I have some hickory saplings that I already split.  I mapped out my cuts by following the vertical grain on the back.  They look pretty good. But on one sapling I followed the grain and it makes a twist down the stave.  So from top to bottom, it probably makes about 1/8 of a turn and I know I can't have that.  Can I ignore the vertical grain and still have the bow turn out OK?

[DVSHUNTER]

I have made a few bows where I have ignored veritical grain and have been okay. These were all osage bows. I also had one break where the grain ran off. I would follow it if it was me.  About the twist... If you only have an eight in difference then wow, just finish it and be happy. I always heat and try to remove twist, bit they don't have to be perfect. Perfect is better, but in my experience it is not necessary. I have gotten away with untwisting over at least 90 degrees of twist, but again, it was all osage. I wish I could help more, but I don't have as much acces to hickory. Good luck.

[Rain Man]

Thanks.  By 1/8 of a turn I mean 45 degrees.  It actually looks like its more than that.  I bought a heat gun to try my hand at bending limbs, but I really don't think I could pull off correcting a twist

[IdahoCurt]

Flatten it and Back it with hickory

[DesertFox]

You might be able to build a twisted bow, actually.

As long as the string tracks through the center, it should be okay (so I've heard).  http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/aerobow.html

Check that out. The twist isn't so severe as what you are describing though.

[George Tsoukalas]

Can you show us a picture. Is the stave propellor twisted or does it take a dog leg kind of turn which leave the string off center? Jawge

[Rain Man]

Sure Jawge.  I split this sapling in half and this half has a knot (knob, bump, lump, etc.) in it and I wanted to center that in the limb.  So, there happened to be a grain running directly over the center of it.  I followed that line in each direction and here's what I ended up with.  It "propellor" twists.  In the pic, the end closest to you isn't that bad but you can see the twist on the far half.

All my other staves are fine.  I just wanted to make this a "character" bow because of the knot, but maybe I should just trash it and only use my good straight saplings.

   

[George Tsoukalas]

Is that a right to left twist and a spiral twist all wrapped up in one stave? Jawge

[Rain Man]

Thanks for the reply Jawge.  It looks like that's what it is.  It's sounding more and more like firewood to me.

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, I think so. Jawge

[DVSHUNTER]

I would have to say that is a lot of twist, but in the same breath I would say make a bow with it.  Most of my firewood staves that I use all come out smelling like roses.  Good wood makes bowyers, bad wood makes great bowyers.  What's the worst that could happen? It isn't a bow now, if it breaks themn it still isn't a bow. There is something to be learned from that one. Go for it. Jmo