bow wood cutting

[Gene Gillis]

I am wanting to rip some red oak ,Hickory, white oak, and various woods for bow making. Any one done this before? What sizes and what ways of sawing should I cut? Regular 3/4 or thicker? Quater sawn or flat. Somebody fill me in before I waste a good log. Thanks.

[Pat B]

Quarter sawn, 1"x2".    Quarter sawn hickory makes great backing strips for bows too. Cut them 3/16" thick and they will end up 1/8" or slightly less after removing the saw marks.

[Gene Gillis]

Thanks  Pat B, I knew someone else knew what to do. Any other opinions about it.

[Living_waters]

I have held pretty much to this guide for 2x lumber. I have some white Oak rift saw bows that are amazingly smooth and unbacked and some quartersawn oak that are very dependable bows. This also gives some good hickory backings as was stated.  

Dean has some good info on this    here

[Living_waters]

Sorry that should have said 2x12. Also if you get lumber from a sawmill there is a highly overlooked resource that is super cheap source of good bow wood. That's the slab pile. Sawyer here will cut some thick slabs if if I ask. A 2 inch white wood slab can make a real self bow, and alot of time they will give you all you want.

[Gene Gillis]

good reading Living Waters. I needed that too.

[George Tsoukalas]

All the board cuts will make board bows. Look for straight grained stock. With rift and flat sawn I allow a couple of run outs or run ups per limb. Nice pics, living waters. the 6 on either of the ends are rift sawn while the middle 10 are 1/4 sawn. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

That article that Dean wrote is for wood  backed bows which is fine.  But you can make selfbows  from boards or bows backed with silk, burlap, linen, etc. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[George Tsoukalas]

Sorry. Took a closer look. Of the center grouping the 2 on either end look to be 1/4 sawn. Jawge

[Living_waters]

Silk and linen are excellent backings, I have backed some nasty pieces of red oak with silk and made some good shooters out of them.
I like too use the center of a plain sawed 2X for wood backings, and take 2" boards off the sides. I take the 2" boards off the sides first and use what is left for backings. Hickory backings are usually a little over an 1/8" just enough to grind out the saw marks. But I will give a word of warning, if you are ripping with a table saw, the thin backings can remove teeth, a band saw with a good sharp blade is best.

[Gene Gillis]

I have a lumbermate sawmill(Band mill) to use. Would it be better to saw them into larger cuts first, then after they dry some rip them smaller? I also have a 12" planner.

[Living_waters]

I have always roughed mine out of the boards and let them finish drying before I grind or plane. But of course I have no patients either, so I rush it all
If It were me (but it is not since I don't have a lumbermate   :(   ) I would bust the logs into boards first and then reduce them to your bow wood after they dried some.