bowyer blues and a question about some checking.

[oneraindog]

phew

i have a whole new respect  for bowyers. i was never under the impression that it would be easy. but you dont appreciate the level of craftsmanship until you are asked to give it a try yourself.
i only hope that one day ill have the skills to make pieces as beautiful as ive seen from others.
for now i plod through ham fisted, feeling half drunk.

 

so this is the raw ash stave ready to be tormented by my ineptitude

 

spent all day tuesday by a fire gently working it down, feeling on top of the world.

then the stave bit back:

 

 

its not even close to finished and the bow is already drawing blood.
i had a disagreement with my draw knife. draw knife won. bob ross would say "there are no mistakes, only happy accidents". well...i guess the happy part of this is that i got a sweet blood stain on my bow. unfortunately it didnt stick around too long because i ended up having to take a *#$!-load more wood off then i would have liked.

everything was going well until i nicked a very small, unseen knot and a big rip opened up in the wood ring, right where the bow shape would lay. so, i have to shave down another ring. which wouldnt have been so bad except the wood rings on this stave are paper thin. so, of course i shaved too deep and before i know it one extra ring turned into like, 10

 

but i think i finally nailed it. it is tricky to say the least especially when the rings are so thin. it can be mind boggling to keep track of what ring you are on and not go too deep due to confusing one ring for a ring below it. all those esoteric markings on the stave are me trying to learn how to not mess up!

and now for the bad news

 

i came back to the stave the evening after i finally got the right growth ring out and SLAP! right in the face. checking!

a question for the bowyers here:

WHY ME?????!?!??

what caused this checking??? i was under the impression the stave had been properly cured and it has been stored dry (although it has gotten cold in my house. but not below 60)
it was leaning on its end over night would that do it?

edit: forgot to mention that there was glue on the ends but i removed it before starting work.......eh?

i think it could be salvageable though. i dont think the shape of the bow is going to go through any of the splits. we'll see...........

[Dano]

I hope you sealed it again, but most of the damage is done probably. It doesn't take much change in humidity to cause wood to continue to dry or vise vesra. I would turn to a cabinet scraper now if I were you, and take your time, getting to one ring is very important in the process, as you know.

[sulphur]

lop it off and seal it with wood glue.  all wood lose moisture through the ends most, thats what causes checking.  ring porous wood does it worst of all woods, osage, ash, locust etc.    lesson learned i hope.  all is not lost though.

[George Tsoukalas]

What kind of wood is this? Jawge

[bowmaker07]

By the way,some nice pictures of your journey. Enjoy!

[oneraindog]

"I hope you sealed it again, but most of the damage is done probably."

i did not seal it again. i just figured its already past the point of no return   :(  


"lop it off and seal it with wood glue"

well its like this: before the checking started i cut off one end thinking all was well. so now im in really close to the ends of my bow. what im hoping is that i can angle the shape of the bow across the stave to avoid the cracks.

"What kind of wood is this?"

its ash


so what im confused about is why i was told to take the glue off in the first place? or not told to put glue back on. i mean maybe i should have had common sense to do so but i wasnt even thinking about it. but even if i had thought about it i would have guessed that if it was necessary the instructor would have said something.

so in the future when is the best time to take the glue off the end?????

[George Tsoukalas]

Nope you don't want to to angle the layout across the grain. You want to follow the lateral grain in your layout.

 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/layout.html

If you can't cut off the ends that have the drying crack you can do an overlay with wood.

 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/burlap.html

Jawge

[oneraindog]

"Nope you don't want to to angle the layout across the grain. You want to follow the lateral grain in your layout."

hmm

the link discusses a snaky, wavy grain. what if the grain in my stave is straight? can i then cross over?

[Osagetree]

Eastern Woodland American Indian Selfbow,,, In my minds eye.

It's made of an old ash tree that had once been struck by lighting in the dead of winter. The ash wood slightly contrasts through the shadowy forrest light, it is almost as long as the hunter carrying the long, thin light colored selfbow he had fashioned to feed himself and his clan. The sleek wood bow has a slightly rounded belly blending into mild fades and forming a handle that fit naturaly in the hunters hand. Some kind of brightly multi colored decoration on the last third of the limbs but, not too much as to spook the quarry he hunts. The bow draws easily as the dig doe steps out of the shadow of a large oak tree.

There will be no tracking today as the doe falls almost silently, not really knowing her life was taken and completing the circle of life that feeds all creatures large and small.

What the story does not tell you is,,, this was his only stave from that tree.  In fact, it was the only stave he had cured and ready to work. The rest of the tree was un-usable, burnt chard, split and cracked. His last bow; given to him by his elder brother was old and showing the signs of its old age. It would take two cured deer skins and his only hunting knife to trade for another bow. And it would be made from only plain ash tree's not an ash tree struck down by the heavens. He had to make this cured ash stave work!

This special bow stave like yours may not come out just as you planned. The hunter in this story, his bow did not turn out as expected but, it did turn out. It served its purpose for the woodland hunter as your ash stave will serve you. It may not be a shooter. It may be a harvester. But, no matter what it will serve you with the knowledge and interest to continue on making primitive bows and feed you mind, soul and our desire to see you succeed!

In my opinion your stave was not dry enough to prevent checking. No big deal. Some horn, anlters or hardwood overlays on the tips will probably cover any chaecking you can't work out when laying out your bow.

Next time when you take off the sealer on the end of your staves,, apply a little boiled linseed oil on the ends. This slows the drying/checking process. I'm sure our Hunter in the story used black bear fat or deer tallow.

The sealer could have been left on the very ends until you worked it of while shaping the stave.

Since your bow may not be 72" you may consider a wider limb width than the hunters bow in the story.

I have only dreamed of ash selfbows and have never made one. I can't tell you how to build one from ash wood. One of my friends tried a couple time and failed but, the easten woodland indian did it for longer than we've been alive!

Take it slow and get it to one ring, then worry about the lay out and the checking!

KEEP US POSTED, WE TRADGANGERS NEED FED TOO!

[oneraindog]

osage thank you very much. valuable information and well written.

ah well. as you say, it will be a reward in whatever form it comes out in

[Art B]

Frist thing you should have done is rough shape your bow out (less wood, less retraction). Not only will that help prevent checking but it makes chasing a ring much easier (narrower width means less work).

Nice looking piece of wood you got there. You're still good to go with your bow. Some good advice from others to help combat those checks. ART

[oneraindog]

thanks again everyone.

art: im locked in to the timeline my instructor has for the class. his desire was that we leave it a stave until we had a growth ring and i wont be able to shape it until the class is at that point.
thanks again. i will keep ya'll posted on how it comes out.

[George Tsoukalas]

Nope you cannot cross over. That weakens the stave. Well, you can but you should not. The point to using a snaky stave was to emphasize the importance of  following the vertical grain. If I just drew a straight line there's be violations (cross overs) all over the stave.    Jawge