Cherry Stave questions

[razorback]

Got back to work on some of the Cherry staves I cut in September. Want to reduce them down some so I can get a bow out of one in the winter and send a couple off to some deserving folks.

1. Anyone got a good design for a cherry bow. I have seen pyramid style suggested, but was wondering if other designs had proven to be successful.

2. Suggested backing for Cherry. I was thinking hickory would over power it, so thought Maple might work. Some of the staves have worm holes through the sap wood, thus I am cutting them down to clean wood and backing.

3 What size and shape would you shape them down to for shipping, in order to remove as much weight as possible but still leave final design up to the recipient.

The staves are straight with very slight twist, if any, and only a few knots. Some which can be cut out and others are in the middle of the limb and can go in the handles.

[Living_waters]

Hickory should be fine if you are de crowning it. Keep the hickory thin 1/8 inch or less. Cherry has a tendency to fret keep it wide 3/4 out or so and not to short and you should be fine. Cherry does seem to be a fast wood when right but it takes extra care when tillering.
Maple would be fine also, just not fond of it Had one blow up with a maple backing. Probably more my fault than the wood.

[KellyG]

should make a pretty bow razorback. You might try the simple backings like brown paper sack.

[Bowjunkie]

I've made some cherry bows, backed with various things. Had success with hickory backings. Keep the backing thin... the bow I'm holding here is my best cherry bow to date. It has a 1/16" hickory backing, is 1 3/4" wide at the flares with a very gradual convex taper to the tips. It's 66" long ntn and 58# @ 28".

Cherry will test your ability in due course, and improve it in the end.

[Pat B]

Tim Baker posted a Cherry pyramid bow in "Performance and Design" in the TBBI. It is all heartwood and he said that cherry worked well for that design.
  I've only made cherry bows a few times early in my bow building. All were made of sapwood(just under the bark).

[Roy from Pa]

Keep posting guys, I have a cherry stave hanging in the bow shop.

[razorback]

Pat,
Did he take it down to a single ring or back it with something. Mine have about 1/2" of sap wood and would really like to get heart wood in the bow.

[Pat B]

You could take the sapwood down to 1 or 2 rings and back it with rawhide. That would give you a nice contrast between the sapwood and heart wood. I think tension is one downfall with cherry so a backing would be advisable. Be sure the sapwood is sound too. If the wood wasn't handled properly from the stump, disease might have set in.
 I don't remember the details of Tim's bow.

[razorback]

Thanks Pat,
I have a bunch of staves drying so I think I will play with a few and see what I get. Some have some big knots so taking the sap wood off and backing with hickory or maple seems like a good idea and will give the colour contrast that the cherry will produce.

[Tom Leemans]

There was a duscussion on this on another site years ago. The general consensus was that it should be wide and long in order to get any kind of weight out of it. That is if memory serves me. Some days, it serves me spider webs.

[Bowjunkie]

Mine, at 66" long, 1 3/4" wide and 58 pounds... and with a completely radiused belly, may seem to dispell some of what is said :^)

If a wood species requires me to make a bow wider than 1 3/4", or flat as a board, I'll likely not use it.

[razorback]

Well I think I am going to do a couple of bows, a pyramid design wide and flat, one like Bowjunkies, a decrowned backed bow probably flatbow style or something along those lines.
One of the questions is how small should I reduce the staves to ship them while leaving wood for any design the recipient wants to do. was thinking 3" wide, 2" deep and about 72" long. I may reduce the majority of the limb area to about 1".