Baleen ?

[Flinttim]

A friend went to Alaska some few years ago and was able to bring back some baleen (completely legal BTW) He offered me enough to build a bow but I wanted to get my bowmaking farther along skill wise before trying it. What's the best use of it on a bow and how is it applied? I know there are likely numerous answers to this but one has to start somewhere .

[rainman]

Best use is as a belly, like horn would be used. make a short bow to use it'z compressibilty to best advantage.  JD Jones and Mike Sturdevant have both used it.  Makes a pretty bow.  I have been looking for years for some.

Dan

[Tom Leemans]

I drew back a little baleen bellied bow that Dean Torges made. His bows are smooth anyway, but this things felt like 45-50# and it was 70! I believe he said you work it like horn. Not sure what glue he used though. I bet if you e-mailed him , he'd tell you.

[horseapple]

I've only built 2 baleen bellied bows myself, I think John has built a few also, he started using gemsbok horn afterwards, great looking stuff.  I just basically build a bamboo backed bow that is around 10-15# lighter than I want it to end up being, then add the baleen or horn to the belly, its some amazing stuff and is very strong in tension, I've found that when taking material off the belly for weight reduction I use a cabinet scraper, seems like any kind of rasp would always lift or tear splinters in the stuff.  I also used EA 40 smooth on for glueing it to my core wood.

JD

[Flinttim]

OK, if it goes best on the belly, what's the upside ? Faster bow ? I would think you could make a fairly short bow with just bamboo backing, osage not being known to fret .

[Jason Jelinek]

My guess is that it is more elastic in compression than most bow woods, resulting in less set.

[horseapple]

Heck I quess Tim because its different and unique    I have noticed that when using 3 lams your backed bows will most always keep the reflex better than a simple backed bow, more glue lines. I dont think the speed is much diff than a well tillered R/D osage or yew backed bow.

[Flinttim]

JD,I'm guessing you  keep the belly as flat as possible during tillering so that gluing on the baleen will be easier ? Tiller with just a scraper to keep it flat and at the end use a toothing iron before gluing on the baleen?And since you  are using the baleen , the width can be pretty narrow ?

[rainman]

Tim that is how I did it with my horn bow.  J.D. stop goofing off during work hours.

Semper Fi,
Dan Raney

[horseapple]

Yes Tim, I tiller the belly ever so carefull with a belt sander, you want the baleen thinner than .125. yep I use a toothing plane blade and keep the width around 1.4"

[Flinttim]

Makes sense. My thinking is that he may not have all that much left and say, he had enough to get a 1" strip of baleen on each limb. One could if need be round the osage up to the baleen. Would look good and the crown is where it's at anyway. Can the baleen be thinned on a jointer or will it tear out ?
 You know, all this talk brings up another question, does the weight of the baleen negate any performance ?

[Bob Barnes]

JD,
Didn't you and John also make some with some imitation black stuff?  I seem to remember it looked like horn or baleen...???
Bob

[John Sturtevant]

I've made 4 and have enough for one more left that Charles Grayson gave me.  
Would not run it thru a joiner, believe it would splinter.
Thickness sander works OK.
It has been used as a backing as well.   I believe that was how it was first used, although I think it makes more sense on the belly.
With a 1.25" wide bow your baleen belly will not be wider then 1" when the belly is rounded.
When all is said and done, I don't think you'll notice a performance gain.  
Smells pretty bad when you grind it.

[horseapple]

Dan, slow around here, hafta do somethin  

Bob, the stuff was called garolite, still have a few strips of it, lost interest in it, wasn't all natural material:)

John, was wondering how the hunt went in texas? Hope all is well.

[Bob Barnes]

Tim- can't wait to see some of your new bows...sure is good to see you building them again.

John- do you see any performance difference using the gemsbok belly?  It sure looks great and I have several horns...  

JD-that's the stuff I remember...looked good too.  Glad to see you posting! man am I ready for spring!

This is almost an old timers thread... LOL.

Bob

[Flinttim]

Bob, I take "spurts" of my various interests. I'll get hot for my flintlock rifles for a while and build a couple and then I miss the bowmaking and do that a while. I bought and/or traded for a couple nice glass bows and shoot them quite often also.Finally gave up on recurves, I guess I'm a longbow guy at heart.I just this morning sent via the mail a chunk of osage from that big log I got years ago,down to James Parker. We worked out an osage for tapered lams deal.A bamboo back and belly bow is where I want to get to eventually. But if someone wants to give you some baleen....well..

[Bob Barnes]

cool...while you are at it have James send you a recipe for the bow you want to build...he is very knowledgeable.  I have a couple of bamboo backed Ipe bows he helped a friend learn to make and I have one of his tiny Serpentine bows as well...I'm impressed !  My boo backed ipe bows are ipe lams and glued up into more reflex than you would think possible...super nice for sure.

have fun!

Bob

[Flinttim]

Yea, I called him and we talked for maybe 10 minutes, and you can tell he's a nice guy and very smart when it comes to natural materials bows. Even said he would send me one of his riser pieces to make my first bow a bit easier.But as we all know, you meet the nicest people around here.

[Pat B]

Tim, James will be at the Tenn Classic in early May if you can make it. He is doing another demonstration but I don't know what. James is a wealth of primitive skill and archery knowledge and shares it willingly. We have been friends for many years.

[John Sturtevant]

Bob, I can't say that there is any real performace differance.  They do hold their shape well.

JD, the hunt went well.  Sorry you missed it.   We killed 10 pigs...all free range. Snowed and rained on Tuesday. I was wandering around soaking wet and cold wondering why it was snowing it Tx and a big boar walked right up to me.   I warmed right up as I watched him flop around on the ground.