TG BOW SWAP 2011 (pics and post)

[SEMO_HUNTER]

DVS - Mo Bo Dark is the best quality Osage found anywhere, and it's everywhere down here where I'm at. I used to live and work in St. Peters, Mo.
I've been all over O'Fallon.
You got a nice pile of staves there, I'm going to have to get back on mine again this spring.
Running low on finished stave blanks, got 3 on trade to your buddy Brock for snake skins.

I agree about the honey locust, it's lousy thick down here and it's got thorns all over it! That's why I don't dare cut it down cause the thorns get everywhere and I can't afford to keep replacing tractor and ATV tires!
It's a tight grained, white wood that splits like glass and burns super hot. That's about all I know about it, never tried to make a bow out of it. I just know that it's better left standing if it's anywhere you ever plan on driving through someday.   :rolleyes:

[Goose Gossett]

DVS is that the same caul that was at MoJam this past summer?  If so that is one aggressive curved monster if I remember right.

[scottm]

Nice work Ranger 3.Beautiful bow!

[kennym]

Here is a honey locust pic I happened to have handy...

 

The closer one that looks like a cactus!!

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Yep, that's the one!
Nasty buggers, some guys around here call them scaley bark locusts. Then there's the other variety called slick bark locust, which is actually black locust and we have them too. They aren't covered with thorns like the honey locust.

If you find a tree that has rose like thorns on the smaller limbs, but no thorns on the trunk.........cut it, cause those make really nice bows!  

[ranger 3]

That is a thorn less Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos inermis) that my bow is hanging on.

[DVSHUNTER]

I didn't know those were around. I stand corrected.

goose- that is the caul, except it has been reworked to even it out a bit more.

[hova]

yeah thats probable what the one i cut would look like in another 200 years. it was down by a dam spillway , under some large trees. it was only about 8 ft worth of trunk , then another 3 ft of canopy. the wood is very thin ringed , with almost no color contrast. it looked good when it was standing , but when i split it , it ended up looking like a crazy straw...

we have something in the in-laws backyard that had the leaves like a locust ,but i didnt see thorns until i looked at the leaf-stems , and on it there are tiny tiny tiny little thorns , but no where on the branches or trunk. it doesnt look twisted , but its only about 2" in diameter. it is bent to all hell and back though...

that osage ya got looks mighty purty there dvs.


anyways , i was on the lumber mill's website today , and they have walnut and cherry , so that might end up being what i go with for the swap. someone had some slab wood locally , but they didnt know what it was , and it looked like it was stored outside , so i figure stay away.

what you guys workin on tonight?
-hov

[Diamondback59]

GUYS THAT HONEY LOCUST HEART WOOD MAKES REALLY NICE BOWS AND THEY SHOOT GOOD BRETT LANDON HAD A COUPLE HE MADE AT MOJAM I SHOT 1  RELLEY LIKED IT BUT I HATE CUTTIN THE DAMN STUFF I WEAR MY WELDIN JACKET GLOC
VES AND A FACE SHILD JUST KNOCKIN THORNS OFF TO CUT THE DARN THING DOWN  IV BEEN TOLD BY OLD TIMERS THOSE THORNS WILL MAKE YA SICK SOME OF EM HAVE POISIN ON EM  BROCK

[longbowhntr]

ranger 3 Nice job! I like the looks of that cherry bark on the back. I'm going to have to try that sometime.

I hope to get some of my other projects done or at least moved off my work bench in the next few weeks so I can get started.

[Keenan]

Ranger, very nice,  I can see that if I'm gone for a few days I will have pages of reading,LOL

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I hear ya Keenan, Pages and pages.

[hova]

brock , its funny you mention that because i ended up getting a couple pokes by thorns i thought , and they hurt worse than any thorn or cut i have ever had. one was just a poke , and three swelled up a week later , and the very tip of the thorn had broken off in my hand. i had to dig them out with a buck knife , and the feeling of cutting into myself to get them out felt good compared to what they felt like in there...

also brock : i thought of getting  heartwood out of it , but there is no color difference from the outer ring to the inside. the cambium is pretty dark , and comes right off , other than that , its all white. the heart of the propeller i cut down split and lifted a bit , but i mighht be able to salvage it.


-hov

[Diamondback59]

YEP  BRO  THEY HURT JUST GLAD YA DIDNT GET INFECTION FROM EM THEM THORNS ARE BAD NEWS   THE COLOR IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME   BUT I TELL YA  BRETT HAD IT FINISHED WITH TRU OIL AND MAN THAT STUFF WAS PRETTY CONTGRATS ON WINN A OSAGE STAVE  NOW YA GOTTA MAKE ONE AND GET UR BUTT DOWN TO MOJAM  LOL BROCK

[Keenan]

Here is a little update,First I wanted about 1/3 sapwood and 2/3 heart, so I needed to thin the sapwood down about 3/8". The rings on juniper sapwood are very thin and almost impossible to follow one ring. Since I'm going to back with sinew, it wont matter but I got it down to a fairly consistant ring anyway. After I got the sapwood reduced I then trimmed off the excess thickness on the belly with the bandsaw.
   
Here there is a little extra width in a few areas. I removed the pencil marks to better center the growth rings.
   
Here is the rough out after sapwood thinned.
   
The stave is fairly deflexed so the next step was heat treating on the caul. First I did the whole stave to obtain about a two inch reflex. Heat gun with Crisco shortening rub on the surface. Heated slow, deep and consistant about 10 sec. count every 2 inches first pass. Then a 20 sec. count every 1.5 inches and one inch away. Let cool overnight, then worked a slight tip roll with my tighter jig. The bump pads help to keep the back protected espcially around bumps and knots
   
After heat treating and cool down. I wiped the whole stave with accetone to remove the Crisco. The did a light scrape on the whole bow to remove any residue and let the wood breath and prepare for sinew. Here you can see one half scaped

[kerryb]

Worked on someones bow today,I flipped the tips, any suggestions for tip overlays, I think this one will get some skins of some sort.

[Keenan]

Looking very nice Kerry. What kind of skins you doing? what tip material do you have?

[1oldbowguy]

Sure is looking good, congrats.

[kerryb]

I was thinking about some Flathead skins i have a set of them from the belly, light blueish in color. for overlay material you name it i probably have it, if i can find it,lol.

[ranger 3]

I see the bows are really starting to heat up. Love them