Harvesting wood by the signs ?

[Art B]

Hey Guy, I can give you a several good reasons why the upper most part of the tree should be the upper limb, can you give me a good reason why it shouldn't? Just curious.........Art

[Grey Taylor]

Nope, no reason why it shouldn't.
I just can't think of a reason why it should. Especially if you can't tell by looking at the stave or board what was top or bottom.

Although I'm probably sounding like a jerk in all this I do have an open mind and stand ready to bake up a crow pie if it's necessary.

Guy

[Art B]

For the most part, it's very easy to tell in which direction a board, stave or billets orients in a tree Guy. Often times even arrow shafts too. Trees grow tapered and so do their growth rings. Just looks for the differences in growth ring thickness.

The trunk end of the tree is cleaner, straighter and stronger than it's top. That's very important when we're trying to maintain long term tiller health in our all wood bows.

And arrow shafts benefit from proper oriention but that's for another discussion.......Art

[Grey Taylor]

Art, I understand your explanation but I have to say that with the exception of bamboo arrow shafts, this is the first I've ever heard of this theory. I don't believe it's noted in The Bent Stick, any of the TBB books, and while I've spent an awful lot of time around very good bowyers, including Tim Baker, I've never heard this mentioned.
With all due respect, I'm not taking the pie shell out of the freezer just yet.

Guy

[frank bullitt]

Guy, Art, let's not loose sight of the ? asked!

Good points from both, as for signs, solnar tables come to mind! I don't plant tomatos in December, nor do the whitetails, rut in June!

Nature has a calendar, as do man.

Top, bottom, what about splicing billets? Gary Davis told me, it doesn't matter. Yeah, he's an Osage, bow building, Idiot!  

[George Tsoukalas]

"Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign."
Five Man Electrical Band
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.    Jawge

[kodiakkid]

Me and my folks plant gardens by the signs. We always seem to have nice gardens. I couldn't really say if they would have been just as nice if we didn't plant by the signs because we always do.

[Art B]

It's not about pies or anything like that Guy.

It's about about putting out useful information that'll help others build better bows.

Yeah, I asked Baker if he built his bows as they "stand in the tree". He answered no. But if you'll notice, he reccomends building symmetrical bows that can be flipped around to find which limb should be upper or lower. He says you'll find one limb performs better one way or the other. Guess what Guy, if Baker had built his bows as I decribed, then you would most certainly have gotten the word straight from him. Tim's a most careful man no doubt, but he missed this!

But since I know which end will afford me the strongest limb, I know from the very beginning which limb to use for the lower. Allows me to build asymmetrical bows also if I wish.

Frank, I've seen some of Gary's glue-ups. Yeah, I can see that he doesn't understand wood's UNEVEN working properties either............Art

[Sal]

I've personally seen Tim Baker and Gary Davis work on bowstaves.

I don't know if they follow any signs, but they know their wood, and they know how to build a good bow.