building first bow

[ericmerg]

ok i decided i wanted to build a bow so i hopped into the woods with a hatchet and no knowledge of woods and cut down an 8' section of red cedar i left the bark on and now its sitting outside just chopped down what do i do next? chunk it into staves or what do i do to "seal"it  i have 0 knowlage about this

[DVSHUNTER]

Saw the ends off and seal the ends by putting shellac or elders glue all over em then split it into staves, then leave it for a year and build some board bows or stave bows with other woods like osage or hickory. Both are much better for a beginner.

[Steve B.]

Agreed.

[ericmerg]

its at my grandmothers i cant get up there to seal it untill sunday would it be fine if i choopped off 4 inches on each side and sealed it or is taht week of out on the ground not going to matter?

[Steve B.]

I just split and sealed a white oak log an hour ago.  It was down for weeks or months and both ends were cracked/split in several places.  I was afraid it was ruined.  I split it into staves, cut off 6 inches from each end and found smooth, juicy ends onto which I gooped wood glue.  I wouldn't worry about it as long as you have the length to trim off any cracked ends.

[ericmerg]

i figure my finsihed bow will be 69-72" its an 8' chunk

[PEARL DRUMS]

See if you can find some elm or hickory as well. ERC is pretty wood.

[ericmerg]

thats why i cut it i knew it had that red in it and i wanted that

[Steve B.]

Good for you.  Take your time, over build it slightly to ensure success, and no matter what happens in the end look at it as a learning experience.  Because no amount of reading or chatting about it will get close to what you'll learn from actually building one.

[ericmerg]

id still love it to work whats the ratio of working to dead first bows?

[PEARL DRUMS]

ERC is the most difficult wood to build a bow with. My opinion is If it wasnt pretty we wouldnt use it at all. Elm or hickory are great woods to learn on. They dont break easily.

[ericmerg]

what makes a wood easier or harder to build with?

[Steve B.]

Some woods require that you remove the sap wood and have only one heartwood growth ring exposed along the entire back of the bow.  With other wood you can simply remove the bark and what is exposed is the back of the bow.  Still other woods can have both heart and sap wood sharing the load.  Removing the bark is easy compared to the more tedious work involved with the other types.
Softer or weaker woods are less forgiving than springy or strong woods and therefore more likely to give you problems if you don't build it just right.
I highly recommend you get Vol. 1 of the Trad bowyers bible series.

[ericmerg]

hey steve is there anyway u can give me a ring so i can pick your brain

[Steve B.]

PM sent

[ericmerg]

i cut and sealed the ends of my staves today i also cut a chunk for a riser if i need to beef it up a bit or anything of the sort i want to capture this magenta color as much as possible im going to have to look into cutting a arrow shelf i just want a little one off center quite a bit like my other flat bow just enough to hold the arrow at cant