Thank you Sir for showing me the right way to split logs. The hardest part was finding the iron wedges. I managed to split a gum tree log into quarters. I'll let them dry a while before making a few bows. Not sure if the Aussie wood is the best for bows. At worst it will give me experience of working the wood. Flaxen Saxon
Everything i find is all twisted 45deg or more over a metre. I've got some spoted gum logs but I don't know if they are worth using if I can't steam out the twists
Thank you Don for this very helpful information! I have this huge Osage orange log that has been awaiting my attention for about 4 years. It's about 18" in dia and about 12' long and it's the straightest Osage orange i've ever seen! I just havent made the time to start work on it and i'm still gathering my intel on how to go about it.
Send it to me ill build you some sharp bows . I cut 23 of them this winter in the black moon is your best time to cut them . I have 44 black locust staves that are 3 years old .
You pointed out a quarter with rot in the end and said it wasn’t suitable. It looked like at least 41/2 feet was fine. I’ve read that most of the plains Indians bows were less than 4 feet long. I just made my first bow ever today out of a 9 inch diameter cherry log. It is just under 5 feet. The real thrust today was getting scraping experience. I’ll probably give it to my granddaughter to play with. I’ll be making longer bows as my skills improve. It was also my first use of the shaving horse I just finished. Today was a huge learning and fun day. Making the tools is just as enjoyable as making projects.
as an amateur, and not criticizing this guy at all, I have made several staves from widdling down 3 yr old hickory (or at least within that family) trees, letting them dry, then coating with gloss finish. there always is a crack, but the gloss finish helps to later seal this, the only bends are natural, and they have each lasted at least 6 years of heavy impact training.
These are staves to be used for bow and arrows--- you need to have grain that is almost straight, this is why you make them from large diameter logs. I think you may be thinking of a martial arts staff or bo staff. we may be on the wrong page with each other. what you are doing is right! ---Don
Donald Porta your right, I was talking about martial arts staves, I spent this video thinking that you were making these as a side project, and we're going to use the other wood for bows
That’s pretty cool, you could make it easier on yourself by driving a couple stakes and using one section of log up against the stakes as a back stop so your workpiece stays put
I make my bows out of several different woods. Hickory is a big one. My personal bow I made from hickory. I also use Sugar Maple which I like very much.
I just cut a sugar maple. Do I have to season it for a year or more, or can I make a bow right now ? I have tons of Maples and a few hickories on my land.
green wood is weak, has to be seasoned before flexing it, I have shortened the seasoning time by steam bending it, which reduces the time of seasoning.
Not a bad job, I've contemplated making the same video. Kudos to you. Have you tried a machete for those pesky wood strands at the last bit of splitting. It's saved me some bow staves before due to thing to man handle the wood and not thinking it through all the way on my part. I like to use a smaller wedge to get things started on the logs and a smaller 3 lb hand held sledge. That's just me though. Nice hickory logs Thanks again
Thank you for such informative and interesting videos. You surely have a gift for teaching. I was wondering, as I watched, if it would be easier to split the logs if they were braced against something like boards are braced against things on a work table when they are shaped? Something like a 4x4 post set in the ground?
I saw this beautiful Sassy frass tree straight bark it looked great,....I cut it to 6 feet it started twisting and flipping and flopping I couldn't believe it. It was about 90 degree's that day. You could just see the bark twisting around. I was like a stick snake.
Does anyone have some tips on making wedges ? Looks like they are extremely hard wood, making a glassy klink. Is there any way to cut such hard wood into wedges if you don't own a band saw?
swear I'll eat my damn boot straps if I ever get this down lol. not as easy as it looks to make bow limbs. I'm not unfamilure with wood, and crafting it. but for whatever reason the bow eludes me
My comment is actually a 1question. Do you need to let the staves season or can they be cut right away? How do I decide which tree is right for reaping? Also fantastic work.
I noticed when you were splitting the sap wood from the log to get your two staves, the split cut rite into the sap wood, are you just using bigger logs for quantity?
My experience with Shagbark Hickory from cutting firewood for 40 years is that it is very stringy and twisting grain but very hard and strong. I would think Bitternut Hickory with more straight and easier to split grain was used for axe handles etc. I think would make a better bow.
When water converts to steam it expands 1600 times--- the water that is held in the cell walls also expanded the same. Upon cooling the water is then reduced drastically and will then be stable due to the loss of all that moisture.
Thank you....I would never have guessed that. So, once the green stave is out of the steam box it can be immediately (day or two) worked????@@donaldporta
Interesting....... if I just wanted to dry out any green wood without waiting the year or two to air dry, do you think I could just roughly work it ,then steam it and after a week or so finish my bowl or whatever I am making out of green wood? Thanks for your input......@@donaldporta
Thank you at 4:00 you answered a question I've asked, and nobody could answer I have a question for you-or anyone that can/will reply-thanks in advance to whomever....(hopeful thinking) I have a Osage sapling fork/top that is 62' long but only 4 1/2" total around circumference the center orange 'heart' is like a pencil sized circle, (this was the only tree of Osage I could find by a creek, the only other huge one is on private property) So, can I make ANY type of bow/style with/from this to end up with even a practice draw weight style bow? (it was cut 2 days ago sealed ends with glue and bark is still on, and I have a couch corner foot resting on a slight bend to try straighten it out as I have no clamps etc And if yes; how do I proceed, to treat the wood and build? I'm only seeing survival style /same day build videos every where for branches/limbs this thin.... Or should I not waste my time? BUT if YES a bow can be had from this; what type/style of bow...d bow ,self bow ,horse bow, I'm still learning names/types etc.? I don't expect a complete build tutorial spelled out here but style/types and even build links would be great butI can search those out but 'is it possible?' and' what TO try' style wise ;that can work versus what NOT to try because wont work with this size wood That's the info I cant find ... anybody that can respond is welcome please AND WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED links also helpful..
@@donaldporta Thank you for your respond :-) I will try to plant many hickory trees in my country for the descendants. Besides making bows, hickory seems to me being very durable. The weather patterns are getting more and more extreme and these trees are wonderfull against drought, lot rain, much snow or winds...
Interesting... I'm considering Siberian Elm, as there's tons of it around here. Kinda weed tree. After watching this, I'm thinking of using a bigger log, rather than a sapling.
There's a Book called the bow builders book that tells you how. I''d do it a little different I believe I heard elm the grain is tougher. I'd stave it V shaped to include a handle. But the handle is the last thing you do on a bow! You carefully remove the bark first. Then you do the Baughman curves and then limb thickness. I also shape the bow and wipe it down with linseed oil,......and I put it in a jig for a year so it don't snake as it dries. I don't ever steam wood,....I put vegetable shortening on it and heat it with a heat gun and slide it under a heavy table to tweak it straightish to the eye. I use a short cut I'd draw on the limbs and cut them close using a band saw and get them closer usung a Angle grinder and a rubber backed sanding disc,.....it allows you to shape with out gouging the limbs. And in 30 minutes its a roughed out stave. Look at the books 3 rivers archery sells they tell you about the different wood types and the width they need to be to be equal to other woods. On elm fibers I hear are intertwined but the sanding disc don't care,...80 grit. If you don't band saw it,....use 40 grit to waste the wood down to your specs. The reasone you do the handle after the stave is dry a stave snakes you clamp it to help stop snaking. When its dry,.....you start tillering it till it starts to bend thinning the limbs. At that point you would put vegetable shortening on it and heat it with a heat gun and straighten it. Then you would finish the tiller when its straighter. Then finish your handle.
there are tiny pin holes in my Hickory staves with small piles of fine powder on the holes . Is this wood ruined for bow making ? There must be a wood boring bug in there ! There are many holes visible up the entire length , on both edges .
Why're you leaving so little heartwood on it? A 50/50 or 40/60 heartwood to sapwood is essential for a good warbow, assuming you're making proper warbows (i.e. the English longbow) and not toys.
No the bark is removed very carefully, the wood under the bark will be the back to the bow and it can't be cut or nicked. The bark will protect the wood until the stave is being worked. The staves will be dried inside in my shop, I haven't had any issues with bugs damaging the staves, if I kept the wood outside it might be of concern.
I have tried that also, but somehow they always take their toll!! Maybe they lay their eggs before I cut the wood, in the forest. I have O. orange from a freind; cut it green, broyght it straight to my shop, split it in half, and hung it over my little woodstove. However, some, I put in my wood srtorage hut,to dry, along with all my other dozen species of wood. The hut osage became riddled in the sap with powder post beetles; the bow wood over the stove is clear, so still a puzzle.
If the bark slips off easily, I will remove it, if not I work it off in the shop. The beetles need moisture to survive, A dry environment will discourage them, if it's damp the wood is fair game for a lot of things, including mushrooms. My shop is always very dry, sometimes too much , but I haven't had any trouble with insects or beetles. If you can remove the bark, because the cambium layer is the most moist and softest, just right for the invaders. Good luck my friend---Don.
There's a guy named Clay Hayes who makes bows and has videos on RU-vid. He says he treats the bark of his staves with diesel fuel to prevent bug infiltration.
how are you gonna tell me the staves need to dry for one year for every inch in thickness and then tell me the roughly 7 inch stave you have there needs to dry for one year.
no your wrong man. regardless of the wood you use you don't use heart wood you use the section of the wood where the front of your bow is sap wood and the back of your bow is the real wood which i wouldn't call heart wood.
You are right there with the exception of Osage Orange, the sapwood is of no use here, it will break, the dark orange heartwood does make a superior bow.
The trick to the belly splits is getting good at estimating where halfway point of the *mass* is. I split a lot of osage and belly splits are a premium. I'll come at it from both ends and/or take a hatchet along the line where I want the split to go and cut a line to help the split.
