Staves for bows

[mikethescout]

hey all,

Im thinks about making a flat bow out of ash and am planning on heading out this weekend to find a stave...

my question is, how long should you leave the stave to dry beofre you start carving? and how logn should the stave be??

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Everything Mac]

I believe it is a year per inch.

my yew stave got left for about 18months and ended up bending slightly. - I have a hazel log which has been seasoning for about 3 years now. lol


edit - yes the stave should ideally be as long as you are tall - an 8ft stave is perfect as there is plenty of room for error.
andy

 

[dwardo]

The stave should be as long as your are tall and as free of knots and branches as you can. I would go for anything about forearm thick or more if possible.

Fell it, split it and de-bark it immediately. Take it home and leave it outside in a shed or garage for a few days. Then rough out the bow leaving the tips about 1.5-2 inch wide. Now store the stave in a cool room in the house for a week or so, avoid close proximity to radiators etc. After about 2 weeks i start to work the bow to floor tiller and by the time its well floor tillered its dry enough to final tiller. The less mass the stave has the less time it will take to dry.
The acid test is to weigh the wood every few days, once it stops loosing weight for a third of the time its been drying its done!

The other alternative is to fell it and let it dry naturally but this can take years literally. If you

 

[wattsy]

it can be any length there's no set rule to say it should be your height.

 

[mikethescout]

thanks for the replys guys.. its helped allot

I read somwhere that you should do something special to the ends of the staff, to stop it splitting when its drying?

Mike

 

[Everything Mac]

it can be any length there's no set rule to say it should be your height.

just a tradition. - wouldn't make sense for a 6' tall chap to use a 4' bow now would it?

it probably stems from the idea that a taller person can pull a larger more powerful bow.
maybe

 

[dwardo]

it can be any length there's no set rule to say it should be your height.

A bow thats as tall as your self is much more forgiving in regards to ease of build and draw. Yes you can have much much smaller bows but they can be harder to build and are less forgiving when it comes to tiller. The way i see it is if there is less wood to take the load then any small mistakes soon show up as big ones. The more wood you have to share the work the better. Also you can only go so short before you have to start short drawing the bow or you get into the realms of backings, laminates and recurves.

I am sorry if my post came across a little pius i should say that this is only my opinion based on the past few years of playing with bows.

 

[wattsy]

A bow thats as tall as your self is much more forgiving in regards to ease of build and draw. Yes you can have much much smaller bows but they can be harder to build and are less forgiving when it comes to tiller. The way i see it is if there is less wood to take the load then any small mistakes soon show up as big ones. The more wood you have to share the work the better. Also you can only go so short before you have to start short drawing the bow or you get into the realms of backings, laminates and recurves.

I am sorry if my post came across a little pius i should say that this is only my opinion based on the past few years of playing with bows.

yeah no worries its just that traditional american flatbows (native american) tended to be a lot smaller, especially with plains tribes because there was hardly any wood

 

[dwardo]

yeah no worries its just that traditional american flatbows (native american) tended to be a lot smaller, especially with plains tribes because there was hardly any wood

The problem is they end up having to be sinew backed or very short draws which is a lot to take on for a beginner. Luckily we have lots of woods to choose from that can all be found for "free" on waste ground or as offcuts from tree surgeons etc. I have gotten free staves from tree surgeons, countryside rangers, private land owners, neighbours, farmers and many other places.

I am building a shortie from wych elm at the minute that will be recurved to help the string angle and stack and its a pain in the rear so far! Should have took my own advice and made it longer but where is the fun in that

 

[badgeringtim]

Im sure this has been covered before but im still gonna ask again!

when you say (dwardo) that it should be forearm thick - i assume you mean the split stave - not the tree...?
So you need about a 6" x section or tree to get that right?
Also is it me or is a knot and branch free 8ft like rocking horse £*@$ or am i not looking hard enough. While im here can branches be used or does it need to be the trunk?

thank you
!

 

[dwardo]

Im sure this has been covered before but im still gonna ask again!

when you say (dwardo) that it should be forearm thick - i assume you mean the split stave - not the tree...?
So you need about a 6" x section or tree to get that right?
Also is it me or is a knot and branch free 8ft like rocking horse £*@$ or am i not looking hard enough. While im here can branches be used or does it need to be the trunk?

thank you
!

Yes they are like rocking horse **** but its half the fun looking

There tends to be less knots and pins etc in the trunks but branches can be used. I have used branches in the past mainly from yew which is only due to the fact that i cant find anyone that will let me cut down their 500 year old yew trunk and i cant afford a real stave.

I find the easiest wood to get hold of is either ash, elm, hazel or even goat willow at a push. These i have found the most forgiving of our local white woods.

I would say that any trunk/branch over about 3 across inch will do for starters. The problem with smaller diameter branches and trunks is that due to their small circular cross section its hard to get relatively flat back to your bow.
You tend to use the untouched wood right under the bark for the back of the bow which by definition of a small diameter sapling is more "rounded". This is called "crown" meaning that if the back is rounded as opposed to flat it can cause more pressure on the belly causing it to collapse or crystal. On the other end of the scale its a pain in the "£$"£$"£ to handle much bigger timber as you need chainsaws, people who arent petrified of chainsaws(me), hours of splitting and transporting etc.

I will be happy to answer any other questions you or anyone else has but please remember its only my opinion and i have only been bow making for the past 3 years or so.

 

[Stew]

I believe it is a year per inch.

Just to clarify this a bit more (and although it doesn't apply in this instance because of the way bows are treated), he means it's a year to dry per inch thick, not per inch long!

 

[woodwalker1987]

thanks for the replys guys.. its helped allot

I read somwhere that you should do something special to the ends of the staff, to stop it splitting when its drying?

Mike

As soon as you cut the wood smear the ends with wood glue to prevent checking while it dries. (checking is the term for splitting from the ends)

 

[Cromm]

Ash is a white wood and if you cut it now when the sap is down it will dry alot faster. You can put paraffin wax on the cut ends to stop the checking. What kind of bow do you want to make?? English longbow, flatbow....