K, so every bow i've made so far seems to have a mild propeller twist in it (all board bows). Is this due to some characteristics of the wood/grain, or is it my righthandedness showing up in the scraping (I use a block plane and scrapers to true up the profile). Don't have calipers, but the best i can measure doesn't LOOK like one there's uneven thickness. :knothead:
Most of mine have VERY mild twists, Im guessing working the same limb from the same side. So far it has never hurt a thing.
That's kinda what i was thinking. Mine are pretty mild and still shoot fine (when they don't explode, but that's a different problem! :banghead: ), but i'd like to figure out what's going on before i try a recurve, or at least how I can fix it if not avoid it.
Take a good pic and lets see how much twist you have. Mine is generally the last 6-8" inches and its usually a 1/4" or so. Sometimes you cant see it if the bow isnt laying just right, but its still there.
You can use an opened wrench or even a crescent wrench to measure in a pinch.
It doesn't take much thickness to change the way a limb bends.
But the woods thickness shouldn't be the determining factor in where to remove wood. The bend will tell you.
Are these bias/rift sawn board bows? Art
Have to get a photobucket account before i can put up any pics.
Duh! Shoulda thought of the crescent wrench!! I'm all about using tools for other than their intended purpose! I looked at bowskins youtube vid about removing limb twist, tried it, but removed almost an uncomfortable amount of wood w/o any results:/
As for bias/rift sawn, still kinda muddled on how to tell all the cuts. Most of these the rings are running at a bout a 45 degree angle when looking at the cut end of the board. This was something i was suspecting. If the rings rotate, then i would think the board would tend to as well?
45 degrees would be rift sawn. 1/4 sawn the grain is vertical, flat sawn the grain is horizontal.
QuoteOriginally posted by k-hat:
Most of these the rings are running at a bout a 45 degree angle when looking at the cut end of the board. This was something i was suspecting. If the rings rotate, then i would think the board would tend to as well?
///// Yep, that would be my guess too//// Art
Boards like yours arent all bad, but a hard back is usually a good idea.
Thanks guys!
Looks like the boards i tend to buy are rift sawn. I've seen some good looking 1/4 sawn specimens, but wasn't sure how they'd turn out.
So since it's the boards (and not me ;) ), will i need to use heat to get rid of the twist, specially if i'm trying a recurve, in which it seems twist would be more problematic?
I call it on ur right handiness.
I've never had any twist problems with any boards yet...rift quarter or plain sawn