Trad Gang
Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: simk on April 17, 2025, 06:03:39 AM
-
I had this log for a while and now made a first bow - interesting stuff - machanical properties closer to glass than to any other wood. And that's how it shoots ;) Not abig fan of it, but the looks is great of course - always remembers me of grandma's furniture :jumper:
-
...
-
thanks for watching
-
Very nice...
-
I had this log for a while and now made a first bow - interesting stuff - machanical properties closer to glass than to any other wood. And that's how it shoots ;) Not abig fan of it, but the looks is great of course - always remembers me of grandma's furniture :jumper:
What is it? The bow looks fantastic, your work is always so clean and elegant.
Mark
-
That looks a lot like snake wood- if it is I can’t imagine what you paid for it.
-
Looking good as always.
-
Thanks guys! Yeah, Snakewood of course! Last year had a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy one whole big log - well, should we call a 30cm diameter big already? Anyways, when I lately brought it to my sawmill of trust it almost overpowered their big saw ---- and for sure they had to resharpen their blade after me :biglaugh:
The snakewood surcharge on these bows will quickly cover my expenses....
Its more of a collectors thing. Such bow is only allowed to shoot on Sundays, wearing velvet gloves and only in the climatized bowhall :biglaugh:
-
A nice build .....looks great!
-
The only thing prettier is the country you’re shooting the bow in:)
-
That stuff is not only very expensive.... It's like cutting concrete it's so hard. I can't even imaging using this stuff on just a wood limb bow..... I hope it holds up well for you. Kirk
-
Yes Kirkil, the stuff is really hard and stiff. Whereas yew has a elasticy of about 7gpa (Osage 12gpa), this stuff is around 24gpa, while glass is around 30gpa => its closer to glass than wood. No wonder the shooting feels like a glassbow.
It sands well with fine grit and also works beautyful on the card scraper. Also I havent had many problems with checking....
It has been highly appreciated for bows since the victorian age and even Howard Hill used soemthing like that for his favorite 170# flightbow.
Having it in stock now feels like balm for my collectors soul :goldtooth:
Simon
-
Interesting that you had no checking issues. I had just the opposite experience. But I suppose each piece of wood is different… hope she holds up well for you. Kirk
-
I bet nobody else is wanting you to also post pictures of that log/ milled lumber…
-
Fine. Got 4 boards - this is 3 of them. A few bad checks but I wont complain in this case - still plenty bows.... :goldtooth:
the little log was almost 90kg's...and cost me 1600 euros incl. transportation throughout half of europe.... I'm totally fine with that.
-
I’m really curious- have you checked the moisture content?
-
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing and congratulations on such a score.
-
I’m really curious- have you checked the moisture content?
I do not have a moisture meter - but the wood felt pretty dry working it! Why are you asking Stagmite?
Thanks rmorris :)
-
Best investment I ever made was buying a quality moisture meter- I’ve had a piece of 4/4 goncalo alves on my rack for over ten years- a month ago I cut two 3/4 x1.5 w/ 16” long pieces and glued them together for a handle and let them cook in my over(152 degrees) for a couple hours- next day I checked with the meter and they were at 11% moisture content! I profiled the handle and put it back in the oven for a couple more days before I reached 6.5 % moisture content which was suitable for glue up into a bow. :)
-
Thanks Stagmitis! Interesting.
I think a have a pretty good climate here that finally leads to good equilibrium in my stash. I never referred glueing problems to moisture content. In fact, I rarely had glueing problems in my bowmaking. I had problems glueing certain tropical woods (e.g. bloodwood) with epoxy. Water based pva works better here for me. This bow also was glued with the white carpenters glue. I only use epoxy to glue horn an strange things like glass :)
Whats the price range for a trustwworthy moisture meter? It would of course be a nice to have....
Simon
-
https://shop.wagnermeters.com/products/orion-930-dual
Aside from glue up issues the wood can “move” causing issues like changes in string alignment and others- also if the bow ends up in a different climate issues could present there.
I use unibond 800 for all my wood to wood glue ups and epoxy for wood to glass- it’s cheap, gap filling and bulletproof. Regardless of glue I always apply heat