Was cutting down some trees and I got 2 nice staves. 1 Sassafras & 1 ASH here are the pic's of their rings.
Here is the ASH stave.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0642.jpg)
This is the sass stave.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0643.jpg)
I'm a little beat to split them now, But I will tomorrow. Since these will be my first stave selfbows, what do I do now? I know I have to take off the bark & split them then seal the ends. any tips on spliting them to get good staves from them...The Sass I think I can get 2 staves & 4 from the ash, that does sound right to Y'all?
Get you'r self a sledge hammer and some wedges and go to town. I would at least seal the ends if you;r not going to split them today.
make one for yaself and one for me now thats a good start right there :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
Dont drag your feet Sal , get on em now and coat the ends , cracking will start right away.
forgot to add.
sass is 66" long 5" wide & the ash is 115" long 10" wide
would wipe on poly work or spray paint?
Sure both would work.
well I sprayed both ends on both staves...
HO'NEHE JEFF, which one ash or sass?
Give it a few good coats as it soaks in, you want to actually seal the end so the wood does not dry out through the ends and crack .
I sprayed it down real good Ted....Tomorrow morning I'll be spliting them. I would like to do some bows with out backing which one would be better the ash or sass? looking for a bow 50-55 @24"
ash would be nice. thank you sir :thumbsup:
sal i think the ash would be a real nice one just looking at the ring growth they are much closer than the sass. now you do know we will have to have pics of the making LOL!!! :notworthy:
O I know That.... That's why I started this thread...
& BTW if a 45# Ash bow gets by Me I'll call it the Ho'Nehe & then You can Tell Us all How She shoot... NOw remember this will be my first few selfbows and I'm by no means a bowyer... Not Yet in my book, But hey 99% of making bows is fun just to make them and get better at it..
providing it dont cost to much to ship. :thumbsup:
Ho'Nehe Jeff, we might be able to work something out as far as shipping.
They look awesome. Good luck and can't wait to see your finished product ! I've made several from ash and are great shooters. I'm still in the process of making my sass. bow. it's dryin' down in the stave. Take care.
DR
well I split them. I have 2 maybe 3 staves of sass & 5 staves of ash. My batteries died so after charging I'll up load some pic's. As I was splitting them, I saw that the tree didn't just bend it was twisted too. This almost got me to cut them up in to fire wood, well till I heard the staves talk to me.. LOL Ok I was really looking at them and started to see a bow, then another one. I even saw a small one in the maybe piece of sass. The next set of cut wood will be done on straighter trees, ones that I can get 2 7' logs ( if I can split them right, 4 nice staves per-log )... Maple, Ash & another sass about 30' high. I'll post pic's of them too.
OK here's the pic's.
Started the ash in the middle of the log and was going good for a few feet then I started to run out.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0656.jpg)
There is a start of a twist in the long here.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0655.jpg)
Here's 2 staves about to get some paint then in the shade for a few hours till I start to lay out a bow on them.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0657.jpg)
Here is the sass staves, You see the one next to the red handle axe... I'm even going to try one out of that piece too, well with the rut cut off first.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0653.jpg)
here I am removing the outer & inter bark.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0660.jpg)
Here is 2 sass staves about to be put in the shade till I lay out the bow on them, too.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0662.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0661-1.jpg)
I hope I get better splitting the next set of staves... That's hard work Y'all.
Did you seal the backs of those staves when you did the ends? I use spray shellac on my osage and realy coat it down. It seems do the best job.
As far as splitting. I wish I had a better way. Some wood just doesn't want to be split. I've heard of some people running a circular saw down the length just to give it something to split down. I haven't tried it though.
Oh and wait until you get to spit osage. Here's the proceedure
1. Get a wedge started.
2. beat on it until you pass out
3. wake up and beat on it some more
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until done.
LOL
NO I didn't seal the backs, just the ends... I was drawing out a bow on some. All are twisted so I'll be taking my time ruffing them out & bending them... These are my first staves... Better ones to come in a few weeks.
I'd seal the backs. If you leave the bark on you usualy have no problems. But if you remove it you could get a crack. The idea is to alow moisture only one way to escape. Sealing it up slows the drying process so you don't get the rapid shrinking. As soon as you can get something on the backs. Like I said I use shellac (from home depot) and spray it good with several coats. It also has the advantage of being clear so you can see the grain.
wow !!! way to go sal looking good so far man your quick ill give ya that LOL!!!
Well the rain is coming so I won't be doing any ruffing today. Tomorrow should be a better day to work on bows.... If I get 2 bows out of all the staves I'll be happy. If not, O-well I'll learn something then.
Chin up Sal! I'll be watching your Thread!!!