Thank you for all of your help. I have successfully built a red oak board bow 🏹 made a Flemish twist, string, and muskrat silencers all from your help. Very grateful. I am also a member of board bow builders, and primitive Archery builders groups Thank you. For a very informative and instructional videos, I recommend everybody 🙏🏹
As a fresh bowmaker, i gonna say that it's by far the best and the clearest video in this topic. Very helpful and not boring at all. Thank You very much!
There is a lot of videos and info out there on every aspect of bow building. I love getting the variety of info, but I always come back to Weylin's videos when it come time to start something new. Thorough and exacting. If you are into precision and advice from someone who has waded through a variety of techniques and speaks from experience, any video from Swiftwood will leave you confident to take on the project. Big thanks to you Weylin.
Tbh not really, there's a good amount of some but not much really ( on videos and info) need more species and designs and all out bow making randomness. Might seem like a lot at first but after a bit bow making on yt and websites hit a rock wall
This is great advice here and I'm finally beginning to understand what to look for in a board for my first bow project. What I didn't get from this video is what minimum dimensions, especially thickness, you need when you select a board. Eg I can get 3/4" oak boards at a hardware store, but don't know if that is going to be thick enough even if I can find one with perfect grain. I'm in Holland and the types of wood are a bit different here. We get a lot of pine (useless for bows), and hard woods are often tropical variants like Meranti. Oak seems limited in supply, but I'm going to have a look at more specialist wood suppliers.
Your spot on, my first attempt (poplar) lasted 3 shots before hinging at a thin spot. My 2nd attempt, using red oak worked great. I went through every board, choosing one that had straight grain from end to end. *new hobbyist with minimal knowledge and experience, competant woodworker
As a piano tuner-technician I work with wood a lot. I get to see what causes a point of failure in a piano part, whether a soundboard or a mere hammer shank. The shanks are particularly apropos to bow making, as they are made of maple and should be straight grained and preferably oriented as quartersawn front to back. They flex a lot more than it appears.
I'm excited for this series. I've built exactly one bow before and it was a board bow. Works great but I'm ready to build another finally. Your timing is impeccable for me.
Explaining grain of a board and how it relates to a tree, log, or stave is challenging. You pulled it off. Including examples of good boards of different species is useful too. Yes the medullary rays of red oak can throw the new bow builder for bit of confusion loop. Good boards make good bows. Will be looking forward to the subsequent installments!
I'm so glad you decided to do this. I've spent the last year or so looking for a good source for staves and have nothing. If I can start with boards while I'm still looking that's awesome. Thank you very much. Keep up the awesome content. Looking forward to making some bows!
I got making bows about ten years ago. I read all I could, watched all the videos I could. So I bought a good board from Home Depot. It had a good straight grain from end to end, it was red oak. I showed a picture of it on a Facebook bow making group and instead of support, I got shit. I was told it would break, it was garbage, I wasted my money, etc. So, I chopped that board into firewood and burned it that winter. I was so discouraged I haven’t tried to build a bow since. I lost interest. But I am slowly wanting to try again.
Sorry to hear that you got such a negative reception. That would be really discouraging. The community on the Primitive Archer forums has always been very friendly and supportive. I hope you can work up the motivation to give it another try, making bows is very rewarding. Good luck
Thanks a lot for this series.My first bow build failed miserabaly but ya got to break a few eggs to make an omelette!. Ive started today on a spotted gum board(similar to hickory).Great fun and a huge learning curve.Keep up the great work.Cheers
Don't sweat it about spending time about wood selection. It's the reason I logged on. I have some ash that I cut into rails for a project about 10 years ago and never made them into anything so I think I will start with one of those. Just trying to decide flat or quarter before I start. I have a Restore store in my neighborhood. It is basically an architectural salvage store run by Habitat for Humanity. I go there when I need a specific type or piece of wood and don't want to go down to the hardwood shop or don't want to break out another fifty.
I absolutely agree with your sentiments about drywall tape backing. I was a recipient of this advice starting out and backed a bow with 3 layers of drywall tape. The grain ran off in the handle and I was making a full compass bow. It failed right in the handle at the final stages of tillering at like 30 inches. The drywall tape didn't prevent the failure, but it DID keep the bow in one piece. It would have exploded without the tape and thrown pieces everywhere, but because of the tape, it just snapped and sagged on the tiller stand. Basically, good grain is a must, and all drywall tape does is contain the fragments when a bad grain board bow explodes.
That's a good example, thanks for sharing. In my opinion, there are far more attractive materials that you can put on a stave to keep pieces from blowing everywhere when a bow breaks. That's all anything will do short of laminating a wood or bamboo backing onto a board. Even then, it's best to have decent grain in the belly wood, it's just slightly less critical.
This is so helpful. Thanks alot. So a stave bow bends with the grains stacked upon each other whereas in board bow the grains will bend beside each other?
Here In idaho, the local home Depot and Lowes Olney offer red oak, walnut, and sometimes maple. That's mostly what has deterred me from dropping 30$ and breaking it. I was gonna try a pice of walnut once but I started stressing it a little and snap, right there in the store. Always kinda made me nervous to stand on the board on the scaffolding working concrete. At some point I will definitely try a board bow.
some places it's harder to find a good board, that's for sure. Just be paitient and get in the habit of perusing the boards any time you're in a place with lumber. eventually you'll find the right piece and it will be worth the wait. Good luck
While this is an older video, I'll add my 2 cents. This video would benefit from a few simple paper diagrams emphasizing what you are talking about. Then, the visual examples would be readily understood by more people. I made hickory bows for my children from a hickory board. They worked well until they grew a bit. A backing became necessary as they started to reach a "max draw" on the bows. Plus, I noticed that the backing strengthened the draw weight from about 20 pounds to about 26 pounds. While a backing might not be "worthwhile" for a bowyer using staves, I will state quite firmly that board bows NEED a backing (lMO). Agree that fiberglass drywall tape is a poor choice. Fiberglass matting works OK. Rawhide works OK (dog chews work, but are cooked and lose a lot in the process). Even 100% silk (say from a silk tie) makes a pretty good backing. Of course you can always choose the original sinew backing. Overall - thumbs-up 👍
Nice work, your videos have inspired me to build my first bow. A question, does the back of a board bow have to use the flat of the growth ring as the back, or can you use one cut so that the rings are upright. Proviided that they are straight for the length of the bow. I have a good thick Ash board , it has straight rings but are at angle to how the board is cut. Thanks, Rex
This is by far the best How to-videos on bow builds on TH-cam. One thing i can't pick up though is how to choose the bows back. Are you choosing the top annual ring, or does than not matter? My access to boards is limited, so I have to order it from lumber mills, and i dont really know what to ask for in a board.
Thank you. Glad it was helpful. If you have a board with straight grain on all faces then it really won't matter too much which side is the back. I wish you luck ordering your boards. I understand your limitations, but there is a good probability that you will get boards with unsuitable grain. It can take a lot of time to pick through a stack of boards to find just one that will work even when you know exactly what to look for. It's unlikely that a paid employee is going to be able/willing to take that time and care.
@@larsstensvold1146 it doesn't matter if the board is flatsawn, riftsawn or quarter sawn. They will all make a good bow as long as the grain is passing straight through the board. I talk about the different orientations some in the first video and have an example of each.
Thank you for your answers, they have been of great help. I’m currently in contact with a friend who lives in south-Finland. I’ve sent some of your instructions to him, maybe he will find me a board or two. Again, thanks for your your replies.
New to this , but I have to ask this question. which is best, should the grain of the blank be flatsawn or horizontal with the bow blank? Or should the grain be vertical to the bow blank? To me the vertical grain would be stronger but perhaps too hard to bend when pulling back. Thanks for your answers.
With most white woods either sapwood or Heartwood is fine but I'd say ideally your board should have one or the other because they can have slightly different properties that could make tillering difficult. If you happen to find one that gives you a natural and consistent backing of sapwood then that would be fine but a board like that would be pretty rare.
You should still be able to see if the grain is running straight through or if it's running off. You only need it straight of the length of the bow so if there is a section that is better, then use that part.
How critical is the grain on a board bow if you were to laminate both the back and belly with fiberglass? I'm wanting to give bow making a try and was curious.
Making a fiberglass bow is a totally different project than what I'm showing here. In that case the wood is basically filler and the fiberglass is doing all of the tension and compression work. I'm sure there are many good videos showing that process but my practical knowledge about it is fairly limited. Fiberglass bow making will require a fair bit more tools and equipment than what I'm showing here, so that is one thing to consider. I would look up a video on it and see what's involved and then decide which direction you want to go. Good luck
@@SwiftwoodBows I was just curious about the idea of it and wasn't sure how hard it would be. I'll probably just make a self bow as your making in your video. I have access to both hard maple and hickory boards, which in your opinion would be the most forgiving choice for a newbie? Thanks for your response.
@@adamarthur9672 the one with the better grain. 😁 If I had to choose I'd say hickory but hard maple is good bow wood too. Won't go wrong with either. Just be super picky about the grain. That will set you up for success.
So why no need to chase a growth ring on a board ? Why all the fuss with ring chasing and snake following on staves if on boards grain can have some run off or what would be called "ring violation" on a stave . . The only board I would have used is the one that was fat enough to chase a ring like a stave , I would have thought the others would have exploded but I know Jack sht .. I'm new to this so how do these boards hold up with ready violated backs ?
Those are excellent questions. You can chase a ring on a board if it will let you, then you will essentially have a stave. Depending on the wood type and the design you could make a good bow out of a stave with violations, there are many examples of Native American bows that have violated backs. The question there is why would you intentionally violate a stave if you didn't need to. The most common practical application of intentionally violating a stave is decrowning, cutting away the high crown of a narrow stave to give it a wider flat back. This is essentially turning a stave into a board. So there is some flexibility both ways, if that makes sense.
@@SwiftwoodBows interesting stuff , makes me think that chasing a ring may be an exclusive thing to certain woods in stave form ,perhaps osage ? Just a guess as I have heard osage pretty much always needs a ring chase unless hard \sinew backing but again in may be wrong.. What I do know from my own experience is a yew stave I have harvested from Scotland has had the sapwood violated to take it to an even thickness to make an English style longbow pulling 80lb @28" I have heard that although yew and osage are very similar , yew is more forgiving and the rings can be violated on the back without backing .. Perhaps self bowyers worry too much about chasing rings and snakes on staves ? Next time I cut a snakey yew stave and get an even split I will attempt a pair of bows, one following the rings and contours perfectly on the back/sapwood and sides to make a snakey single ring back bow and the other a bow with a violated back and the sides squared and cut straight regardless of grain .pretty sure yew is going to hold up regardless , don't have the luxury to try osage so perhaps one of you guys would be in for the experiment ? Thanks for your reply it's opening can of worms😂
@@captainflint8412 ah yes. Yew is a good example of a bow that can break the rules on a violated back. The structure between the rings is much more homogeneous on yew compared to Osage. As long as the yew has a consistent thickness violations in the sapwood are pretty harmless.
Great videos. You've earned yourself a new subscriber. I am only just getting into making self bows and I don't even know where to start to get good staves where I am here in Australia. So this Board Bow series is perfect. I have White Ash growing wild near me apparently thats one of the best woods down under for bows. I'll have to make my own staves. Question in regards to the grain running off the board: Once you have cut out the bow shape, will it not have grain running off? This puzzles me. Or is this more about using the grain as a guide to getting the best overall board from the start, with as straight a grain as possible, tip to tip, rather than worrying about the grain actually running off the bow?
Generally speaking, the limbs of a selfbow should be only one growth ring, a handle section is an exception. I recommend watching this: th-cam.com/video/V3v8mvqR8DU/w-d-xo.html
It depends on what you do with the handle and how heavy you want your draw weight. I think a reasonable minimum is 1.5"x.5". You'll need to build up the handle unless you're doing a bend through the handle. A board that is 3"x1" will give you a lot more options.
So I have heard a couple things that don't make sense to me. I was told you can make a board bow with a straight grain board that will need no backing. Yet when chasing a ring on a stave, you are told not to violate that integrity. Seems like one or the other is lying a bit.
Well, they are both true in the sense that following an intact growth ring on a stave is ideal, but not everyone has access to seasoned staves and a board with straight grain will serve fine as a selfbow. Different wood species respond differently to violations as well. Osage doesn't do well with violations but yew can tolerate it fairly well.
@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you for the reply. I really appreciate it. Just getting into this and that is the one thing I was having trouble wrapping my head around. Does this mean for instance that you could decrown a yew bow, but not an osage (without backing)? Also, just found and love your content. I am going to get a few staves drying out this year and I think maybe make a board bow or two while I wait.
@@abcxyz9643 you're welcome, glad you're finding it helpful. Decrowning is a little different. On yew, I regularly reduce the thickness of the sapwood but it's not exactly decrowning because I'm maintaining the shape of the back. Of you decrowned it you would be reavealing the heartwood and that wouldn't have as much integrity, though I still think it could be done. I don't have much experience decrowning so I can't say with confidence what types of wood handle it better than others. But basically a good board is just a commercially decrowned stave.
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I have watched lots of bow board videos and made a dozen bows and this is by far the best video
Thank you! I appreciate that.
Thank you for all of your help. I have successfully built a red oak board bow 🏹 made a Flemish twist, string, and muskrat silencers all from your help. Very grateful. I am also a member of board bow builders, and primitive Archery builders groups Thank you. For a very informative and instructional videos, I recommend everybody 🙏🏹
As a fresh bowmaker, i gonna say that it's by far the best and the clearest video in this topic. Very helpful and not boring at all. Thank You very much!
Thank you very much! I appreciate that.
There is a lot of videos and info out there on every aspect of bow building. I love getting the variety of info, but I always come back to Weylin's videos when it come time to start something new. Thorough and exacting. If you are into precision and advice from someone who has waded through a variety of techniques and speaks from experience, any video from Swiftwood will leave you confident to take on the project. Big thanks to you Weylin.
Thanks for the feedback and support! Glad it's helpful. More to come soon!
Tbh not really, there's a good amount of some but not much really ( on videos and info) need more species and designs and all out bow making randomness. Might seem like a lot at first but after a bit bow making on yt and websites hit a rock wall
Great info man! Thanks Cheers from a Nobby bow maker from south of the border. 😊
This is great advice here and I'm finally beginning to understand what to look for in a board for my first bow project. What I didn't get from this video is what minimum dimensions, especially thickness, you need when you select a board. Eg I can get 3/4" oak boards at a hardware store, but don't know if that is going to be thick enough even if I can find one with perfect grain.
I'm in Holland and the types of wood are a bit different here. We get a lot of pine (useless for bows), and hard woods are often tropical variants like Meranti. Oak seems limited in supply, but I'm going to have a look at more specialist wood suppliers.
Great video, Your videos are the reason why none of my bows have broken!
Haha, that's great feedback. Thank you!
John Riggs has mastered board bows. I appreciate your video also. Very informative
Your spot on, my first attempt (poplar) lasted 3 shots before hinging at a thin spot. My 2nd attempt, using red oak worked great. I went through every board, choosing one that had straight grain from end to end.
*new hobbyist with minimal knowledge and experience, competant woodworker
Glad it was helpful. Keep it up!
As a piano tuner-technician I work with wood a lot. I get to see what causes a point of failure in a piano part, whether a soundboard or a mere hammer shank. The shanks are particularly apropos to bow making, as they are made of maple and should be straight grained and preferably oriented as quartersawn front to back.
They flex a lot more than it appears.
You really know what you are doing and offer good solid advice. Thanks for the great video. I learned a lot!
Thank you sir!
I'm excited for this series. I've built exactly one bow before and it was a board bow. Works great but I'm ready to build another finally. Your timing is impeccable for me.
Great, hope you find it helpful
@@SwiftwoodBows
Please let me know the board length, Thickness and width
Watched all the ads. Hope that helps. Keep it up!
Explaining grain of a board and how it relates to a tree, log, or stave is challenging. You pulled it off. Including examples of good boards of different species is useful too. Yes the medullary rays of red oak can throw the new bow builder for bit of confusion loop. Good boards make good bows. Will be looking forward to the subsequent installments!
Thank you, Michael. Appreciate your feedback.
I'm so glad you decided to do this. I've spent the last year or so looking for a good source for staves and have nothing. If I can start with boards while I'm still looking that's awesome. Thank you very much. Keep up the awesome content. Looking forward to making some bows!
Thank you, glad it's helpful. I know how hard it can be to get good staves. Don't give up
I got making bows about ten years ago. I read all I could, watched all the videos I could. So I bought a good board from Home Depot. It had a good straight grain from end to end, it was red oak. I showed a picture of it on a Facebook bow making group and instead of support, I got shit. I was told it would break, it was garbage, I wasted my money, etc. So, I chopped that board into firewood and burned it that winter. I was so discouraged I haven’t tried to build a bow since. I lost interest. But I am slowly wanting to try again.
Sorry to hear that you got such a negative reception. That would be really discouraging. The community on the Primitive Archer forums has always been very friendly and supportive. I hope you can work up the motivation to give it another try, making bows is very rewarding. Good luck
Thanks a lot for this series.My first bow build failed miserabaly but ya got to break a few eggs to make an omelette!. Ive started today on a spotted gum board(similar to hickory).Great fun and a huge learning curve.Keep up the great work.Cheers
Don't sweat it about spending time about wood selection. It's the reason I logged on.
I have some ash that I cut into rails for a project about 10 years ago and never made them into anything so I think I will start with one of those.
Just trying to decide flat or quarter before I start.
I have a Restore store in my neighborhood. It is basically an architectural salvage store run by Habitat for Humanity.
I go there when I need a specific type or piece of wood and don't want to go down to the hardwood shop or don't want to break out another fifty.
I absolutely agree with your sentiments about drywall tape backing. I was a recipient of this advice starting out and backed a bow with 3 layers of drywall tape. The grain ran off in the handle and I was making a full compass bow. It failed right in the handle at the final stages of tillering at like 30 inches. The drywall tape didn't prevent the failure, but it DID keep the bow in one piece. It would have exploded without the tape and thrown pieces everywhere, but because of the tape, it just snapped and sagged on the tiller stand. Basically, good grain is a must, and all drywall tape does is contain the fragments when a bad grain board bow explodes.
That's a good example, thanks for sharing. In my opinion, there are far more attractive materials that you can put on a stave to keep pieces from blowing everywhere when a bow breaks. That's all anything will do short of laminating a wood or bamboo backing onto a board. Even then, it's best to have decent grain in the belly wood, it's just slightly less critical.
This is so helpful. Thanks alot. So a stave bow bends with the grains stacked upon each other whereas in board bow the grains will bend beside each other?
Great video. Thank you. Waiting for other parts.
you're welcome. The next video should be up soon. I'm editing now.
Great Video's .Very informative trying to get bow wood in the UK is very hard even Boards are hard to find .Cheaper to buy a bow
Another thing you could buy to get the wood is a nice oak banister rail, of course paying attention to grain orientation.
Great video! Thanks for putting it out !
You're welcome. Glad it was helpful
Here In idaho, the local home Depot and Lowes Olney offer red oak, walnut, and sometimes maple. That's mostly what has deterred me from dropping 30$ and breaking it. I was gonna try a pice of walnut once but I started stressing it a little and snap, right there in the store.
Always kinda made me nervous to stand on the board on the scaffolding working concrete.
At some point I will definitely try a board bow.
some places it's harder to find a good board, that's for sure. Just be paitient and get in the habit of perusing the boards any time you're in a place with lumber. eventually you'll find the right piece and it will be worth the wait. Good luck
Thank you for this great explanation!
You're welcome!
While this is an older video, I'll add my 2 cents. This video would benefit from a few simple paper diagrams emphasizing what you are talking about. Then, the visual examples would be readily understood by more people.
I made hickory bows for my children from a hickory board. They worked well until they grew a bit. A backing became necessary as they started to reach a "max draw" on the bows. Plus, I noticed that the backing strengthened the draw weight from about 20 pounds to about 26 pounds.
While a backing might not be "worthwhile" for a bowyer using staves, I will state quite firmly that board bows NEED a backing (lMO). Agree that fiberglass drywall tape is a poor choice. Fiberglass matting works OK. Rawhide works OK (dog chews work, but are cooked and lose a lot in the process). Even 100% silk (say from a silk tie) makes a pretty good backing. Of course you can always choose the original sinew backing.
Overall - thumbs-up 👍
Great video Weylin!
Thanks, Ryan!
Nice work, your videos have inspired me to build my first bow. A question, does the back of a board bow have to use the flat of the growth ring as the back, or can you use one cut so that the rings are upright. Proviided that they are straight for the length of the bow. I have a good thick Ash board , it has straight rings but are at angle to how the board is cut. Thanks, Rex
Just Subscribed! Love this, looking forward to more!
Thanks! Welcome aboard. Hopefully I can get the next one out soon.
This is by far the best How to-videos on bow builds on TH-cam. One thing i can't pick up though is how to choose the bows back. Are you choosing the top annual ring, or does than not matter? My access to boards is limited, so I have to order it from lumber mills, and i dont really know what to ask for in a board.
Thank you. Glad it was helpful. If you have a board with straight grain on all faces then it really won't matter too much which side is the back. I wish you luck ordering your boards. I understand your limitations, but there is a good probability that you will get boards with unsuitable grain. It can take a lot of time to pick through a stack of boards to find just one that will work even when you know exactly what to look for. It's unlikely that a paid employee is going to be able/willing to take that time and care.
But does it matter if the grains are laying or standing? If you get what I mean?
@@larsstensvold1146 it doesn't matter if the board is flatsawn, riftsawn or quarter sawn. They will all make a good bow as long as the grain is passing straight through the board. I talk about the different orientations some in the first video and have an example of each.
Thank you for your answers, they have been of great help. I’m currently in contact with a friend who lives in south-Finland. I’ve sent some of your instructions to him, maybe he will find me a board or two.
Again, thanks for your your replies.
@@larsstensvold1146 you're welcome. Good luck
What about Burch is that a good would for making bows?
Any ideas about using eastern cedar.
I know when aged it is very hard wood
New to this , but I have to ask this question. which is best, should the grain of the blank be flatsawn or horizontal with the bow blank? Or should the grain be vertical to the bow blank? To me the vertical grain would be stronger but perhaps too hard to bend when pulling back. Thanks for your answers.
If I find a board with sapwood would it be worth it to include it as the back of the bow?
Great video, I feel confident in picking a board now :)
With most white woods either sapwood or Heartwood is fine but I'd say ideally your board should have one or the other because they can have slightly different properties that could make tillering difficult. If you happen to find one that gives you a natural and consistent backing of sapwood then that would be fine but a board like that would be pretty rare.
@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you for the fast reply! :)
Thank you VERY MUCH !
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful
Got a question about using a thick dowel rod 12ft since its rounded how would you check the grain on it?
You should still be able to see if the grain is running straight through or if it's running off. You only need it straight of the length of the bow so if there is a section that is better, then use that part.
I don't understand how a quarter sawn board could be used since the grain is perpendicular to the back. Will the board bend?
I understand how it seems strange at first glance but it does bend and it does hold together just fine.
How critical is the grain on a board bow if you were to laminate both the back and belly with fiberglass? I'm wanting to give bow making a try and was curious.
Making a fiberglass bow is a totally different project than what I'm showing here. In that case the wood is basically filler and the fiberglass is doing all of the tension and compression work. I'm sure there are many good videos showing that process but my practical knowledge about it is fairly limited. Fiberglass bow making will require a fair bit more tools and equipment than what I'm showing here, so that is one thing to consider. I would look up a video on it and see what's involved and then decide which direction you want to go. Good luck
@@SwiftwoodBows I was just curious about the idea of it and wasn't sure how hard it would be. I'll probably just make a self bow as your making in your video. I have access to both hard maple and hickory boards, which in your opinion would be the most forgiving choice for a newbie? Thanks for your response.
@@adamarthur9672 the one with the better grain. 😁 If I had to choose I'd say hickory but hard maple is good bow wood too. Won't go wrong with either. Just be super picky about the grain. That will set you up for success.
What about boards that are bowed slightly. Should you go with the bow or against it?
Better to go against it so that it provides a small degree of natural reflex.
Hey, buddy, what's the best kind of wood to make a bow?
Did you even watch the video?
First bow: I use Poplar, inexpensive, easy to work, fairly hard and I can make all the mistakes that "will" happen without wasting good bow wood!
hola, tenes planos que contengan las medidas del arco? gracias.
If you're giving it a fiberglass backing does the grain matter as much?
If you're making a fiberglass bow you will approach this entire process differently. I wouldn't use this video for making a fiberglass bow.
So why no need to chase a growth ring on a board ? Why all the fuss with ring chasing and snake following on staves if on boards grain can have some run off or what would be called "ring violation" on a stave . . The only board I would have used is the one that was fat enough to chase a ring like a stave , I would have thought the others would have exploded but I know Jack sht .. I'm new to this so how do these boards hold up with ready violated backs ?
Those are excellent questions. You can chase a ring on a board if it will let you, then you will essentially have a stave. Depending on the wood type and the design you could make a good bow out of a stave with violations, there are many examples of Native American bows that have violated backs. The question there is why would you intentionally violate a stave if you didn't need to. The most common practical application of intentionally violating a stave is decrowning, cutting away the high crown of a narrow stave to give it a wider flat back. This is essentially turning a stave into a board. So there is some flexibility both ways, if that makes sense.
@@SwiftwoodBows interesting stuff , makes me think that chasing a ring may be an exclusive thing to certain woods in stave form ,perhaps osage ? Just a guess as I have heard osage pretty much always needs a ring chase unless hard \sinew backing but again in may be wrong.. What I do know from my own experience is a yew stave I have harvested from Scotland has had the sapwood violated to take it to an even thickness to make an English style longbow pulling 80lb @28" I have heard that although yew and osage are very similar , yew is more forgiving and the rings can be violated on the back without backing .. Perhaps self bowyers worry too much about chasing rings and snakes on staves ? Next time I cut a snakey yew stave and get an even split I will attempt a pair of bows, one following the rings and contours perfectly on the back/sapwood and sides to make a snakey single ring back bow and the other a bow with a violated back and the sides squared and cut straight regardless of grain .pretty sure yew is going to hold up regardless , don't have the luxury to try osage so perhaps one of you guys would be in for the experiment ? Thanks for your reply it's opening can of worms😂
@@captainflint8412 ah yes. Yew is a good example of a bow that can break the rules on a violated back. The structure between the rings is much more homogeneous on yew compared to Osage. As long as the yew has a consistent thickness violations in the sapwood are pretty harmless.
Great videos. You've earned yourself a new subscriber. I am only just getting into making self bows and I don't even know where to start to get good staves where I am here in Australia. So this Board Bow series is perfect. I have White Ash growing wild near me apparently thats one of the best woods down under for bows. I'll have to make my own staves.
Question in regards to the grain running off the board: Once you have cut out the bow shape, will it not have grain running off? This puzzles me. Or is this more about using the grain as a guide to getting the best overall board from the start, with as straight a grain as possible, tip to tip, rather than worrying about the grain actually running off the bow?
Generally speaking, the limbs of a selfbow should be only one growth ring, a handle section is an exception.
I recommend watching this:
th-cam.com/video/V3v8mvqR8DU/w-d-xo.html
what is the life of these kind of bows? I mean, will they become harder and brittle in time?
A well designed, well tillered and well cared for self bow should last for a long time, even a lifetime.
Did I miss the dimensions? Is that a 1x4x8?
I can't remember if I mentioned it or not. It was definitely 1" thick. I think I bought 1x6x8 and ripped into to two bow worthy boards.
What are good board dimensions?
It depends on what you do with the handle and how heavy you want your draw weight. I think a reasonable minimum is 1.5"x.5". You'll need to build up the handle unless you're doing a bend through the handle. A board that is 3"x1" will give you a lot more options.
@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you so much! Great video
I did it with the Woodglut plans.
My adventure with woodworking began with projects from woodglut.
So I have heard a couple things that don't make sense to me. I was told you can make a board bow with a straight grain board that will need no backing. Yet when chasing a ring on a stave, you are told not to violate that integrity. Seems like one or the other is lying a bit.
Well, they are both true in the sense that following an intact growth ring on a stave is ideal, but not everyone has access to seasoned staves and a board with straight grain will serve fine as a selfbow. Different wood species respond differently to violations as well. Osage doesn't do well with violations but yew can tolerate it fairly well.
@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you for the reply. I really appreciate it. Just getting into this and that is the one thing I was having trouble wrapping my head around.
Does this mean for instance that you could decrown a yew bow, but not an osage (without backing)?
Also, just found and love your content. I am going to get a few staves drying out this year and I think maybe make a board bow or two while I wait.
@@abcxyz9643 you're welcome, glad you're finding it helpful. Decrowning is a little different. On yew, I regularly reduce the thickness of the sapwood but it's not exactly decrowning because I'm maintaining the shape of the back. Of you decrowned it you would be reavealing the heartwood and that wouldn't have as much integrity, though I still think it could be done. I don't have much experience decrowning so I can't say with confidence what types of wood handle it better than others. But basically a good board is just a commercially decrowned stave.
poplar is the best wood for bows! osage is snake oil! second best is balsa!! im a doctor dont disagree or youll be imprissoned
Poplar is horrible it’s a soft wood
@@thecarnut9899 im a doctor!
@@DogsaladSalad of what?
@@devinm.6149 bullshit
@@DogsaladSalad hm...