Woodworkers help if you can

T

Temper

Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
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Guys,
I have obtained a nice piece of Cherry wood (Specifically Cherry Blossom) that was cut down after a car hit it. I have split it so make a small bow with the intention of making a larger one from the other split half if I don't FUBAR this too much (1st attempt) It is now about 4ft x 4" x 2" (The full size is about 10') and smoothed down. One side has the round of the trunk so these measurements are not really 'sawn' sizes.

As its nearly spring and sap is plentyful it is obviously very wet. So, here is the question.

How can I stop it from splitting/cracking from now on. I intend to leave it outside in a cool, shaded place. Are there any sneaky tricks to ensure that it wont split or warp?
 
Temper,

I am no woodworker, but I shape quite a few quarter staves, jo sticks and am very slowly working on a bow. Mine is hickory.

I have found that if you stand the wood vertically, with one end on the ground, that ground end will split. I have had best results with the pain in the butt process of hanging the wood vertically, making sure that no part of the wood in contact with a wall or the ground.

I have had so-so results with banding both ends of the wood tightly to prevent losing the last few inches of the ends to splitting.

I don't store outside, as temp and humidity vary too much in my neck of the woods. You also might want to invest in a moisture meter, they aren't too much. Any cabinet maker supply center will have them.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
Thanks Jeff, I was actually considering suspending it so I may bring it in and hang it under the stairs. I actually took it down to about 2" square so I'm hoping that it will dry at a consistent rate and not change too much. Next on the agenda is to make a draw knife to work it with as I am trying to do all the work with as basic a hand tool as I can. I split it using wooded wedges and a small cold chisel to start it off. I rough hewed it with a carpenters axe and hope to get a Nicholson (W2) file annealed tonight so that I can work on the edge, heat treat and temper tomorrow (all done in a biscuit tin full of kitty litter :) )
 
Temper,

You are way beyond me in the "do it yourself" catagory ! I really like the idea of making your own draw knife, but that's beyond my technical ability at this stage in the game.

If I was living in Japan, I would certainly visit a Japanese wood crafter supply house. I have seen some of those Japanese wood working tools and been blown away by their quality.

Post some pics of the draw knife and the bow, when they are complete, please.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
gallowglass said:
Temper,

You are way beyond me in the "do it yourself" catagory ! I really like the idea of making your own draw knife, but that's beyond my technical ability at this stage in the game.
Click to expand...

This is necessitated by thrif ;)

My biggest concern with the draw knife will be warping after the initial heat treat, but it could actually be to my benefit. As the spine will be thicker the blade in my crude quench will cause it to curve away from me if I am using the D.K. I just hope I can keep it flat and get the temper right, last time I did a file it went to about 64Rc and it was insainly hard to sharpen although it did cut pretty well.

I took some pics but they are pretty crappy. I will post them anyway since I started. This could work out to be a pretty nice project if I dont get impatient and rush it.

Splitting the super wet log, its about 8' long here

splitting.jpg


Split and sawn off to about 4' to avoid pins and knots.

in-the-rough.jpg


This is the first time I have used this axe, its a lot heavier than you think after a while and my foream felt like it had just given birth to an elephant :)

rough-hew-done.jpg
 
take wood and paint both ends with a latex paint, does not matter what brand, the reason wood splits on the end is that the ends wick out the moisture first so they dry faster than the middle of the wood, causing stress that cracks the wood. then you need to place the wood in a dry spot in the house, and let it set for about a year or two to allow it to dry slowly. the thicker the wood the longer it takes. you want to let this wood dry down to a few percent or so so that it will be stable when you work it. just like a wood pile most say to cut and split then dry for two years befor burning. if you want to know how much moisture you need to get rid of by weight, take a 1 foot piece of the wood and place it in the oven at 250 degrees for 4 hours. weigh it before and after , the loss in weight will tell you how much moisture is in the wood .

alex
 
latex paint is good and so is wood glue to seal the end. At 2x2 the wood will dry much faster and checking can occur on the sides of the stave. I like to oil the stave on occasion to slow down the drying. Seems to work for me.
Also, if you're getting into making bows, cut wood every year so that you have cured wood all the time after the first year. It's kinda like knives, it gets addicting.
 
Alco141, nice link, thanks :thumbup:

I will give the ends a quick dunk in Linseed I think and maybe a quick wipe with a rag. I dont want to wait years though lol. I think it will be workable in a couple of months considering that it is only 2" square and 4' long.

Thanks all for the input.
 
I might also suggest dipping the ends in parafin (paint will work as stated earlier, I am just partial to parafin), and don't get in too much of a hurry to work the wood. Let it rest until dry.
 
you can not hurry the wood, if you work it while wet it will warp on you as it dries.
place it in fromt of a fan to get it to dry faster but you need to get it dry befor you work it, many a project has been wrecked by using poorly dried wood. try to place a piece in an oven so you will know when it is dry.

alex
 
A couple of points that I might be able to help with -
Careful you dion't dry out the cherry wood too much, try to avoid kiln drying and dry the timber relative to the humidity to the area it is going to be used.
Usually the sapwood becomes the back of the bow.
While shaping, if the grain dips down in the bowstave, then the bow should also be shaped to follow that curve.
The grain should also run straight along the length of the stave from end to end. If it curves up and down, then you have to alter the design to follow the grain. At all times, the back of the bow should follow the line of the grain and the front (belly) of the bow should follow the line of the back (with the appropriate tapering required). Likewise if there are any knots in the wood, you have to alter the design to allow slightly extra wood to go around and support the weaker knot wood (or 'pins').

I've extracted this information from alot of bow making information I've gathered over many years. Hope it helps.
 
Thanks guys, tell you what, I will take a decent pic of the wood as it is now. I also cut a 5' length that will be the main bow once I have had a chance to learn from my mistakes with this one :)

It needs dressing up a little, so as soon as I get the time I will smooth it down some and let you see the grain and offer suggestions if there are any to be made.

:thumbup:
 
dartanyon,
excellent post, i know some about wood, but good to have someone that knows about bow making.

alex
 
The advice about waxing, painting, or gluing the ends is all good. You can actually go directly to making the bow out of the wood without any drying. the Indians (etc..) didn't have tract home, latex, or a lot of time to wait, and like all our ancestors probably did the majority of their woodworking on wet wood. YOU just shape it to fairly close to it's final shape and then dry it before you start the stringing and tillering process. It can be foreced down to a very short period, I would have to check some books to get the numbers if you are interested.

48 is real short, be sure you have wide and thin limbs.

Check this guy's site

http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/archer.html
 
Presumably the 1 year he cites is for a regular stave. I am going to thin it down further and see how it feels. I think a rough shaping and a dab of Linseed oil will be a good compromise as I dont have the means to really accelerate the drying of the wood.
 
Protactical said:
48 is real short, be sure you have wide and thin limbs.
Click to expand...

This is only a practice bow, if all goes well I will use the longer sample to make a 'user'
 
Temper said:
Presumably the 1 year he cites is for a regular stave. I am going to thin it down further and see how it feels. I think a rough shaping and a dab of Linseed oil will be a good compromise as I dont have the means to really accelerate the drying of the wood.
Click to expand...

Temper, sometimes I put them into the car and leave them in there with the windows closed of couse, and it gets quite warm in there. Speeds things up when I'm impatient.:D Just keep an eye on it.
 
I am kind of juggling a few projects at the same time. I was working on a #13 hatchet today. I will have to get down to the store and pick up the charcoal I need to anneal the file I want to make a draw knife from. I think the weekend is the most likey candidate now for that but I may be able to squeexe it in tomorrow and have the draw knife done by the start of next week. Woo-hoo fire and steel, like a pig in sh*t :D
 
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