Cutting a Hickory Stave Today

[countyroad]

My grandpa and I are heading down to his small piece of property today to cut some hickory staves. I really want to give this bow making a shot. I figure this is a good way to start and practice the building process. Of course it will have to do some drying.

Any recommendations from some of you more knowledgable builders is appreciated.

[Buckmaster]

How does one cut a stave? Straightness required? Length? Etc.

I too have some trees to take down for a driveway creation on some new property I have purchased. I'm in the thick of cutting down 8"-12" diameter shagbark hickory. They are coming down because they are in the way of future development. I might as well get some alternative use out of the trees other then simply firewood. My alternative trees are silver maple, pin oaks, beech, and cherry.

[JMH]

I am cutting some Osage Orange down this weekend for bow making. I have never done this before, but from what I have read is: Cut the tree down in the winter when the sap is down, let it age for a couple of months and then cut it into staves. The staves should be dried for a minimum of 2 years! Otherwise the bow will get stronger with age. You can use a band saw to cut them or I think most peolpe use wedges and sledges to split them out. You want the staves to be 6 inches longer than the bow you are making so that you can remove the splits ends. I am planning on making my staves about 6 feet long by 3 wide & 3 inches deep. That way I have some room for error when removing the would down to final size. You want straight knot free wood if possible, but I understand its rear to get a perfect peice.

[coonskinner]

get a good book on it ,i know 3 rivers archery has a lot of books on making bows,i dont know about backtobasicsbowhunting here in ohio...new techniques do not require drying the staves for yrs...hickory is a real good wood especially for a 1st bow...if you make the stave into a roughed out bow,almost to finished dementions,let it dry 30 days in a warm room in the house...then take your sweet time doing a good job finishing the bow...chances are it will be dried bout right...thinner wood dries faster than thick wood...as for winter cut or summer,i cut most of mine in spring /early summer when the bark is very moist and it falls off in one big piece...in winter the bark is nearly impossible to get off...but this dont mean a big problem if you know what youre doing...get a book...remember if you are using osage or yew,get a book that deals primary with them...and for all the whitwoods,hickory,walnut,locust etc...try a book dealing with whiewoods...thees easy simple ways to make a wood bow by these books...

[JMH]

The book I have is by Jim Hamm, its a good read, but I have nothing to compare it too. It talks about various woods but seems to have angle towards Osage.

Coonskinner - Have you ever backed any of your bows with sinew?

[coonskinner]

hamms book is great...for osage,i backed my 1st bow with sinyew and do not believe its really worth the hassel...i have made too many good bows without it...for whitwood bows paul comstock has one called the bent stick...very good book...whitewood bows in most cases are the easiest to make...you can peel off the bark and what you see is the back of the bow already establishef,whereas with osage and yew you have to do a lot of drawkniving and removing wood to establisg one growthring the length of the bow on the back...:)

[coonskinner]

my tools consist of,chainsaw,axe,wedge splitters(4),sledge hammer,broad ax,draw knife(6),many different sizes of rasps,including farriers rasps,small rat tail files,coping saw, scraper,scraper sharpener,12" ruler,xtra long bowstring(tiller string),tiller tree with 300# cabelas scale for weighing bows...it hooks up to cable on tiller tree.thickness gauge...i do not sand my bows,i do the final work with the scraper...there are a lot of books on this and some can be had at the local library...i have yet to cut a live tree for bow woods,plenty of fresh downed trees available...aging a tree for yrs. is not neccessary...a bow can be made within a month or 2 by todays methods...using freshly cut trees...many of the already downed trees i have used are already dried and ready...take your time,resist the urge to get in a hurry to get done...:)

[countyroad]

I'm looking at getting Billets to Bows. I wanted to use an already dead tree, but my grandpa said he didn't have any and he wanted to cut this tree down. I didn't want to argue with him. LOL Right now I have 4, 80" hickory logs sitting in my basement

[coonskinner]

i got that video,i really dont use that method,they make yew bows...but it is where i learned how to make my tillering tree...i make my bows out of one pc...hickory has nice/clean straight long pcs of wood which is not true of yew and osage where billets are used more often because its hard to get a straight pc. of wood over 4'...with a book bows are really not that hard to build if you just take your time...making that center line the length of the stave right from the start is very important to get a perfectly straight bow that has the bowstring tracking perfectly down the center of the limbs and handle...the whole bow design is made from that center line!!!

[Bucksnort]

Countryroad, Seal the ends of that log to prevent checking. Get Paul Comstock's book The Bent Stick. The book is about making bows from whitewoods witch hickory is. Hickory dries very slow, the wood will want to dry down to 8-9% moisture content before you start to bend the wood or you will get set in the limbs. I have made 2 hickory bows 1 broke and 1 shooter low in poundage.Get on stickbow.com or tradgang.com good guys they will lead you in the right direction. Tradgang has build-alongs that will take you step by step that is where I would start. Duane

[coonskinner]

i usually seal the ends too,but a lil thing i come up with on my own is cut the log bout 8' long...glue or no glue ...the splits will not get into the wood that you use where the tips will be...even seven ' is prolly long enough...hickory will hold on to moisture...and have terible string follow after shooting it...i like to work mine til almost done or just a roughed out bow and let it sit for a year...but prolly a month or 2 will be ok...then slowly do the final shaping and tillering then stain and seal the bow...i like also to shoot the bow a bit before doing the stain and seal,sometimes a month...but a few days would be ok...just to see if the giblet will hold up an if the tiller changes any...:)