for the bowyers here

**oneraindog** · 11-12-2009, 04:44 PM

my primitive skills apprenticeship is now moving in to bow making. tuesday we drew numbers for picking staves and i got first.

i picked an ash stave that looks large enough to split in two for a piggy back bow which is nice.

what im trying NOT to do is regretting not picking a nice vine maple stave.

i would like to hear any thoughts on the pro's and cons of ash and what to expect or be wary of in the bow making. i would also love to hear that i made a good choice haha. or if i SHOULD regret not picking the maple

there is also some twist to the stave. propeller twist i think it is called. does that get straightened out or does a bow always have that if it starts that way?

a million questions and i cant be calling my instructor every 5 minutes so im turning to you guys

**crashdive123** · 11-12-2009, 04:48 PM

ORD - no bowyer advice, but really looking forward to your progress. Check your in box - I sent you a pm that needs your attention.

**oneraindog** · 11-12-2009, 05:37 PM

thanks crash. sorry i wasnt paying attention to the prizes :/
but super stoked!

**FVR** · 11-12-2009, 07:30 PM

Vine maple and ash make good bows. If this is your first bow, I would not put to much on trying to maximize a stave.

First you need to decide what bow best fits ash. Do a little research, I've not made an ash bow although I know of many who have.

If this is your first bow, a prop. twist bow will def. be challenging.

Post a pic of the stave, lengthwise and a pic of the ends to show the rings so we can see what to comment on.

**oneraindog** · 11-12-2009, 08:39 PM

thanks for the info! i will post pics but it might not be for a couple weeks. the staves for all the students are kept at the instructors house where the work will be done and we are doing a survival trek and clam dig from tomorrow till next tuesday. so no work for a couple weeks.

ultimately i will definitely have a lot of guidance on the work, i was just looking for some immediate feedback to mentally prepare

**Rick** · 11-12-2009, 08:45 PM

If that's the case then tell the instructor the crooked stave isn't yours when he hands them back out. Just sayin'.........

**oneraindog** · 11-12-2009, 08:56 PM

partially i am just feeling insecure. i didnt review my notes before the picking and just sort of glazed over in awe while looking at the wood. if i had been more aware i would have picked straighter vine maple. i respect our instructor greatly and i feel like i could have made a more educated choice and that would have impressed him more.
i know that sounds dumb because it is all a learning experience. im just being hard on myself.

**FVR** · 11-12-2009, 09:24 PM

My thinking (which is somewhat strange) is that the stave you picked is the stave for you. You could have picked any piece of wood, why that one? Many times before I start working on a bow, I will pick the stave up, get the feel of it, inspect it, then put it down.

I will get an idea of the design and find a ring, or two, start roughing it out and just keep picking it up and looking for it. The stave will tell you what kind of bow it wants to be.

I may put the stave down for months at diff. stages. Some bows have taken me years to finish, others have taken a few days. Just depends.

I am working on an elm stave that I got from a construction site. Went down to the heartwood, was it worth it? I don't know but it was alot of work.

Now, the stave is behind the seat of the truck. It's roughed out and is ready to tiller. Top limb is super straight, bottom limb took a twist, turn, and well, let's just say that the limb nock will be designed so the string can twist on the bow.

Yeh, we'll see how that shoots.

Good Luck.

**NCO** · 11-12-2009, 09:28 PM

It's good to be hard to your self IMO. Thats how you learn, by admitting mistakes. At least it works for me. When I screw up and finally admit it to my self (not to anyone else of course) I will hate being an idiot again and never do the same mistake again.

Not saying that you made a mistake though, I know next to nothing when it comes to bow making...