Any New Bows??

[biggame]

Check your PM Pointy Sticks

[ironfistcanada]

Acylics huh? Interesting. What good looking arrows. Do you use Duco?? to glue on your fletching? I am impressed to say the least Sheldon they sure are beauts. John. p.s. got my membership card today thanks John.

[POINTY STICKS]

Yup John nothing but duco, and after I've ground the quill off the feathers it's almost impossible to tear a fletch off.

[ironfistcanada]

Pointy when you paint on your crown do you spin it on or brush it on?. I use acrylics also but do not have the success that you do .Also it tends to form a buildup, how do you avoid thisand still get good coverage. I have seen very nice arrows painted crowned and crested with acrylics. Bernie MacLennan from CB does some really nice work with them. I wonder if I can get Bernie to post some pics of his work. I will try. John.

[POINTY STICKS]

Ironfist, I'll tell you what I've learned so far. I spin the shafts in the crester. Mark off the area you want to cover. I usually use a pencil line. Use a extra fine brush and put a narrow strip at each end( make sure if using water base that your brush is wet when you start, the paint will flow better).

Now that you have an even line on each end you can get a wider brush ( I use 1/2 inch) wet it , remove extra water get your paint color on it, spin shaft and start painting. I find it best to start in from the ends and draw the paint out to the lines you've already painted. This will help eliminate the ridges you mentioned. I usually mark off all areas to be painted and put a base coat of white in all areas. Next I'll add a color coat over the white. The rest is all left to imagination and a steady hand.

Good luck, and if you have any more question don't be shy. I'm going to start trying using my airbrush in the near future to see what that looks like.

[ironfistcanada]

Okay Pointy thanks. Should be able to make some nice flames and stuff with an airbrush. post em when you make em. John.

[POINTY STICKS]

FLAMES............... ;D, now thats an idea , um maybe not, I get enough flames on them as they come off my bow. Heck thats why they never hit the target where I want, they burn up along the way. ;D

[alpo]

How much "character" will a yellow birch selfbow tolerate ? And what design works best with this breed of wood ? the stave is about 64" long x 4" wide, but the bark had hidden a bit more of a rolling hills type back than the nicely crowned bark I removed.

[archeryman57]

Yellow birch is one of our better woods. Tough and stringy. 1-3/4" wide So you could possibly get two bows from a four inch stave. When you talk about rolling hills I would say to use the thin spots as your registration points. I bet that you could decrown the back and not be a problem. But you might feel safer if you back it. 64" with long working limbs is an over-built bow. What draw length and weight are you making? These are the stress factors. We love the "character" bows.

[pointy sticks]

Alpo I believe that yellow birch and horn beam are very closely related. I am under the understanding that it is a very good bow wood, and reacts similar to hornbeam

[ironfistcanada]

Was out scraping Hornbeam today got a nice one on the go . Should come out at around #50 and a Mik Maq to boot. Any body got any small antler pieces they dont want. All mine are big chunks and they need a lot of filing. They arent as attractive as natural spikes.

[biggame]

How is Hornbeam to work with IF? The bow I made was ash. Is hornbeam a far superior wood?

[ironfistcanada]

Ash is a much easier wood to work with Big Game its a good beginner wood. Hop Hornbeam is a much denser wood with very tight slow growth rings. You can work Hornbeam at lower moisture levels. Its harder to work but in my opinion the best white wood we have here in N.S. I have seen some nice Yellow Birch bows and I have yet to try this wood. One of the best selfbows I have seen was made from Yellow Birch. Grab a Stave and give it a try. Old Sticks must have a few chunks of that hidden up there. ;D

[biggame]

Do you use power tools or hand tools when making your bows IF? We used hand tools in New Annen, but power tools with Sticks and the crew. There is no comparision for speed.

[ironfistcanada]

The only power tool I use is a drill for dowelling my Penobscot and Mik Maq bows at the handle. Thats what I choose to do. If I had a bigger band saw I would use that. But I use a lot of hand sawing and chiseling. Nothing wrong with power tools.