Been busy in the shop
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
I really like the way lung blood stains white feathers.
Hard to believe I have not updated this thread in almost two years. I have had no possibility for shop time for the last two bow building seasons because of health and family issues. That is not going to be the case come next February. I have a few unfinished bows aching to get made. Time to get busy in the shop again.
Wiley E Coyote
Active Member
Good morning! This is the first time I have seen this thread and look forward too following and and reading the previous pages!
I've been a little under the weather for a few days, so I have not even considered running the dogs. I've been working in the shop some sorting out all the wood, bamboo, partially made bows and such that I collected from my mentors shop over a year ago. Sorting out what is bow material and what is firewood. Aside from some serious table saw and drum sander work to reduce some large 8/4 osage boards to useable material, I have it mostly done. I also went to work on making a new jig for splicing board billets together for bamboo backed osage bows. It is way easier to get two 3 foot pieces of high quality osage than one 6 foot piece, so billets are usually more desirable and abundant, whether board stock or split staves. I have a fuckton of osage board stock in billet form. I have searched the internet and could not find hardly any information about "Z" splices, and exactly none on how to make a jig for cutting them with a band saw. I have cut many of them free hand with a band saw, and it works ok, but to be able to cut them quickly and more exactly will be a big time saver and produce better glue joints with less fussing over making the pieces fit. With a jig, it is perfect, or near enough so every time. I had to make one up on my own. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
The way it works is more like a sled that rides on the band saw table. You have to make three cuts for the Z splice. The numbered holes are for the three different positions the fence sits in on the sled. #1 is a straight cut down the middle (or nearly so) of the stock, #2 and #3 are parallel angled cuts. The fence is held in each position with the bent steel rod pins, which simply pull in and out of the fence/sled to move the fence. I attached a carefully fit piece of osage to the bottom of the jig that rides in the miter slot on the saw table to guide the movement of the sled which is only straight back and forth.
Whenever i cut Z splices I always stack the two pieces to be cut and cut them at the same time. It would be fine to cut them separately with this jig, but would take twice as long. After they are cut, the two pieces are exactly the same, and when one is turned 180 degrees it is a mirror image of the other, and that is how they fit together. This splice is only 4" long but creates 12" of gluing surface. Only a W splice provides more (16"), and that is how I usually join split billets for selfbows.
The two pieces loaded on the fence and held in place firmly with two toggle clamps with the depth of the first cut marked. The first cut is the straight cut. This is scrap board stock and about 1/4" more narrow than what I would normally be cutting. It is off center because of that.
The way it works is more like a sled that rides on the band saw table. You have to make three cuts for the Z splice. The numbered holes are for the three different positions the fence sits in on the sled. #1 is a straight cut down the middle (or nearly so) of the stock, #2 and #3 are parallel angled cuts. The fence is held in each position with the bent steel rod pins, which simply pull in and out of the fence/sled to move the fence. I attached a carefully fit piece of osage to the bottom of the jig that rides in the miter slot on the saw table to guide the movement of the sled which is only straight back and forth.
Whenever i cut Z splices I always stack the two pieces to be cut and cut them at the same time. It would be fine to cut them separately with this jig, but would take twice as long. After they are cut, the two pieces are exactly the same, and when one is turned 180 degrees it is a mirror image of the other, and that is how they fit together. This splice is only 4" long but creates 12" of gluing surface. Only a W splice provides more (16"), and that is how I usually join split billets for selfbows.
The two pieces loaded on the fence and held in place firmly with two toggle clamps with the depth of the first cut marked. The first cut is the straight cut. This is scrap board stock and about 1/4" more narrow than what I would normally be cutting. It is off center because of that.
The fence is moved to the second position and the cut is made.
The fence is moved to the last position and the cut is made.
The fence is moved to the last position and the cut is made.
I can tighten the fit if necessary by trimming the pointy ends a tiny bit at these two spots. By tiny, I mean 1/16" or so. Does not take much.
Cool stuff Jamie! Fun to follow along on your work.
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So this joint is in the handle portion of the bow?
you’re a craftsman my friend.
you’re a craftsman my friend.
Yes. Billets always joined at the handle area. No other way to do it with wooden bows. These splices are much more critical on selfbows. On BBO's, bamboo glued on one side and a riser section on the other, so the splice is sandwiched between those for lots of extra support.
Thanks.
Lol, I cobbled this thing together from scrap birch veneer plywood and pvc trim. I did have to buy the toggle clamps, though. I have no idea why I even had a 2' piece of 3/16" steel rod, but I'm glad I saved it.
Building a privacy fence is hard work that just happens to involve wood. Not to be confused with the leisurely woodworking we actually enjoy doing.
I have to say it has been very nice being in the shop working on stuff again. Lots of bows to build once the rest of the osage stock I inherited is reduced and put up. I won't live long enough to use all of it.
I have to say it has been very nice being in the shop working on stuff again. Lots of bows to build once the rest of the osage stock I inherited is reduced and put up. I won't live long enough to use all of it.
I spent a couple hours running my pathetic excuse for a table saw this morning. The 45+ year old middle grade Craftsman hand-me-down table saw with no real way to utilize dust control is just about to be sent away. It is hard for me to justify buying a large, powerful professional quality table saw for no more than I use one, but when I do use one, it is almost always sawing or resawing heavy osage stock. 2 1/2" thick osage is hard on any table saw. My poor old Sears saw was crying out in agony today, lol, but I got a good start on what I have to cut up, cull, and thickness sand.
These three boards were rough sawn with a circular sawmill, and they were really rough and extremely darkened from age. I ran them through the drum sander just enough to be able to see the grain and any pin knots or other defects. I ripped them up with the table saw, and I will re-saw the 5 billets on the left with my band saw to reduce the amount of wood lost to the blade, producing 5 pairs of really nice sister board billets. The four from the board on the left are only 60" long, so I will cut the four best billets that I can out of them and have two more pairs or sister or first cousin billets. This board was not thick enough for me to be able to re-saw.
These two very thick boards were sawn at a bandsaw mill, and not nearly as rough on the outside. I slabbed the short board so that I can resaw all four of those into at least four quarter sawn billets each. One of those short slabs is riddled with wind shakes, so I'll cut that one up for riser sections and not try to get any core material. The longer board is 70", and that is plenty long enough for any bows I make. There is quite a lot of waste in both of these boards. Out of the 8 slabs I cut from the long board I'll get one or two full length bow cores and several pairs of quarter sawn billets after I cut around all the knots and some wind shakes.
I think I'm about 20% done. Much of this is firewood, quite a bit will only be good for handles, but this is still a pretty huge amount of bow wood. All said and done, I should get at least 30-40 bows worth of quality core material and handles. And a bunch of nice kindling.
These three boards were rough sawn with a circular sawmill, and they were really rough and extremely darkened from age. I ran them through the drum sander just enough to be able to see the grain and any pin knots or other defects. I ripped them up with the table saw, and I will re-saw the 5 billets on the left with my band saw to reduce the amount of wood lost to the blade, producing 5 pairs of really nice sister board billets. The four from the board on the left are only 60" long, so I will cut the four best billets that I can out of them and have two more pairs or sister or first cousin billets. This board was not thick enough for me to be able to re-saw.
These two very thick boards were sawn at a bandsaw mill, and not nearly as rough on the outside. I slabbed the short board so that I can resaw all four of those into at least four quarter sawn billets each. One of those short slabs is riddled with wind shakes, so I'll cut that one up for riser sections and not try to get any core material. The longer board is 70", and that is plenty long enough for any bows I make. There is quite a lot of waste in both of these boards. Out of the 8 slabs I cut from the long board I'll get one or two full length bow cores and several pairs of quarter sawn billets after I cut around all the knots and some wind shakes.
I think I'm about 20% done. Much of this is firewood, quite a bit will only be good for handles, but this is still a pretty huge amount of bow wood. All said and done, I should get at least 30-40 bows worth of quality core material and handles. And a bunch of nice kindling.
The old Craftsman stood tall this week, lol. I'm pretty sure I have never in over 20 years run this saw so hard. I cut a whole bunch of stuff around 1 3/4" to 2" thick, including some resawing to produce the most quarter sawn core material that I could manage. I guess they made middle grade tools way better 50 years ago than they do today, and I have a good blade on it and have it tuned as well as I know how. The worst thing about this saw is the open stand and no way for real dust collection. I rigged it up as best I could, and it did work, but that much cutting in my little shop still made a horrific mess. I'm glad that is over and must confess that I started shopping for a new table saw a week ago. Since I may never ever cut up Osage like this again in my lifetime, I think I'll live with the antique Sears saw at least until we move into our forever home and I can put together a real wood shop.
This was a really big score, and the third or fourth time I have put up this amount of bow wood. The other times involved me and friends cutting down trees and visiting a bandsaw mill, too. I wound up with enough riser chunks for 29 handles, 12 full length cores, and 26 pairs of billets, all but one of which are "sister" billets, meaning they were one piece of wood that I cut into two pieces and keep them together. They are as alike as is physically possible, which creates more homogeneity in the core material, which is very desirable. This is desirable because every tree is different, and even two slats from different parts of the same tree trunk can behave quite differently when you start making a bow out of them, thereby complicating the tillering process.
Thickness sander is a very valuable and handy tool to have when reducing board stock to usable core material. Cleans up saw marks very nicely and allows for very precise thicknessing if necessary. That is only necessary for me when I taper the core material before gluing up. I employ a micrometer when I'm tapering the cores. .015" or .020" in thickness can make a big difference if you are trying to make a bow of certain poundage.
This was a really big score, and the third or fourth time I have put up this amount of bow wood. The other times involved me and friends cutting down trees and visiting a bandsaw mill, too. I wound up with enough riser chunks for 29 handles, 12 full length cores, and 26 pairs of billets, all but one of which are "sister" billets, meaning they were one piece of wood that I cut into two pieces and keep them together. They are as alike as is physically possible, which creates more homogeneity in the core material, which is very desirable. This is desirable because every tree is different, and even two slats from different parts of the same tree trunk can behave quite differently when you start making a bow out of them, thereby complicating the tillering process.
Thickness sander is a very valuable and handy tool to have when reducing board stock to usable core material. Cleans up saw marks very nicely and allows for very precise thicknessing if necessary. That is only necessary for me when I taper the core material before gluing up. I employ a micrometer when I'm tapering the cores. .015" or .020" in thickness can make a big difference if you are trying to make a bow of certain poundage.
Osage definitely makes a saw work!
Looks like you are set for awhile
time to go kill some squirrels before the season ends
Looks like you are set for awhile
time to go kill some squirrels before the season ends
Greg, I have a truly obscene glut of quality bow wood now. Far more than I have ever had at one time. I still have some board stock and selfbow blanks that I cut myself out by the airport back in 1996, plus some stuff that you and I cut, plus some stuff that Eric and I cut, plus some stuff that Dean and I cut. I have been continually culling questionable material for a long time. It is nice to not have to use marginal stock because it is all I have. Isn't it about time for you to make a few more bows? My glut of materials also includes a variety of excellent flat bamboo. Come and get some.
I literally have a wheelbarrow full, and half again as much laying on the floor, of scrap board stock from what I've been working on. Good dry Osage in the wood burner in this kind of weather is just plain wonderful.
I literally have a wheelbarrow full, and half again as much laying on the floor, of scrap board stock from what I've been working on. Good dry Osage in the wood burner in this kind of weather is just plain wonderful.
Yes I think it is time to build a few bows!
I actually spent yesterday in the shop finishing up a couple small projects
I actually spent yesterday in the shop finishing up a couple small projects