Tuesday 26 June 2012

Another try with Hornbeam


I wanted to try a different wood from the usual Yew and Hazel, my previous attempt with Hornbeam broke where I'd tried to straightenout a big sideways bend.
This time I'm letting the stave dictate the bow, it has a huge natural reflex which a bit of deflex at one end. It's fairly short and wobbly too, so should be a challenge. My bandsaw blade snapped (it was getting a bit blunt) so I've gone back to basics and am using my axe. Oddly the bandsaw doesn't like the Hornbeam, it's heavy and dense and gives off a sweetish slightly cloying scent a bit like cow parsley or Sweet Chestnut as the saw blade struggles to cut through it. The axe seems to love it though! I had visions on sore fingers, tennis elbow and blisters, but I've been chopping away at the back outdoors enjoying a bit of sunshine with no ill effects. In the picture on the right my finger shows about where the tip of the bow will be the very end which kinks to the right being sawn off. The first pic shows that I need to weed the patio, hmnm maybe that would be a good name for a gardening based computer game?... don't spose it'd catch on, more a pull 'em up rather than a shoot 'em up. Final pic shows my progress so far. I'll make it fairly wide an flat to allow for the huge bend needed to even get to brace height, maybe I can end up with a high initial draw weight which then increases slow and smooth? Who knows, we'll see, and that's part of the attraction. I'm probably looking for about 40# which is a nice manageable weight.

9 comments:

  1. Will be interested to see how this turns out - what brand of axe do you use for your roughing out, Derek?

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  2. Its a Bahco axe, I like their tools, the steel is good and they are not too expensive. I use one of their rasps too, it's excellent.
    There is so much reflex on that stave I'll probably have to make it flex through the handle.

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  3. Cool, I want to pick up a new one - which one is it you use? I searched for 'Bahco Axe' on Google shopping and a fair few came up! haha

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  4. It's a BAHCO HGPS 0.6 360
    I went for a smallish fairly light axe, my old one is heavier and a strain on the elbows.

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  5. Ok brilliant - I'll pick myself up one of those. Do they come sharpened? Putting an edge on anything is one of those things i'm useless at. Hopefully that major reflex should mean a bow with fairly early draw weight that is really fast!

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  6. I think it had a reasonable edge, but time spent sharpening an axe is well worth the effort. My usual test is to see if it will sharpen a pencil, the next step up from that is will it slice through paper. There are some good Youtube videos on axe sharpening.

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  7. I just checked, and it did need sharpening, but a little time with a file and an oilstone pays dividends.
    Sharpening an axe is easier than sharpening a knife as you can grip the head in a vice and move the file/oil stone. It's all a bit more controlled than trying to hold a knife at a steady angle.

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  8. Great! I'm very looking forward to this. I have tons of Hornbeam around here, but the very straightest pieces look just like the one you have here :) I did not dare yet. Is this one twisted? They look almost braided sometimes.

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  9. It has got that muscley rippley slightly twisted look to some of the surface, but it seems to chop out straight enough with the axe.
    It doesn't seem to like the drawknife much, so I'm prob going to do as much as I can with the axe and then onto the spokeshave and rasps.
    The bark is V this so I'm just leaving it on, I may try to polish it, but I expect it will pop off.

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