Shave Horse

Got the shave horse virtually finished.
Here's a couple of pics (I'm using an imaginary spokeshave... very good tool the imaginary spokeshave, never fails).


The clamp bar will have a soft wood block fitting loosely on it to stop it marking the work piece, maybe with some rubber sheet or leather on it.
The bar is a loose fit so that it can be pulled out easilly. I'll probably have it on a chain or string so that it doesn't get lost (same goes for the legs, which just pull out from underneath).

It will doubtless need some adjustments, I can see that when used out doors the pedal is a bit close to the ground and my foot is acting on the top edge so I may take some off the bottom edge.

I haven't tried it out properly yet, it's a bit cold still, but hopefully by next weekend, I'll have it fine tuned and the weather will be a bit kinder.
The foot operated lever is made up of plywood which is glued and nailed into a sort of box section for rigidity. The main pivot is 12mm steel bar and the smaller clamp bar is 8mm.
Other than two lengths of 4x2" it's just stuff that I had in the garage.
For anyone interested in the dimensions and construction, there are more pictures of the shave horse in it's finished state with a tape measuer for reference here:-
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/shave-horse-pics.html
 

Shave Horse

Nearly finished, the legs are detachable.
The foot operated clamp mechanism hasn't been made yet, I'm experimenting with thin plywood to get the angles and lever lengths right. It will come down either side of the horse and be good and solid, it's just quicker to experiment on a single side for now.
I hope to make the top bar which clamps the work piece quickly adjustable and detachable so the workpiece doesn't need threading awkwardly underneath it.

Horses

It's been too cold to do much bowmaking, I work in my garage which isn't heated, although some of the heating pipes run through it and the boiler is the other side of a brick wall, so it doesn't actually freeze.
Anyhow, I'm going to be making a few longbows now my Yew (from last February) is nearly seasoned. Working on long staves is really awkward, so I've started to make a shave horse.
That's a bench you sit on with a foot operated clamp to hold the work piece, the sort of thing the old beech bodgers would set up in the woods along with a pole lathe when working green wood.
It's coming along nicely so I'll post some pics later.
I looked at various pictures and article on the internet before starting on the project, I even drew it up on the computer, but of course once you start it all loos different and the plans change...afterall, you don't really need legs made of 4x2 do you?!
I've been tinkering with one Yew stave which is a bit of a challenge, it has some twists and turns and it had a couple of small splits, but as I'm slowly working it down it's looking very promising. It's giving me a feel for that batch of wood which seem very nice. I can hardly wait to get it on the horse and press on with it, that's assuming the freeze eases off.

Hard Graft

Whew I've spent most of the morning splitting the biggest log.
It just didn't want to start at one end and was spitting around with rings rather than across. (You can just see what I mean in the pic, bottom left)
The other end eventually started to split, but you can see from the pic it took an axe, sledgehammer and an old axe head used as a starting wedge to set it off.
The original end was still problematic as there were a couple of BIG knots there, so there was a fair bit of axe work to finally separate the two halves.
One half is all big knots and is just waste, the other half will be run through the bandsaw to make two quarters, there should be at least two good staves.

I've tidied up the split face with a power planer to help it run across the bandsaw table without snagging or twisting too much.

Once I've sawn it, I'll paint the ends with PVA and store it for a year.
They say a year per inch of thickness, so the more it's reduced by sawing the quicker it seasons.

You can see the good half is realtively knot free.
Theoretically it could be cut in 3, but there are a couple of old knots in the centre so I'll saw it down the middle which is much easier, it's also better to have two pieces with some spare width to work with, than 3 staves which are too narrow to be any good.

Woo Hoo Yew!

The tree surgeon I spoke to last week turned up with some Yew logs on his lorry. Some were too big and knotty, but I sorted out some which are pretty good, mostly knotty on one side, clear on the other.
A couple are a bit big for the band saw so I'll need to get stuck in with axe and wedges tomorrow, I'll need to paint the ends with PVA too (to prevent them drying too quickly and splitting).

There was one skinny little bent branch which I was going to ignore, but it had a very thin layer of sap wood so it might make a character bow of some sort. A mutually acceptable remuneration was agreed and I now have some potential staves for 2012.

I shall have a good look at them tomorrow, hopefully there should be 1 or 2 staves in each log.
Some of the logs are a scant 6' long where 7 would have been better, but it's certainly a good haul.

Fortune favours the lucky!

Obligatory Full Draw Shot

Full draw in the garden, and the second shot shooting at the camera (on the self timer). Interesting to see the arrow is pointing smack on the lens, yet my eye isn't above the arrow, despite pushing my head over slightly.
Mind, it's difficult being a posed shot, my usual style is probably more hunched over.
There is much discussion on some sites about bows shooting left, aiming points, string picture and suchlike.
With a primitive style anchor to the side of the jaw, I suspect some of the perceived anomalies may be more about eye alignment than some of the other factors.
I'm not much of a shot, but I'd like to think I make some reasonably sensible observations.
The shot also shows the finished binding, the upper one was held lightly in place with a smear of epoxy as it was being whipped on, I didn't then soak it in epoxy as I didn't want it to effect the tiller. A wipe of Danish oil finishes it of nicely.
Being natural linnen thread the binding isn't too obvious or incongruous.
I've put it back on the tiller and it's still 36lb @ 28".

Bit of a bind

I'm not happy with the chrysals on the belly of the Hazel bow.

The performance is fine, it's shooting hard and fast and hasn't taken any more set or reduced in draw weight (36lb @ 28") .

As a precaution I've added a binding of fine linen thread soaked in epoxy over the effected area, this should strengthen and support that area and prevent any further chrysals.

This technique is extremely strong and I've used it before on an Asiatic style recurve which I made a couple of years ago to use up some old Fibreglass and Maple laminations left over from crossbow prod making many years ago.

The binding reinforces the spliced join between the Ash Siyahs (levers) and the bow limbs.

I shall shoot the bow in some more and see how it performs.
It doesn't look too bad and this sort of 'save' is fairly common on primitive bows along with things like rawhide patches and other tricks.
Assuming all is well I may add a matching binding to the upper limb which will look like the sort of thing found on genuine primitive bows.
The Meare Heath bow had criss cross bindings of leather thongs, we don't know if they were purely decorative or had some other significance.

This is the beauty of this blog, you see it warts and all. The bottom line is the bow performance and its longevity. I shall shoot it at the weekend in the open shoot at Celtic Harmony Camp (30 3D targets including a lifesize rubber Tiger!) If it stays shooting as it is at the moment I'll be delighted.