Do you guys know about to dye with ammonia? In Germany you can buy ‚Räuchereiche‘, translated word by word it means: smoked oak. It has nothing to do with real smoke, but is a chemical reaction of ammonia with the tan acids in the wood. The more acid in the wood, the better reaction. IRead more
hollow limb design
Here is an elderberry sapling bow coming from a stave 60,5” long ( now 59” ntn) and only 1,5” in diameter (at handle). It had a large pith, the hole in the handle is the origin diameter. This diameter tapers out in the fades to a very pronounced groove, which then tapers into a triangularRead more
This bow is 59” ntn, HLD (hollow limb design). Take down with homemade sleeves, one tip is wrapped, one filed selfnock. String is 6 strands 452X, thickened at the ears with B50. A buildalong is in the ‚how to‘ section, here! Asymmetrical bow, the two parts of the take down have the same length. Read more
Simple hazel stick, with natural grown 2″ setback handle, stave was exact 2″ in diameter. This stick came out of a bunch of hazel staves I used to have for working with kids. Most of that staves were debarked – some not. This caused the problem. Someday I noticed bugs/worms on the barked ones. IRead more
This bow is made of billets, which are split out of an 40″ and 3″ diameter sapling. You sure know, golden chain tree has a wonderful contrast of heart and sap wood. So I decided to leave at least on tips and fade area a natural grown overlay of sap on the bow. Unfortunately theRead more
Here is an osage hunting bow with static recurves and hollow limb design.The stave was a nice coloured piece with some areas of several pin knots, but still holding up so far without problems. Recurves are steam bent, selfnocks no overlay, handle buckskin leather, bends slightly in the handle. Simple stick. cross section is likeRead more
Some time ago i got an interesting piece of juniper (probably juniperus virginiana = eastern red ceder) with a lot of little picks on the back and an silvery shining surface (after debarking of course). The piece was not very long, so i decided to try a west coast style. The bow is incredibly light,Read more
elm sapling bow, stave was about 5″ in diameter. It was harvested in late spring, so the back shows after debarking the early grain / fibres as a wonderful landscape like a field with a lot of humps and dumps. Yes, I know the early wood is not the best as back, but i couldRead more