Thursday 21 March 2013

Starting to Bend the Big Bow

I've glued on some chunks of sapwood and cut in temporary nocks which allow me to get the bow onto the tiller. I'm aiming for 70# at 28" and a full 32" draw at whatever draw weight it comes out at.

I'd left the cambium layer (the pinkish stuff under the bark which covers the sapwood). With my poor colour vision, I probably didn't realise how thick it was.
I expected some thin fibrous stuff to pop off with a 'tic', and indeed, one section did.

What I didn't expect was a rifle shot 'crack' as a whole layer came off and scared the crap out of me. Initially I wasn't sure if it was the sapwood splitting, but in decent daylight I could see the colour difference and the pristine creamy yellow of the beautiful freshly exposed sapwood.
Whew, it's a labour saving way of getting a perfect sapwood back, but not for the faint hearted.
Interesting that the fracture started at a line of tiny pin knots.




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