One of the most optimal design for bow black locust is pyramidal. Got rid of most of the twisting back and forth along entire bow. Still have the small island of 3 pin knots to work on. Well at least when I’m home anyhow. This phenomenon is happening at such a small scale that is invisible to the naked eye but it is a crucial factor in making bows. on Step 16, 6 years ago First, to clarify the properties of black locust wood .... Wood species vary in compresional tension and endurance. This Black Locust has a nice even crown and a dead flat belly. Most dangerous of all is the node-edge have no way to patch it. Very, very nice work mate! on Step 3, Well least we know now that the world languages have at lease one word in common. Correcting by steaming the  wood. It offers the best substrate for sinew-backed bows. As you tiller the belly evenly you want to check weight to draw so in the end you have a draw weight you’d like to have at the draw length you desire. The moves to the desired force and follow bow's  appearance (which is moving and where it stiff). )and Black Locust (a favorite on the East Coast by Native Americans in earlier centuries).Please ask us about a First Time Bowyer's starter package. After the  layer of fat,  layer of wax is next that spreads over the entire surface( we are using hair drier )  until the entire bow is covered with a layer of wax that it also protects against moisture. (2) Bend through the handle Often called "D" bows. A Black Locust (1 3/4") or osage bow (1 1/2") would be more narrow) and taper it to one finger width (index finger) at the tip. If everything is in order (in this case it is) we start put on melted pork fat that is absorbed into the wood and makes it waterproof. when you mentioned english not being your native language and using google translate my initial impression was you were an exchange student; your photos did not give any indication of your locale. Ill start at the widest width in the middle and slightly taper to the tips. He has very good compression, the fibers well suffer compaction. Many armys still have xbows and bows as weps for special operations. Black locust has a slightly lower MOE than hickory but a similar MOR- again explaining its superiority. The bow takes on the mountain man Look with its faux wood finish which is coated with a polyurethane finish for durability and protections The bow looks absolutely phenomenal. The first picture explains this current exhibition. Honey locust: A relatively heavy and hardwood that can have an attractive color and figure. Tony right? What does that mean-bow has a narrow handle and a non-working, thick enough not moving and narrow enough to be comfortable to grip. We check how thick it's convenient (in my case, usually the fingers, by feel). It is a 58" long, aprox 45 lb bow at 28" draw. Black locust honey is clear, almost without color, yet light and sweet. In 1815 a sinew-backed Osage Orange bow was worth a horse and a blanket in trade in southern Missouri, so the … To handle this size is strong enough for an hour of intensive steaming . g.t. kaz2664. I like this. What happens in a kind of strong tension (most sawmills): As their name suggests, their fibers better than stretching suffer compaction. A partial compresson failure weakens the wood for subsequent tension. Others were more for distance. Tolkien even mentioned it in The Lord of the Rings. We put it in clamps that is  more than necessary because wood tends to return to its original shape. Identifying and removing infected trees can go a long way. yes some translation improvement would help but after reading twice, printing and making penciled corrections i am very comfortable with this instructable. The biggest danger of getting hit by an arrow was the barb. If the piece of wood we continue to bend the will inevitably come to a permanent deformation of the play. Should look similar to this: that the entire stomach is almost one growth ring , possibly two. I will trie to fix all things that are not translated , also dont laugh if you read onion instead of bow beacus in my country they mean same thing, also acacia caus g.t. I think that the process is not so important, it is easy to explain and therefore is not pictured. The typical Cherokee bow is a black locust or osage, 55-70″ long, about 1″ to 1 3/8″ wide Eastern Woodlands-style flat-bellied D-bow that bends slightly through the handle. Hickory is known to have an excellent MOR but it also has a very high MOE. even the "bowyer's bible" series of books do not address this wood in detail for bow making. I do like the smell of the Black locust blossoms in the spring. It is not good that the axis deviates from the environment, especially in the handle, twisting makes the  port in hand when at full draw  a lot on the security, accuracy and performance of the port. i will use siberian instructions to make a bow in kentucky!!!!! Black Raptor. I would rate it as one of the best - on the whole maybe it's even better than osage..... (ready for the flak). Got this sweet stave from Dubois. Tapering to 1 inch tips for now. is mixing it with b. locust. I'm in California. I usually do this surgery with axe (in this case keser) , rarely with knife . Later it winded up as fence posts but was also widely used for windbreaks, and erosion control along streams. While back, when i was training archery, my coach told me story about turkish bows and about their emepror. Good one Chuck, that must be basically how the Native American Indians lamanated Their Bows, with Sinue I beleve.? BLACK LOCUST DOWELS. Look it over close and see what i can get away with and what i might need to pay close attention to. I heard from some one around here that it is Turkish word :), Reply Great info. All these layers will protect bow from insects, moisture and it will last longer, clear coat isn't traditional finishing touch but it helps bow to last longer and prevents over dry'ing. Two days exposure get the locusts to a really nice golden Brown state that turns black as you look down the grain and it penetrates well into the wood so finishing work doesn't ruin the color. I have made bows from osage, muninga and chinaberry and of none of them took much set (plastic deformation). Black Locust - posted in All About Wood: This is an objective of mine, in part, because the Cherokee bow makers used it, along with Bois DArc, and in part because the uplands habitat is similar to that of Bois DArc. It was successful in part because of their bows - which went twice as far as the English crossbow of the times. Been wanting to make a basic D bow for a minute now. i started reading this because i wish to make a black locust bow; i have a good stand of it on my property. Also american indians were making something similar with horns, they could kill a buffalo and female buffalo beside him with one arrow. I love black locust. Thanks George. I then shape the profile of a bow then take the belly wood off evenly flat so it’s about 1 inch thick. Black Locust was used by Virginians and Native Indians as bows. It can be measured by carpenter moisture meter (unreliable method determines the most part wood surface moisture) or holding a piece of black locust in the area where the humidity is 55% and the air temperature is 20-30 C (operating with the U.S. Institute for wood) until you stop losing weight (weight control digital kitchen libra ). Some authorities claim that wood is always far stronger in tension than compression, while others see no difference. Example: If you take a piece of wood in the shape of the rod and bend it into a semi-circular outer part of his suffering, increasing its length stretching and compression of the inner and reducing their length. It grows on my land. So nice! Black locust is not native to the coastal plain of Virginia, but was exported by the native population for use in making bows and other objects in pre-European-contact North America. It’s easy Peasy after that. We approach phase of the tiler (setup looks bow). Black Locust bow. I would like to help you translate this excellent bow carving instructable. This introductory part is not only important for the development of bow's below have to understand the essence of thebow's: Wood shall in no way be overloaded because it will break. 6 years ago But the tension is even better so that experimental piece still hurt by the compression of fibers. It is still there. Thickness i brought down to just about a inch full length for roght now. Im going to work on that this evening. This is the best bow instructable out there at the time! As we know (primarily based on the experience of our ancestors) black locust is extremely durable wood, in every sense: solid, hard, Non-susceptible to decay and insects, long lasting and tough. It measures 16 1\2" x 9 3\4" x 3/4" Both sides of this beauty have been sealed with a food-safe mixture of beeswax & mineral oil and can be used for chopping, … Suppose to cool back down soon. Right now it’s 6ft. Black locust produces LOTS of nectar for honey bees. Anyhow here's some pics ruffed out. Well i dont know if its ok to fix it while it is in contest or it doesent matter ? One of the guiding this process and the rings on the belly port. We offer bow making workshops which require some effort to find the bow inside the raw stave. Custom Black Locust Lumber products for architects, landscape designers, and exclusive residences We manufacture and design custom Black Locust Lumber products for sustainable architectural projects. Reducing wood is mostly done here by file and sandpaper as this piece a lot of choking. The first settlers prized this tree because it's near rot and insect proof. The limbs don’t taper in width much throughout their … I made it around 1992 or 1993. 656 649 11. The arrangement of the annual rings within that slat is vertical. A bow that is initially curved backwards is more effective, because the string tension averages higher during use. Share it with us! Making a play for the port must be sufficiently dry. While working on this piece we encounter unexpected difficulties: three dead node, fallin out one. I remember it from years ago. In many parts of the USA black locust is an extremely abundant honey crop. This may seam like it if not wide enough, but just check it against bows you already have and you can see the similarities. Wood was dried down to 8%; the bamboo's moisture content was brought to an even lower level. On the back is rawhide, stained with 3 different colors and fading out towards the tips. Wouldn’t you know it would rain every day since I started taking it down to 1 ring lol. Not as common as black locust. Both seem to thrive in well drained limey soils, and those are abundant in the Ozark Plateau area, and adjacent areas where limestone rock units are at the surface. This longbow is being made in conjunction with my coming book, the Bowyer's Art. The reason that Google Translate was having "issues" with Acacia and Black Locust is because they're the same thing. Basically a long eastern woodland style D bow. Have it all lined up tip to tip running straight through the middle of the handle area /center of bow. I do remember you! It has a wonderful flavor and is quite popular with consumers. A few Bow Staves of other types of wood are now in stock.We have Hackberry (nice wood for the beginner,and this is clean straight stuff,nice!!