First off I'd like to thank you folks for the encouragement on my first project.... it turned out light but held together and is a whole lot of fun to shoot... Thank you
My second attempt will be a Kentucky Coffee tree stave. It is longer than the Mulberry I just finished but there is very little information on the wood. It was cut about 7 months ago and feels fairly heavy though I don't have a large frame of reference in this dept being a novice.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave015.jpg)
The early rings are rather thin but there is a fat one about four rings in that runs the length of the stave. Should I be happy with one of the thin rings or go for the fat one? I think there is plenty of wood if I go for it?
The ring on end
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave007.jpg)
The other end
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave010.jpg)
Ring in the center of the stave
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave005.jpg)
The stave has a tiny bit of twist and a bit of rollercoaster on the back but it is fairly straight.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave013.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave001.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeBeanTreeStave002.jpg)
I am looking for design ideas.... How would you use this stave? I have no idea about dimensions and design for this wood....
Thank you in advance for the feedback....
I don't know anything about that wood, but would guess that if there are no violations on the first ring just use it for the back. The grain looks more like a fast growing soft wood than a hard wood. Is this a hardwood that can handle the pressure of a bow. If it is it looks like a great peice of wood.
Sorry I can't be more help. Am interested in seeing how this comes out.
It is violated in two spots but after looking at it I may be able to use it as is because the spots are close to the tip on one end.
I know a few folks have made bows with it and it is listed as a bow wood (KENTUCKY COFFEETREE .60 here.... http://sites.google.com/site/onemississipp/bowwoods
I just don't know how to lay it out and what design best utilizes it's properties? I am hoping someone here has used it?
I'd use get any of those rings to a singular one and go for it. 64" long to 70", 1 3/4 wide to midlimb then taper to 3/8". Just my opinion.
I have never heard of that wood, but like Joe said, if the rings are violated,chase another. You want it to ONE ring on the back.
Have fun Kip,
I remember seeing one that turned out really nice, but not for sure where it was at though. Maybe do search over on the Primitive Archer site.
Stave's side profile is basically straight, which suggests to me a more pyramid limb design.
Are you wanting a bulbous or retangular style handle? That's a consideration on limb design also.
Rings look fine. Looks like a ring could be easily chased on that type wood. Folks generally only look at back rings for strength, but compression rings/thickness is just as important. Good luck.......Art
Its a fine looking piece of wood even though I have never seen that type before. Nice uniform shape and rings.
I think it was Timo that made a Kentucky Coffee tree bow.
Joe, Chuck if somebody that has use Kentucky Coffee wood does not chime in 1 3/4 to 3/8 it is.
The handle wiil probably be rectangular on this one Art but with me it could change along the way?
Timo I'll send a PM and see what he has to say.
WOW...I would love to dig into that stave and turn a bow out. Cannot wait to see how this one turns out.
PS...not to hijack but if anyone has a Kentucky Coffee stave they would like to send up to Montana please PM me to work out a deal...looks like GREAT wood.
they sell on e****
An 1 3/4" limb width sounds about right. If you're not going to recurve or flip the tips, I would only parallel the sides of the limbs out 6" from the fades and then taper to the tips. This design, IMO, will allow more "meat" mid-limb over the parallel design, reducing a lot more limb vibrations. Important for bows of this length I think.
And with a retangular handle, and using a pryamid limb design, I think it best to spread out inner limb strain by that "6" out from the fades" I mentioned above.......Art
KY coffee tree is absolutely beautiful when 1/4 sawn. Seems like I remember seeing a post from Timo about building one. It is easy to work and makes a fantastic turkey call I do know that.
Look forward to seeing the outcome on this one.
Should I try to straighten this or tiller around all the woopydoooo's
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStave006.jpg)
This stave seems to be a bit more seasoned than the Mulberry.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStave003.jpg)
This end is alot straighter...
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStave007.jpg)
Keep them in, that way when you find a nice set of snake skins to put on it you can scare all your hunting buddies. :smileystooges:
It can be tillered like that but I would try and get some of the whoop out of the doo if it were me.
Worked a bit more on the Grip and Fades tonight...
If you guys see me goofin up please let me know...
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStaveGripandfades003.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStaveGripandfades004.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStaveGripandfades001.jpg)
i always like to leave my final handle shape until last, in case i find i would like to flip the bow- but i have also done some where i did the handle early on.
i like the character in a bow, and thats how i would tiller it, however if it is nice and straight- then you can use the "tillering gizmo" and that tool really helps a lot when you are starting out-( i still use it heaps!!)
good luck
wayne
Wayne Thanks... Hmmmm.... to late for this one (unless I make the grip straight) but another lesson to stick in the box... I used the Gizmo on my first bow but it bent thru the handle and was made from a very straight Mulberry stave.
Thank you, being my second try I'll take any advise into consideration.....
:coffee:
Last night after work I visited the stave again and after staring at it for a while I changed my mind and decide to find out how to straighten one. I played with a few clamps and wedges and arrived here.
Should I stop here and start tillering?
The stave actually ended up with about 3/4" of reflex :)
Before
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/KentuckyCoffeeStave006.jpg)
After
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave001.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave002.jpg)
Get her going is what I would do, but I am no expert. Now where did the experts run off to. :)
That's a very nice lookin' piece of wood, Coaster.
Wayne gave good advice about leaving the handle alone until later. I shaped the handles on my first few bows and had a devil of a time keeping them on the tiller stick and tree. Now I rough the handle to about the right dimensions but leave it flat.
I'm with Kelly, get with it, man! But then I've been guilty of rushing things every now and then.
:bigsmyl:
As you can see in the pictures the string is not centered anymore... I'm not sure what has made it so but how do I get it centered again? Should I tiller the bow from the strong side? Heat and bend it?
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave004.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave005.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave006.jpg)
Well got the string centered and I'm trying to get the bend right.... Not there yet. This Kentucky Coffee Tree stave seems very tough and has not given me one indication that it is not sound.... I'm about 46@26.5 right now so well within my target weight (45 to 50@28). There are some spots in this stave where the wood is much harder and resists tools a bit. I have to be careful not to eat wood around the hard spots. The tiller tree is leaning and gives a bit of a misread in the picture. I shot it a few times, not a full draw of course.... it's hard to know for sure but seem very quick.... I'll keep posting and if some one seen a goof let me know.
Thank you
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Heatstraighteningastave009.jpg)
Added a little Cheese :) I build my own deep sea fishing jigs and had some blue polish so it's a blue eyed snake...
I used a piece of walnut burl for the tips. It was very brittle I hope it doesn't fall appart?
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/CheesySnakeEyes001.jpg)
The bow is narrower than I planned but the stave kind of led me there.... I hope it holds up? I shot the bow about 35/40 times today and it really pops an arrow down the pipe. This bow is much quicker than I expected and the wood has a very solid feel to it. It tillered out to a finished 48.5@28 and it is 66"s end to end and 63+ nock to nock.... The bows final dementions are 1" thru the handle (no perceptible bend) 1 3/8's at the fades and out to 6"s then tapers down to 3/8"s at the tips.... The bow took about 1 3/4"s of set (I can't seem to figure out how to keep a bow straight) I've got two coats of tru-oil on it and am trying to find the right leather for the grip. The tips are Poplar and Walnut Burl... So far the bow seems to very strong and this Kentucky Coffee wood looks to be very forgiving. It has to be to work for me :) I'll try to finish and post finished pictures and maybe a short shooter video. Thanks for the help and suggestions.....
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/CheesySnakeEyes005.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/CheesySnakeEyes007.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/CheesySnakeEyes003.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/CheesySnakeEyes010.jpg)
Done with Bow #2
I won't be able to shoot it for a few days but I will try to post a video when I do...
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Finished001.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Finished002.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Finished008.jpg)
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/Finished010.jpg)
Good job man!
Thanks Joe, I took your advice and took the wooopy dooo's out. This wood is very cooperative and responded to the dry heat very well. I missed your dimensions a bit but it seems to work :)
The wood on the back of this bow is as featureless as brown glass (no grain) and screams for some snake skins but the belly shows lots of grain detail. I need to find some skins (another lesson) for the back but for now I want to see if it's going to hold up. There are some things I would do different but again I was happy to hit my weight and keep #2 from the kindling box....along with you folks bow#2 was another good teacher .....
vanillabear, with me in the picture everything else looks great :)
I think those who did speak up, gave you good sound advice but, I think you may have missed some of the better builders while they were off hunting elk or some exotic dream animals. (Oops,,, just saw your black bear avatar!) They usualy chime in with more timely and detailed advice than you seemed to have gotten here.
All I get to hunt are these pulblic land Ohio Whitetails... Sneaky critters!
Your finished bow does look nice. Now let's see the second one!!!!! Or atleast the shooting vid you speak of.
no bow builder here..but the coffee tree looks fairly close to a wild cherry "as far as bark goes" i have cut one down the wood will dry on the out side but never seems to dry inside holds alot of water..an they have large bean pods on them like a locust but alot thicker.
Wow that tiller came out great, and you have a fine looking bow now; for sure.
Joe if it weren't for a couple of broken toes I'd love to be out hunting something and Ohio Whitetails would be plenty exotic for this old west coast dude :) Just got home from work (9pm out west) so I won't be shooting the bow for a bit.... Hopefully Wednesday and Thursday
Thanks Kelly I just found a thread here that shows how to use the paint program and between that and the Gizmo things seemed to work out pretty well. All in all I'm pretty happy with the result. The few shot I did take felt down right snappy....
sticbow split the wood and seal the ends and back,,, it makes pretty decent bow wood "I hope" :)
Paint program
It's not perfect but seems to shoot well and I hit my weight.....
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Finished012tillerpaintprogram.jpg)
This was fun.... Kentucky shoots pretty smooth (maybe just a Kentucky thing :) ...
Video #1
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/?action=view¤t=Finished016.mp4
Video #2
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20project%202%20Kentucky%20Coffee/?action=view¤t=Finished015.mp4
well looks like it shoots as sweet as it looks
Thank you Kelly and welcome home :)
Very nice looking bow - I like it without skins! Tiller looks very good - hope mine turns out as nice.
:thumbsup: Wish my first was as nice, you're a natural!
Thank you guys :)
This is actually my second attempt...My first was a bendy Mulberry in August...
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/Bow%20projects/?action=view¤t=Mulberrystavebow002-1.mp4
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=006810#000000
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=006872
the kentucky coffee tree looks very similar to a locust from what i hear. i have had several specimens that didnt exhibit clear sign of being locust or coffee tree.
looks great.
Looks very good.....I think you made a great bow out of it. I like the tips.
Thank you.....
This has been a year full physical problems for me that have not let my hunt like I would like. Building bows is really helping me get though this thing and is becoming very addictive..... I am finding a great deal of satisfaction from it .... The next stave is waiting for me now and next season I need to hunt one of them :)