Rose gum warbow... well kind of.

[hunterguy1991]

Afternoon all,

After my recent little accident that's rendered me basically useless in my left arm (cant shoot bows, can barely hold stuff up) I had to find something to keep myself a little bit sane. Read somewhere on a thread recently that Rose gum look good (material properties at least) for a bow and having cut and slabbed a decent sized one about 2 months ago I decided to have a play around with it and see what happens..

Catch was the scrap I found to use for a test was both green and VERY short for an elb, at 52" ntn its a mini bow

I wanted to get some nice 2 tone happening with the sap and heart wood, like a yew bow, but the dimensions rendered that not possible so this little bow is sapwood only... However, it is made using basically a Mary Rose type profile (that I use on most warbows I make) just miniature. Came in pulling a whopping 18lbs at 22" so shes a bit of a brute...

Here's a photo of my best 14th C English Archers pose leaning on the beast

52 inch rose gum sap bow (640x480).jpg (166.29 KiB) Viewed 3345 times

Next up I will look through the slabs we have cut and find a nice edge for a full scale version and hopefully get some heartwood into it as well. High hopes to as there was some serious bend in this one at 22 inches and it didn't go bang. Holding up with some serious weight will be another story tho but time and experimentation will tell. Will go 80" ntn, 35mm wide at the handle, 29-30 thick in the handle and 17mm thick in the tips to begin with and see how far it will go.

Cheers,

Colin

[greybeard]

Looks like a nice little bow Colin.

I am sure there would be a young lad in the neighbourhood who would love to get his hands on the bow.

Daryl.

[hunterguy1991]

Thanks Daryl!

I have a youngster in mind for it but will have to see if they can draw it ok first.

[UPTHETOP]

Colin hope the arm heels up well soon so you can get back into it. There's always kids out there looking for a bow hope you find the right one.

Cheers Wayno

[hunterguy1991]

Cheers Wayno!

[hunterguy1991]

Here are a couple more photos of it... Decided to name it "Rosie" since its made of rose gum

Massive change in colour and grain when I varnished it!! when from plain white and a bit boring to a very pronounced wavy pattern.

Rosie bow brace.jpg (70.08 KiB) Viewed 3296 times

Rosie bow specs.jpg (61.71 KiB) Viewed 3296 times

Colin.

[yeoman]

I'm glad someone has had a go with it. I tested Rose Gum some time back and have a couple of boards waiting for me to do something with them....but I've got a lot of projects doing just that: waiting.

How much set did it take?

I've just done some quick calculations: assuming the wood is exactly the same as the sample I tested, an 81" warbow drawing 30 inches, being 28 mm thick and 35 mm wide at the center, tapering in its own special way to 12 mm square at the tip, & also having perfectly rectangular section, would draw 180 lb. Rounding the section, to make it aesthetically, ergonomically and stylistically pleasing would probably lose you 30% of this, so such dimensions and cross section might yield up a bow of about 126 lb at 30".

That's for a rather elliptically tillered bow. A bow bending much more through the handle, 79" long and also drawing 30", would draw 121 lb with 35 x 23 at the handle and 12 mm square at the tips and square section throughout, landing about 84 lb at 30" when rounded off.

If I get the chance I think I will test some more today, hopefully from a different board.

The wood still looks quite pale in the pictures. I imagine that's because it's sap wood. Is the heart wood more rosy pink? My board staves certainly are.

[hunterguy1991]

Cheers Dave,

Its taken a little set but that's because a) I pushed it pretty far in the bend and b) it wasn't completely dry... I just got bored and couldn't wait.

Maybe and inch at either end at most.

I have a slab here that I'm going to rip a self bow stave off the side (sap and heartwood) and give it a crack but I will let it dry out a bit more yet.

Definitely correct in saying its pale because its sapwood. The heart wood is very very pink and will look quite unique as a 2 tone bow.

I am sceptical that a full scale bow will work because the sap grain is very wavy and tends to run out a lot which will cause problems at high draw weights but time will tell. Good to know that it has potential to make bows over 120lbs in theory tho. now I just have to get one to work in practise

On a side note, I gave this bow to a little one yesterday afternoon at our weekly re enactors shooting session and the reaction was priceless. Will make a few little arrows to go with it and pass them on next week.

Colin

[yeoman]

1" is very respectable for a bow that's still a bit damp.

You might be surprised when making a full-scale bow from it. The wiggly grain may well just stay together.

Perhaps make a bridging bow...68 or 72" long and a mortal draw length/weight, to test it.

[hunterguy1991]

I'm not really too concerned with set in bows now... its just something that happens when you bend wood close to its limit. Would be interesting to see what a dry piece can do tho. Just having them shoot and not break is what I'm after.

Time will tell if the grain holds up. Id rather go big and try to find the upper limit to what I can do, that way if it does work the result is something very special

Colin