Quick Drying Bow Wood: How to Make a Bow Without Years of Waiting
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- čas přidán 7. 11. 2021
- Cut your wait time from years to weeks with this beginner friendly method. Roughing out staves while they're green saves work and time and lets you get started immediately.
The unique music in this video comes from my awesome friend and cousin in Uruguay-Marcos Topolanski Quintero. Download his tracks on iTunes, and also check him out on Instagram, Spotify, and here on CZcams.
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For more of my work and all my tutorials, here’s my new blog dansantanabows.com/journal/
And check out more of my cousin’s awesome music on iTunes music.apple.com/us/artist/marcos-topolanski-quintero/1467836157
Your bows are so awesome man. I’d love to learn to build a bow and showcase it.
Drawknife skills: God mode. You wield it like a lightsaber. A sight to behold
Gee thanks! Honestly the reason I make bows is because I like drawknives so much
Wet wood is not that hard to cut
Learned more in this video than 2 years of woodworking class back in high-school. Looking forward to watching more!
These videos are incredibly helpful, looking at getting into this kind of thing and from the years I’ve been considering it, this is the best video explaining this process.
Sounds like you already got the bowmaking bug, welcome to the club! If you need any help let me know
Again professional looking video and work. The secrets that good bowyers have are starting to come out!!The musician might get a second Grammy for Uruguay!!
or a third world cup!
Beautifully explained!!!! I'm drying a vine maple log about 3 feet long and been looking up tips for bow making on CZcams for a few days! Then I came across you... You are so detailed to a T and I love it! Thank you so much! I'm mainly an atlatl maker and been throwing for a few years now.
Glad it was helpful!
Great info Dan! The craft certainly requires patience - but not years of it!!!
And agreed - Hickory should be close to 5%-6% for superior performance.
it’s no surprise hickory has more flight records than osage or yew. Treat it well and it can be top shelf stuff!
The background music is really good with this type of low key video.
Really enjoyed the wee side shots of nature doing its thing! And the information was concise and interesting thank you!
Thanks for simplifying the bow making process. This helps alot. Thanks Dan.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom i like how you seem to be very zen about the work you're doing.
So much good info, so nicely presented
The images are so beautiful that I have a hard time listening to the narration 😊
Thanks for sharing.
Love your podcasts Daniel thanks for sharing your knowledge on bow making.
Thanks Deborah! Everything was taught to me for free, I’m just passing it on
amazing video in every aspect, thanks!
Great advice regarding moisture and moisture meters.
I use a moisture meter for firewood only.
Its cool that you give your cousin's music a shoutout, hes pretty good!
Probably the best videos on bow making there are.
Nice relaxing video..awesome job!
For 28 years I have used a pinless moisture meter that reads through the stave, not just the surface. I use it much like the weighing method, when it goes no lower I know my stave is dry. I don't worry about charts for different species. I have also found if I put osage in my drying box above 16% MC it will be more prone to crack, even at 90 degrees. Consequently I cut my wood down to bow blanks, air dry it to 16% then stick it in my box if I need a dry stave quickly.
Thanks for the additions Eric! Regarding your other comment, I don’t use your tillering gizmo myself but I do recommend them all the time and think they’re very handy.
And you’re right I’m a bit unfair to moisture meters. I only don’t like the type with pins that read resistance and need different calibration for different species. I originally had a more detailed comment about that and ended up cutting it out for whatever reason.
I usually don’t quick dry osage, especially not in the drying box-I’d expect to see cracking too. If I do use the box with osage it’s only for the last few percent of mc. most of this advice was definitely biased for white woods, although I do believe anything can be quick dried successfully if you adapt the conditions
Really good info great vid thanks
I always wait until early February to get my bow wood, i leave it half week before splitting it half week after splitting it and than I run it over the fire as much as I can for a day, dried wood feels dried:)
Edit : I work the bow for like half way before putting it over the fire.
That definitely works too, and you can go a bit faster by force drying your way. I didn’t really cover it because passive drying to equilibrium is more precise and harder to mess up for an absolute beginner because you can’t overshoot it. I think heat treating over a fire is very worthwhile but haven’t ever been in a big enough rush that quick drying over a fire was worth the added risks. Personally I just cut whenever I feel like it and deal with the consequences by adjusting the drying method.
Man, some excellent tips here.
Amazing video
Great information, well done! 👏 👍🏻
Thank you Dan, another great educational video!
always a pleasure my friend
Awesome! i am learning so much by watching your videos, Had exactly that problem with wood cracking (i work with sapling atm for practise) when drying it in my appartment. Now i know what i gonna do in future! Thx alot
Really insightful video. Thanks Man.
excellent -- thank you
Thank you very much . Times are tight and down to making as much as I can myself . Thank you .
Good luck! Let me know if you have any trouble with your builds
Nice vid
Thanks my friend!
You da man! Mahalo
Very Informative thank you
Thank you!
The best quick bow making wood i ever found was hackberry in texas. Within 3-4 weeks i had great finished bows from a green live tree i chopped down, only air dried after splitting in the Texas climate.
Hackberry and elm are both super tolerant of this. Great stuff
Great video. Solar Kilns are also another faster way to dry wood
Pro tip right there! You can also use a car on a hot day in that way
Excelente Video! Siempre agradecido! Fascinante como sabes utilizar la musica en el lugar correcto! Un fuerte abrazo Daniel!
You make it easy for me! Good ingredients are simple to cook
@@DanSantanaBows eso es cierto! :)
nice
Another great video, thanks for the information. I was curious how sharp you keep your draw knife? Thanks for taking the time to share!!
I definitely don’t keep them shaving sharp, but i do keep the bevels nice and flat. Having a smooth edge is more important than a very sharp one. I’ve been meaning to make some videos about this, it’s up there on the list
When I was a kid , my Dad used to make burl clocks . Drying a slab of birds eye maple took a long time(1-2 years) and most of the time it would crack anyway . My dad started to soak his burls in polyethylene glycol (antifreeze) for a week and then put the burls infront of the wood stove and dry them in a couple days . The soaked burls never cracked . This technique may work for bow staves. :)
I heard of this a long time ago, thanks for bringing it back up! Will have to look into it
Shooty stick videos 👍
thx for what u sayd in the end :D
I love your videos, it makes me want to start making my own self bows. Have you ever made your own arrows from scratch? I find people don't often share how they collect the right trees for it but it's a beautiful thing to watch as a whole process. Love your content, take care!
Missed your comment-yes I do but usually I shoot cheap mass produced wooden arrows. Usually when I make my own I split out ash shafts from staves
Arrow wood is what I like to use, it grows really straight and is easy to work with, you can even strip it green with out worrying about cracking. I think the scientific name is viburnum. You can easily straighten it with a heat gun or fire, or just straighten it when it's still wet. Some people like to use river cane but I have no experience with that.
@@Nate-bn5kk I have a couple staves of viburnum lentago I want to use for bows. Stuff smells like rotten socks though!
@@DanSantanaBows Hmm maybe it took on mold? The species I use always smells great to me, I think there's a wide variety of viburnum so maybe the species you have just smells bad lol.
It’s a bit pedantic but technically a crack in wood is when you can look through and see daylight through the wood a shake is more accurate to describe what you are experiencing,
I like pedantic, thank you for the correction. Here I’m using the terms loosely and not trying to get bogged down in semantics
Это видео для души !
I find a big dehumidifier, 3 days, and a closed room to work great.
Very good video, I think I might have the exact same model of your saw. How is your saw called
i think it’s a bahco. Not sure about the model. Does the job
Hola que tal? Cuanto tiempo de secado le das a la madera? Que bueno que te gusta la música de mí país.
El tiempo varia mucho. Puede ser meses o años. Cuando la madeira queda de perder peso está pronto.
Great video Dan, have you much experience with wild plum? What's your thoughts on plum for Bow wood? Hey and thanks for sharing your knowledge Dan
I haven’t made a full size bow with it yet but have done plenty of carving with it, and last year I planted about 100 wild plums on the farm so they hopefully take. It’s a wonderful bow wood but very hard to dry without cracking. This is one of the species you have to slow down drying with or else you’ll get bad checking
Hey Dan, I'm really enjoying your videos. I'm pretty new to bow building and I just found a real nice American Elm, about 5 1/2 inches in diameter, very straight and free of knots for about 6 ft. I intend to make my bow much like on this video. As far as drying, I 'm planning to put it on a form, once I've thinned it down to the pith and then place the form in my Attic for about a month or six weeks. I have a metal roof and expect the attic to be pretty hot during the summer, at least as hot as the interior of any car parked in the sun, 120 degrees or more. Is that *too* hot?
It’s probably fine as far as the drying stage but if you dry to equilibrium you may overshoot it. Look up both the temperature and humidity in the attic on an equilibrium moisture content chart like the one in the video-this will tell you the mc of your staves if you leave them up there indefinitely.
As long as you can get away with no cracking you can dry in too-hot conditions, but there’s just the risk of overshooting it. if you’re not very comfortable drying wood without cracking it, then it can be safer to take things slower
I have made a bow out of completely green piece of hickory I cut within the next day by smoking it overnight and getting a good heat treat on it. I have a friend who also has repeated those same results if that helps any. I would also recommend a good deep heat treat on any whitewood bow. Cool video though man very informative.
I’ve had the same experience and heat treat almost all my whitewood bows.
It’s possible to make a bow within 24 hours but I honestly don’t see a reason to other than internet appeal. If you’re in that big a hurry that you need a bow tomorrow, usually a bow isn’t the best thing to be making. Quick drying is very practical and I use it all the time, but you still need to take your time with it and it’s better not to rush drying if you can wait
@@DanSantanaBows True but that's how experimental things go you try to see what you can get away with. Sometimes you find out your within reason and sometimes you push too far. As far as should you make a bow within a day probably not but can it be done and with good to great results also yes.
@@severinevans346 For sure, speeding things up is worth experimenting with there’s eventually a point where the risks don’t justify the rewards
@@DanSantanaBows That's true also but you won't know till you try. Anyway keep making those bows man they are beautiful. Also where do you get your draw knives?
Ok Dan this settles it ... We need to get together and make some bows....have our own Mass jam instead of mo jam and ojam
100%! I’ve actually been planning on it, and we’ve got plenty of field space for it here on the farm. Covid kinda got in the way, but I’m excited to try to get one going
Hey Dan I was wondering do you accept commisions for bows? If so where can I find them?
Sure thing. You can contact me through my website and see more of my work there. dansantanabows.com
Wood seems to crack after two nights inside an apartment. But if you seal the endgrain and leave some bark on, it appears you can dry wood next to your bed, without waking up from an insanely loud cracking noise. I'd say it is pretty dry after two weeks if the diameter is less than 5 cm. I usually make sculptures or walking sticks and not bows. But Im guna try. Also made three/4/5 string slide guitars. (Electric).
heres a thought for you on preventing cracking in wood make yourself a box deep ennough to cover the sapling or split wood in dry sawdust , it will slow the drying process down
Good idea, anything like that will help greatly. I learned about using tarps and trash bags from a wood turner who makes plates and has a big issue with checking. The advantage in this case is you can change the coverage depending on how much you need to slow things down
Can I also do this with yew?
I read it makes beautifully bow wood me saw videos from you
You can do it with any wood, but some will be trickier than others. Keep your eye out for cracking, and if you see any, try to slow down the moisture loss
When you took the bow off the form it sprang back a bit, didn’t fully take the shape of the form. Is that expected or could it have held the shape if left longer?
If you wanted to keep most of it you’d probably have to heat treat. Drying on the form would help. I didn’t really want all that reflex so i took it off sooner
how do you think about the constant growth ring on hickory? many bowyers say hickory is the only exception to cut a couple of rings on the back. never tested it 🤷♀️
All woods can survive violation to some extent. Hickory is at one extreme, but there’s a continuum. It’s still better not to violate the back if possible
@@DanSantanaBows and its much more esthetic
7:04 is that your friend Pepe?😂🐸🥄
I only make crossbow prods, but I rough it out, seal any end grain cuts, and put it in a sealed PVC pipe with desiccant crystals for a week or so. Use plenty of crystals, you want them to cover the stave. I get more splits I imagine, but it drops 30% in weight in a week or so. Now full disclosure, I do not know what other properties the time drying transfers to the wood, but just drying wood like so many other things is much faster in the modern age. Kind of like burying it in the sand in the Sahara.
I force dried my first bow within 24 hours, I still have it. It was a little warped, but it functions fine
Also can wood be to dry? I've found a stave from 1973 in a barn? Would it be worth looking into
See the part of the video about equilibrium moisture content. Yes wood can get too dry, but the wood in the barn won’t overshoot the equilibrium moisture content with the air in the barn. If you measure the temp and humidity in the barn and look them up on the EQ MC chart you will know very precisely what MC that piece of wood has.
Post some pictures of the piece on r/bowyer and I’ll let you know if it’s worth it. Also see the board selection diagram (in chapter 1 of the board bow tutorial) or in the board bow chapter of the back of the bow video
dear master, how to protect staves from insects? I cut an oak log. can I now cover staves with an antiseptic? Or oil.... what is better?
do you need to dry the shaped and cut bow or dry the whole 'raw' branche ?
If you want to quick dry, shape the bow then dry. For normal slow drying split the wood into staves then dry. For small diameter trees it may be risky to split so it’s easier to rough out the bow then quick dry. Sometimes you can dry the log whole but usually it will split as it dries. Also see the other video “the back of the bow, 6 ways” for more about all this
If you are drying with the bark on, do you still quarter it? I have a cherry limb I just cut and varnished the ends. I think I will half rather than quarter. as it's sort of half way between a sapling and a trunk.
I don’t want to tell people what to do here because it’s an out of the frying pan into the fire situation. The video describes the risks both ways.
If you take bark off you have to monitor for cracks and may split the back. If you leave the bark on, you may harbor bugs and increase rotting.
Which risk to go with tends to be a case by case question for me and also depends what you’re better equipped to deal with
I got a Major sideways curve, any recommendations to fix it?
I didn't know native Americans were this smart
Why would you post such an ignorant comment. You think we were cavemen?
Can I quick dry hazel wood to make a bow? I also have a fair bit of blackthorn, but that is not very flexible. It would make a nice handle though...
I made myself a walking stick with blackthorn last year and it's the hardest wood I've had to play with so far!
Rose wood (from a rose bush) is nice but all the bits I was drying have split.
Do you think a bow made from blackthorn for the handle and the other bits made from Hazel would work ok?
Hazel and blackthorn are both great bow woods. You can quick dry them, just watch out for cracking
@@DanSantanaBows thanks I'll give it a go!
That drying temp is just Florida 9:23
Hey one question what string should I use becuase I have made a plant fiber string but should I try a premade rope for my first bow
It’s all about the equilibrium mc. If the humidity is high you’ll have to go even higher in temp
Brother what is the best moisture content for red oak? thank you so much
11-14%
Hey, long time viewer. Question, man...
I got into trying a yew bow and noticed a hairline drying check going throughout the back of the stave and off the limb. (it's a molley)
I hear everything from chasing the ring, to putting glue in the cracks and backing it with rawhide.
What would you say?
Is this doomed to be "firewood" or could I glue it, back it and say my prayers?
Thanks in advance.
If it’s a hairline crack along the fibers then I wouldn’t worry too much. If the crack severs fibers that’s a worry, but if the crack is just separating fibers without shearing them then it’s ok. If it runs off the side due to runoff that can be an issue too.
Imagine pulling two bows next to each other. That’s basically one big bow with a massive tip to tip crack, yet it doesn’t break…as long as the two halves on either side are sound. So if the two ‘bows’ on either side of the crack are still sound with unviolated backs you are ok. But if the crack violates fibers the. it’s worth worrying
هل يُمكن استخدام اي نوع شجرة لصنع القوس شرط أن تكون مستقيمة؟
Sort of but some are better than others. Less dense trees will need wider bow limbs
Hey. So what is your favorite wood to use you can harvest locally ? Your in northeast Us right ?
Hickory, hophornbeam, and elm. I also really like sugar maple, hornbeam, hazel and witch hazel, apple, buckthorn, and many others. There’s plenty of good wood around here
@@DanSantanaBows for some reason I didn’t see the reply .
Thanks for the info .
I have a good supply of hornbeam and ash where I am in maine . I did manage to find some nice elm but find it miserable to work !?
Woah, a mighty collection of wood! Are you planning on doing some sort of bow inspired by the Green Arrow comics?
I consider it from time to time but think lever bows are best for industrial manufacture. the trouble is that Green arrows is one of the least viable of the superhero bows to make at home. A serious attempt at a lever bow made without a proper factory…I’d have to charge the price of car for that much work and difficulty…and it would be worse than commercial lever bows. Or I could go a gimmicky route and use PVC as others have. But it wouldn’t be a serious attempt at making a good bow of that design, a cosplay gimmick is the best I would be able to do.
@@DanSantanaBows Okay, you've put it very nicely and I understand the problem, however if you were to decide, in the older comics from the famous "golden age of comics", Green Arrow had more classic bows, not dissimilar to what you do currently. The only differences are in the interesting details no and possibly you can use a green bow colour hah.
Well that fixes everything, thank you. Green Arrow is back on the menu!
What if you live in a high humidity area where it averages anywhere from 70 - 90% humidity?
Make a drying box, heat treat, and use a good moisture barrier for your finish
Bro, Do a vid on Comanche or a plains indian double curve bow bro, would be awesome to see.
I definitely would. Absolutely love snappy short draw bows
@@DanSantanaBows yeahh bro they are my favourite type and were used most recently in history, when our great grandparents were alive plains warriors would be chasing trains on horseback shooting these deadly shortbows. I see you have acess to alot of hickory :), the Eastern Lakota and cheyenne tribes on the plains made stout bison hunting B shaped bows out of hickory. Thanks
Hey Dan, do you have a design of how this box is made?
I don’t but it’s pretty simply, just a poorly made box with three lightbulbs wired up to a dimmer switch. For more or less heat you can use the dimmer or change the type of light
Im not sure i understand why you want to preserve the inner bark. When youre shaving it down afterwards, that ruins the inner bark doesnt it? Perhaps im lost. Anyone know?
The inner bark serves as a buffer to make sure you don’t carve into the wood. Plus it protects the back of the bow during the rough out.
Later when you have a bow shaped object there’s less surface area so you can put in the time to do a perfect job without having to do the whole entire stave
Could you do that with a penknife?
Sure but it’d be a bit tedious. A bushcraft knife would work a bit better but at the end of the day anything works if you stick with it long enough
My drying box has 4 wheels. In the summer I use my car as a solar kiln.
Great tips! The car solar kiln is definitely a bowyer classic
I was thinking of using my attic. I have a metal roof and I'm sure temps in the attic must be hotter than blue blazes in the summer.
Question is this done with a recurve as well?
it can be but quick drying also increases the risk of warp and alignment issues, especially with a lot of reflex
@@DanSantanaBowsgot it! Thanks!
Is cedar a good wood to use?
Not really, unless you’re talking about eastern red cedar which is really a juniper. See the video how to break a bow 2 for an example of a cedar bow
Just collect bow wood throughout your life and you will end up some day with 20 years old vintage seasoned wood, plenty of experience and great prospects for mature bow projects. Do not forget to mention them in your will in case of early departure 😂
This is the way 😂
Hey would acrylic paint work for sealing end grain?
Pretty much anything that can clog up the pores will work, so I bet it would!
@@DanSantanaBows sweet thanks for the reassurance
I have a dry wood thats spit as 4.
Its been here for maybe 9 moths and reeeally dry. Can you turn that into a bow?
Its about one and a half meters long
Do you know the species?
Will this work with pacific yew?
Yes but most people slow dry pacific yew and report it improves with aging. I wouldn’t want to quick dry something valuable
How did You get that chart?
How do you know the air humidity level?
With a cheap little temperature/humidity gauge. Here they’re $5-10 often for pets or gardening. The type I recommend against are moisture ‘meters’ with pins that you have to stick in the wood, but those measure the mc of the wood not the air
@@DanSantanaBows thanks! This was a great guide!
Can anyone tell me if is possible to smoke wood to dry it I can't find anything about it, if it's even possible
Likely many bows/staves were kept up high in the hut where the warm air from the fire would keep them dry. This is just conjecture but it’s hard to imagine this wouldn’t have been taken advantage of. I don’t personally believe the smoke is doing much here and it’s all down to the time, temp, and humidity and your EQ. moisture content chart
So in Louisiana 2 years?
ha, pretty much! On the plus side you have a lot more control of the drying process when it doesn’t go so fast, and can always force it faster if you need. In a very humid place heat treating can really help reduce how much the wood is affected by moisture
Can i use the heat gun insted of steaming 7:14
Not really, it won’t loosen up the bark. You can use a hot shower instead. Some species will pressure wash very well too.
Honestly I don’t mind stuck bark and prefer to use the drawknife since it looks the best
What would it cost somebody for you to make one
how long for american elm? at 100 f ??
See the video for advice on using an equilibrium moisture content chart. Time is a very poor predictor of moisture content so I can’t answer that question
Bro is " santana " name is inspired from Hinduism ?
Sounds close! It’s my middle name. Much easier to pronounce
@@DanSantanaBows ohh ♥️ . I love archery . In India there is a grantha name Mahabharata. There is immense knowledge about archery in Mahabharata. We indians just love archery . U got a subscriber mate. ♥️
Sir why do you kill tree? Use tree branch so tree still lives
I’ve planted way more trees than I’ve cut and year after year I keep the forest nicer than when I found it. Deforestation is a huge issue but responsible use of sustainable materials is completely different.
Tree branches rarely have good enough staves. I don’t know any serious bowyers who primarily use branches
Fill the trash bag with dry sawdust. This will help prevent mold if you change it out before it gets wet.
great tip!
Aaand … FROG!
why do you sound like the aperture guy??