[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Help with fletcher! #15006

Most pro’s will tell you the Bitzenburger is the way to go, and I agree – if you’ve got the cash for it. I’ve got one and use it on occasion but it takes a while to fletch a dozen shafts with one fletcher. I’ve also got a jojan and it works fine for 6 shafts at a time. Lot’s cheaper too.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: A REGRESS FOR MS BOWHUNTERS #14993

Hey, msarcher, where are you from? I spent a few years in Starkville while in grad school. Hunted Noxubee refuge a bunch – great part of the state.

Have you called your representitive, commissioners about your concerns?

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Let's build a selfbow #13885

Beautyfull work Chad. It looks like we both have more bows than we know what to do with. 😀

I put the snake skin on the bow and finished it off. I’ll post some pics in a day or so.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Hunting Public land #12710

http://www.backcountryhunters.org 😉

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Cane/bamboo arrows #12488

I used cane a lot when I lived down south. It’s a great shafting, tough, and easy to get high spines. The tough part is finding high quality material. There’s lots of cane, but few stands meet the “good material” marker.

I always looked for lond spaces between the nodes, and no kinks. Most cane will be somewhat wavy, and that’s fine. You can straiten waves, but not kinks. It’s, by far, the toughest shafting I’ve ever used. It’s not as light as you’d think though. At least not the stuff I was using. But, since it’s tapered, most of the weight is up front.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: TBM Arrived Yesterday! #9412

That was a great article Chad, one of the best I’ve read in a while. Hope you’ve got more in the works.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Let's build a selfbow #7768

[quote=steve graf]Very nice!! So what will you finish the bow with?quote]

I’ll put a couple coats of tongue oil or spar on it to seal it up.

Thanks for following along guys. I’ve been thinking about using a couple of snake skins I’ve got lying around to back it with. It’d be purely cosmetic but I think it’d look good and I don’t have a snake backed bow.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Got snow? #61526

Hey Dave, I think that’s why they call it summer range:D

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Let's build a selfbow #60282

Below are pics of the bow before and after bracing for the first time. You can see in the second pic that the limb to the right is bending more than the left one. There also appears to be a slight hing in the center of the right limb. The bow would probably pull 90 lbs at this point so we have plenty of room to remove wood and even things out.

This is a little better. I marked the hinge so I wouldn’t take off any more wood in that area, took a few scrapes off the strong limb and this is the result (first pic). It’s still way heavy so I took a little more wood of both limbs (second pic). Little at a time.

The top limb is a bit stiff so a few more scrapes off that one. A few minor adjustments, and an arrow shelf later and here you have it.

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Wood Arrow Build Along "Finished" #60241

lookin good!

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Let's build a selfbow #60160

Ok, now we’re gonna get something done. I had plenty of time today to work on this project.

Yesterday afternoon I whittled a small peg and superglued it into the one worm hole I was concerned with, then I cut it off and worked the limb like any other.

After getting it all cleaned up and semi smooth with the draw knife I started in with the scraper (I use an old sheath knife) to reduce the thickness a little at a time until the limbs started bending.

At this point I could just tiller the bow out and finish it off, but that’d be too easy. I’ve always been rather fond of curves so what the heck. Once the bow was floor tillered and bending fairly well, I greased the limb tips and put them(one at a time of course) in the oven to heat up. I usually heat the wood until it’s too hot to handle but be careful, it needs to be heated throughout, not just the outside. I grease the wood to cut down on losing any moisture that’s still in the wood, causing it to become brittle. Once the wood is hot and flexible, into the form it goes.

A little test after both tips are bent and everything is cooled.

Now I’ll cut in the knocks and we’re ready to start some serious tillering.

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Gap shooters #59764

I use Byron Furgeson’s method. Kinda like what Steve’s talking about. Not sure what it’s called.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: old growth bows #59010

Deadhead’s were logged from the virgin stands back in the 1800’s. The growth rings tend to be tighter and, as for LL Pine and cypress, they tend to be more decay resistant.

Not the same as just any log in a river. There’s a whole industry in salvaging these giants. I’ve heard of a single log selling for nearly 5 grand.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: old growth bows #58564

Where I come from these old sunken logs are called “dead heads”. There mostly(at least down south), cypress and longleaf pine – not really good bow wood, but beautyfully tight grained nonetheless.

Maybe there’s some deadhead Yew in the Pacific NW somewhere. I’d love to get my hands on a piece of that stuff.

ch

[Clay Hayes]

in reply to: Let's build a selfbow #57887

I took the belly side down to near the line I’d drawn on both top and bottom limbs with a hatchet.

After the heavy work was done, I cleaned everything up with a drawknife. You can really see the backset in the second pic below.

I had a little help today.

[Author]

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