I cut some ash staves they’re getting a propeller twist too them. Any suggestions on getting the twist out? Thinking of cutting the twist off for a 58-62” bow I’m gonna rawhide back it. Is that pushing it for a 26” draw?

Twist usually isn't that big of a problem unless your doing a recurve. You can try to heat the belly side of bow and get as much out as you can. It's fine to have some twist left in though. Bjrogg

Clamp them down a piece of straight wood or steel. How wide are they?

Thanks for the info. They’re probably 4”. I was thinking 1.5-2” wide.

Thanks for the info. They’re probably 4”. I was thinking 1.5-2” wide.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of leaving white wood in stave form after I cut it. Especially this time of year. It is really wet.

I much prefer to rough the bow out, and then clamp it to either a piece of steel. or a good straight board to let it finish drying.

Much easier to rough out, much easier to control twist, dries quicker, and works just as well.

That's how I do it too. Easier for me, and safer for the wood.

I rough them green, and put on a form take twist out ,straighten tips to riser clamping the whole time, and let it dry on its own.Once dried heat treat belly ,take off the form, and final tiller.Works best for me that way.

We haven't had a live, healthy white ash in Michigan in well over a decade. Where did you find one to cut?

PEARL, that is really unfortunate, and to me, sad. I like ash trees, esp. when they turn color, in the pastels they have. To me, that signals the beginning of the best time for bow hunting. We still have a lot of healthy ash here, but they are starting to get hit. Good to know how you can straighten them because I have some pieces cut for staves - thanks for the tips from here too. TK

I live in the central up, lots of ash near my house. Generally speaking hardwoods near my house are maple or ash, some oaks never seen Osage up here. So I cut it in January, with the plan of building after this deer season. It’s around 12% now. Should I go short and cut off the twist or try and heat it out later? Thanks for the input guys this is my first go at a self bow where I cut the stave.

I would let it dry for now and use dry heat to shape the bow and remove twist as you get into the build. Ash likes to be long and wide.

Twist is not a problem unless it gets to be more than 30 degrees. Some twist may seem like a lot but once you rough out the bow and start tillering it is not so bad.

Later, dry heat will fix it if needed.

Remember this is wood bowyery and a little character in the bow is not a thing to be feared. We don't have to make our bows look like FG bows.

My site has info on fixing a twist.

http://traditionalarchery101.com/fixtwist.html

Jawge

Good to know. It’s probably around the 30 degrees mark. I’ll see how it shakes out when I get there and use your method George.

Thanks

I've got a few board feet of ash sitting in my yard right now :-)

Thats a 32" bar for scale...

Like Pearl said. All the ash are dead here. A few saplings but as soon as the bark turns from smooth to rough the bore gets em. It really almost depressing. Whole woodlots with dead trees standing and falling in every direction. Isn't safe to walk through them. Bad enough they all die and fall down, but then they land on another type tree and take it down. Or the pines don't have enough roots for the wind that the ash once blocked and they get blown over. My advice to anyone who is just starting to get the bore. Cut as many nice ash as you can while there still good and safe to cut. Wish I would have. Bjrogg

A chainsaw is definitely on my wish list

Kudos to what you just posted George.

Kudos to what you just posted George.

Vtbow, is that an old McCollough chainsaw.

Sure is Ron. 97cc of pure American power!

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