Three Bow Staves A Bowyer's Winter Harvest. Elm, Hawthorn & Hazel Felled with a Wolverine Pocket Saw
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Three Bow Staves. A Bowyer's Winter Harvest. Elm, Hawthorn & Hazel felled with a Wolverine Pocket Saw. Whilst waiting for an elder flatbow to complete its seasoning, I decide to take a walk through the woods to gather bow staves. I fell three small trees - hazel, elm and hawthorn. Hopefully each will make a bow in the future.
If you harvest your own bow woods, please do so responsibly. Always seek the landowner's permission. Thank you.
Cheap pocket saw: Wolverine folding saw available on eBay and from other sellers.
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Yay, I get to be the first to make a comment! I hope you're enjoying your lovely English countryside this winter!!
I certainly am! Thanks for being first past the post! Mick
@@MickGrewcock How long are your elm tree suckers for staves? 8 foot?
About that. My bow from the elm was around 76 inches.
@@MickGrewcock But do you see trees that grow larger than 76
@@tonymaurice4157 Oh yes, that was just the stave. The trees at that stage (pre dieing from DED) we’re about 25 feet tall
Mick ,my dear friend I hope you are doing well in these crazy days, I hope you are still building longbows and arrows.
Stay healthy my friend and God bless
Hi Gary. I’m good thank you but no longer building bows - changed course after a back problem. Hope you are well!
I'm sorry about your back ,I have crushed vertebrae and bulging disc in my back ,I wish you well in your endeavors and keep us posted
I have been watching your video for almost 2 years and will keep watching it in the future. So educational.
Thank you Raj for sticking with me. Always appreciated. Mick
I love how the music changed when the environment changed!
That weather report is genius...it's so atmospheric.
I think that dark center in hawthorn is just heartwood. Wish you luck with future bows!
Thank you Milos.
Where I've seen this in Hawthorn it does not conforrn to the growth rings. The question is will it withstand tillering without failing? Tome for a bending test?
I have a feeling that Hawthorn stave will make a good bow. The butterfly looking color discoloration at the end of the stave is a sign of good luck ;).
Oh I hope it does mean good luck! Some say it's dead wood some say it's heart wood - but I prefer your interpretation!
Very high quality as ever. Thank you very much, I always enjoy seeing these from up here in Scotland.
Good evening Scotland! Thanks for the message - appreciated. Mick
That Hawthorne is beautiful! It’ll make a beautiful attempt, and the internal color along with its growth shape will make stunning figuring.
I hope it works out - though I have my doubts about that dark wood in the middle. Cut another piece today and it's cream coloured all the way through. Thank you for watching.
I love your video's you've simplified many things and inspired my new favorite hobies archery and bow craftsmanship thank you so much keep up the good work for years to come
Thanks for that Connor. Glad you enjoy my videos. Mick
Mick Grewcock I love how you can take time out of your day to read comments and respond to fand that's verry admirable maybe you could sometime buy an american wood to try I personaly recomend the ossage orange the original bow of the native Americans
Hi Connor. Thank you - and I hope to do that one day. When I feel confident with my skills I should like to try Osage and vine maple. Cheers.
Yes, yes! The more hazel the better! Hawthorn makes very good flatbows. Wood has incredible amount of inner knots and these show as black dots on the limbs of bow. If they are on the edges, you would need to remove them, but those on middle should be left alone.
Thanks for that. Unsure about my hawthorn - that dark wood some say is dead and brittle wood. Time will tell I guess. Thanks for your guidance. Mick
It is probably dead. But if you find any healthy saplings, use them. They make very good looking bows. Why? Because they have dark red heartwood and beige colored sapwood. So if you make a stiff handled flatbow, handle will be in two different colors, because belly part of it will be made from heartwood and back from sapwood. When you coat it after that with beeswax, you get real cool looking bow.
Oh, that's really encouraging. I'm a bot puzzled by the heartwood thing though - not sure if mine has that heartwood colour or it's dead. Certainly the limb was a living one - it's not dead in the growing sense. I'm cutting another piece soon to check the colour of that. Thanks.
England is beautiful, so grassy and calm
That toast shot made me hungry!
I’m excited to see some of those staves roughed out! Especially the elm, idk about English elm but American elm is difficult to find a straight enough tree to make a bow out of. I’ve heard some people say that elms grain can’t really handle the elb style. My father In law and brother in law just fell a nice black cherry tree, trying to talk my father in law into letting me keep the rest of it that was left. Cherry will make some really gorgeous core wood.
Hi, elm - or at least English elm - makes fine bows. I haven't made one myself yet but I have handled one and it is a lovely looking wood and will make good draw weights. That one was a heavy longbow (135lbs) and had a flattish belly profile and squarish cross section. The black cherry sounds awesome. Hope you get some. Mick
Hi Mick, I have a few Hawthorn staves and non of them have ever had the dark wood in the centre. I think that is dead wood. I haven't made a bow out of them yet though but will be doing this year as they are now well seasoned. Good luck with yours. I love your videos, have been watching for a good while now and I have learned so much from you. Thank you...
Hello Matthew. Thank you, that's really useful. Two other correspondents have mentioned that the dark wood might be dead and brittle wood. I intend to harvest a few more staves from the same area - hopefully one will be clear of that dark wood. Thank you very much, you've confirmed my growing fears and I will get another piece. Thanks.
That point on crooked hawthorne is interesting...here in NW America the Hawthorne thickets grow straight as a broom. I’ve got a log seasoning right now. Excited to see if it will turn out to be a good bow wood
Good luck with your bow - hawthorn here rarely gets opportunity to grow straighten the UK because many are hedgerow trees which get cut often. Thanks for watching.
More in the pipeline then Mick ;) good to see mother nature come back out to play ;)
Yes, she's already bustling about in the hedgerows! Be here soon. Have a great week.
Cheers m8 i will ,i got the week off ;)
Oh cool! Enjoy!!!
Mick, good luck to you on those staves! Still loving your taste in background music. Keep up the good work!
Good video mic
Loved the way you stalked those Bow staves Mick . Came up on them all covert and stealthy didn't you :) If you get that Hawthorn to work out you might have a potent Bow there, if the ancient spiritual links to the hawthorn kick in . Best of luck with them .
Another great video mick. You made that thicket look so sinister with the choice of music. Hope these staves turn out well for you.
Thanks Shane. That thicket actually is quote spooky and sinister but I hammed it up a bit with the music I guess! I have my eye out for some ash for you by the way ;-)
Mick Grewcock ohh wow thank you so much good sir!
Good luck on the build.
Very cool. I love the production on your videos, so much goodness. This week I'll also start my journey into bowmaking (not filming though), I'm starting with a rarely used compression strong (and somewhat brittle in tension) local Eucalyptus. A small scale test on dry wood shows it has potential but tillering will be crucial. Time to go make some firewood :)
Good luck and I hope you have success. These challenges are great, aren't they?
Thank you.
Hi Mick. Be careful with that Hawthorn, it’s said to not be very good in tension. However a man on primitive archer, Marc St. Louis I believe, said that a light backing of maple or ash makes it work well though.
Ryan Sy I’ve had really good success with rawhide backings. It adds some strength and protection against splinters. Plus I’ve had some bows that pulled way past the stacking point and never failed, I’m assuming it’s from the rawhide. I’ve seen some people, mike from boarriorbows use sinew and rawhide with some pretty good results.
kyle plants Really? What were some of the dimensions? Don’t forget tha width is also a key factor. Also, how much set was taken? It’s an indicator if damage. Good on you for doing so good. Makes me question the limits of these materials
Looking forward to seeing the finished products Mick. Are you sure the last one was hawthorn? The purple, dense center with the long thorns is typical of blackthorn - Maybe?
Hi Tony, yes definitely hawthorn (and not Midland hawthorn or blackthorn). The centre is under some debate - I cut some more and that piece has a creamy centre (as I expected when I cut the first piece). Various thoughts have been offered for dark centre - dead wood, rot or disease. I've kept it and will see how it bends - it would look nice if it did stand bending. I have cut many blackthorn (that's my thicket that I was in, which has very many blackthorn) and I have not seen a dark centre to blackthorn before - be interesting to find some of that to see what that is like too. Thanks for watching. Mick
Mick, I've been turning green blackthorn lately and looked just like yours, having said that the bark looks different but is has a much larger diameter. 👍
Hi Tony, the bark on blackthorn is much different to hawthorn. I always think that the tiny nodules on blackthorn bark look like tiny pursed lips!
Mick yeah lol 👍
I think you'll find the dark centre to the hawthorn is actually dead wood. I've used hawthorn like this in woodturning where the dark bit looks very effective, but I doubt it'll be any good for a bow.
Hi there. I'm hearing mixed signals about that dark centre - heartwood or dead wood. Certainly the limb is/was living - but I'm not sure about the heart of it. Time will tell. Thanks for the info.
The last time I took a piece of hawthorn it had heavy brown discoloration in a location where the bark had rubbed through against another stem. I avoided this in the layout but the brown colour had spread internally, reappearing elsewhere and it turned out to be very brittle when the wood was dry. This stave was pretty well along before it snapped on the tiller. I have every reason to believe that it would have been OK if not for the brittleness of the brown parts.
You might want to cut off a piece, dry it and bend test it before investing too much time in that piece.
Going into the woods myself in a few hours to find a long clean second-growth maiden.
Looking for a big enough diameter to give a less crowned back surface which probably means splitting and reducing before carrying the mile or so out across the fields, so I'll be taking a few tools.
Should be easy to pick out the hazel with catkins getting long while the leaves are still in bud..
I know there's a lot of good second growth ash, but I can take one of those another time.
Hi Mick !!! 😀😀😀
Like this video ...verry instructive !!!
Actually , I like all your videos ...😇😇😇😇
Hey Mick , no news about the elder bow ???
ATB ,
Sorin the bowman / ROUMANIA
Hi Sorin, the elder is still drying. Hopefully I'll be on it soon. Thanks for watching. Mick
Top notch editing as always Mick! Have you done a video on curing? I feel like anything I ever cut for a stave splits like the dickens.
Hi Victor, no I haven't done one specifically about seasoning wood though it is mentioned in my blackthorn and hazel videos. Some of my staves split at the ends but gradually I am learning how wood behaves (I am self taught so make many mistakes!). I use builder's adhesive PVA mostly to seal the ends and any cut part of my staves which slows down the moisture loss from the stave ends (which is where they usually split). However, I have some blackthorn and that splits sometimes whether sealed or not. I am learning that winter cut wood (which holds less moisture) reduces the risk of splitting somewhat. Good luck! Mick
I've harvested few hawthorn staves in December, none had those dark patches. Possibly a fungus? Hopefully it'll be ok as I would love to see you make a bow out of it. Overall the wood gave me the impression of being very dense, heavy. I took the bark of one stave, left the rest with bark on and put them in the cellar. Seems like that one stave is not checking or cracking but sources advice to "seal everything". One peculiar feature of this wood is a presence of this "nodes", kinda like bamboo has but much less pronounced (maybe it's just my experience with this particular staves but it was quite surprising).
Hello Hank. Good that you've had some experience of hawthorn. Do you know what type of hawthorn? Mine is common hawthorn, we have another hawthorn in the UK called Midland Hawthorn - not sure if the wood is same or similar. Yes it appears quite dense wood to me - can't count the rings, too close. The dark may be dead wood, not sure yet. Good luck with yours.
It's Crataegus monogyna or an inbred (if that's the right term) of it with Crataegus laevigata, but for sure it isn't pure Crataegus laevigata. I have high hopes for those staves but time will tell. Good luck to you too.
please do more stave finding vids
Okay!
The parts under the knots of the hazel stave show a twisted grow (2:16). I would cut a better one.
Yes you are right about the twist, but I shall keep the stave until dry to see if it can be used. Thanks for watching. Mick
Mick I am inspired by your videos to make my own bow I see a few likely branches on my backyard Plum tree which is due for a serious pruning. When would be best to harvest the staves, its late summer here in NZ right now should I wait until winter or just cut now and put under the house to dry for a while.
John Edwards Hi there John. Good luck with the plum. My limited experience plus received knowledge says harvest in the winter when the wood carries less moisture than in the growing season. But if you have several suitable boughs then you could take one now and the rest in the winter giving you a stave to practise on and then others in store for a second/third bow and comparisons. I have heard plum often checks (splits) when drying but have no personal experience of that. Our blackthorn is a plum and some of mine has random splits in store. You could try working your first stave to oversize bow dimensions and then clamping it to a post ( to resist twisting) thus allowing wood to lose moisture rapidly. Watch my series on hazel longbows to get the general idea. Best wishes. Mick
Great answer thanks the idea of progressive harvest is great. Trouble is once I start cutting the tree the wife will expect it to be almost all gone ;) She wants it fully gone. So I will delay until winter and then do a severe prune thus get some staves. Last time I cut it back I saved the wood for my fish smoker and still have some that's been dried for about 4 years the smaller branches and the large 100mm ones split allot but the middle sized ones don't seem too bad. I was thinking cut then one stave rough out a bow green as you suggest then the others just put in the shed until I get around to it which may be long enough, for them to be well cured.
Last week I added a new plan, I showed my recurve bow to my 4 yr old grandson who was mightily impressed. So I measured his height and went out to cut a short 40 mm stave and roughed out a bow it had a slight curve forward so It spent the week clamped to a straight board then yesterday I planned it down to close to shape It will continue to dry but a quick fitting this afternoon left a very excited little boy and a daughter/mother with pursed lips :) looking better every day.
Lovely story! Good luck :-)
Your videos get better each Time. Congratulations from Mexico.
Did. You try the almond oil to protect your bows?
Thank you! No, not tried almond oil yet - but I will!
U have spring but in finland its coldest time of year
Hi Luukas, yes we have hints of spring - it seems early this year. I looked at the weather report for Finland. Wow!
hi mick, do you sell bows? i would like to buy one. keep up the great work!
Hi there! Regrets, I don't sell my bows. I really appreciate you asking but I don't feel confident yet in my bow work and entering into some kind of commercial agreement is outside of what I do just now. Very good of you to ask and I hope you understand. Thanks again. Mick
thats sad, i want a old, traditional bow but there are very few real craftsman like you around. tell me if you'd ever change your mind!
Sorry about that, you are not the first to ask though. I know he's always busy and has a waiting list, but you could contact Will Sherman of Medieval Arrows (he has a website and Facebook page). He makes medieval arrows but also 'war bows' and longbows (not Victorian style). Also Derek Hutchison (Del Cat of Bowyer's Diary on the web) may also take orders for traditional bows. Both men are good guys and very knowledgeable in their own field. Mick
i dont want to buy one thats to expensive though, most folks i've seen price their bows at 450dollar, i think that this is way to expensive :(
I think Will’s bows are around £250/£300 UK sterling pounds plus carriage from UK.
For me I lack your faith in that twisted piece of elder. I suspect your new selections will provide usefull candidate's. I wish you good luck on all your efforts.
Thanks Chris. I have mixed feelings about the elder but I hope it works! Thanks for watching.
Whats ur dogs name?
Hi Bryan, he's named Ben.