RE: Maple bows (AP)
Maple is what they call a white wood. You have to follow one growth ring, but, with the wood next to the surface of the tree, that's simple. Strip off the outer and inner bark down to bare woodand there's the back of your bow. There is nothing more to do to it. All the rest of the work will be done on the sidesand belly.
With maple, I'd make a flat bow instead of a high stacked, D-section English longbow. Limbs about 1 1/2" wide, handle section 1" wide. Length would be double your draw length + another 15%. For instance, a bow for a 28" draw would be 64" long.
If it was me, I'd break a few rules. Take one of the least promising looking staves you've got and work it right now. Get it roughed in and floor tillered. Then rub it down with Crisco, to keep it from drying out too fast and getting drying cracks, then set it aside for a few weeks. It should be ready to make into a bow by then.
You could even get a bed rail or something else that's long, straight and strong, put a chunk of 2X4 under the grip area and tie the ends of the limbsdown snug. The idea isto put in some back set while the bow blank is drying. I did that once and made a really nice bow that shot great... for awhile. It broke.My mistake was that I didn't back it. If I had it to do over again, I would glue a silk or raw linen backing on the bow before doing the final tillering.
I haven't boken a single selfbow since I started backing them. Cloth won't add any power to the bow, like sinew does, but it does seem tokeep them in one piece.
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