This little project was initially just intended to explore how much twist and malformation could be corrected through drying a badly mishappen green field ma[le stave whilst clamped to a form. The stave came out so well that I decided to persevere with it and the project ended up turning into a full bow build. The end result is a nice sweet shooting deflex reflex selfbow. The full build can be seen here: https://southmoorbows.com/build-along-field-maple-deflex-reflex-character-longbow/
As is typical of Field Maple, this stave lacked much in the way of colour or grain so I decided to stain it. Antler tip overlays and a simple black leather handle/arrow pass compliment the natural character of the bow. The limb cross section ranges from crowned/convexed to almost rectangular with some mild valleys, troughs and hills around the few small knots and naturally wavy grain.
Measurements are as follows:
Length Nock to nock: 66″
Limb width at widest point – Top: 2 1/8″ Bottom:2 1/8″
This project started out as a simple short term experiment. I’d had my eye on a clean but crooked and twisted Field Maple limb for quite a while. Trying to envisage where within the limb I could salvage a stave from was difficult. The limb was about 4.5” thick and had a section about 80” long which was relatively clean. In general the limb was sound and free from large knots, pins and other major imperfections.
The 80” section that showed most potential for making a bow stave did have other issues to consider however. This most usable section was badly twisted and had a significant sideways bend in one half of the stave. There was also a very large amount of natural reflex in what would be the middle/handle section.
To start with, I just wondered if it would be possible to improve the shape, twist and alignment of such a misshapen stave whilst it was still green. I’ve performed many shape corrections on green staves before, using forms and clamps, but I’d never before tried to correct asymmetries in a stave which were as server as this without using fully seasoned staves manipulated with steam bending.
I’ve worked with clean Field Maple on many occasions before so understand the potential this wood has for making a very good white wood bow. In the past I’ve used dry heat to correct minor twist and alignment issues on fully seasoned Field Maple staves. I’ve also used steam heat bending on Field Maple staves for more significant bending such as recurving tips or bending handles for alignment issues etc.
The amount of twist and reflex in this Field Maple stave however was way more than I’ve dealt with before. My expectations for this stave were not great. I envisaged the stave resisting the significant forces necessary to bend and twist this green stave into a better shape.
I also expected cracking or delamination to occur in the mid section due to the shear amount of force than would be necessary to pull the twist out using clamps and a drying form. But my expectations were proven wrong!
The green Field Maple stave roughed out and clamped to a reflexed form to try and produce a more workable shape. Note how the tips have been left full width for extra sideways leverage from the clamps. this really helps to pull twist out.
Side view of the green stave being force dried in the mid day sun on an especially hot late summer day. Note the remaining reflex in the handle section.
The reflex in the handle section was going to remain no matter what I did but this was fine as I could imagine this stave potentially turning into a reflex/deflex longbow. By leaving the limbs full width out to the tips I was able to get significant leverage from the clamps positioned on the edges of limbs. This leverage enabled me to crush down on the side of the limb that was pulling away from the form due to the limb twist. This worked really well and the twist between the fades and the limb tips came out beautifully.
The overall shape was made much more even by using the reflexed form too. By forcing the tips to line up with the handle centre I was also able to correct most of the significant string misalignment. Throughout the end of August I left the clamped stave outside in the sun on hot days.
The stave came indoors for a week once the temps dropped and was left on one of my window sills which catches all of the mid day sun. This window sill is like a green house and serves to quickly force dry staves very well. After the stave had been allowed to dry on the form for about a month I removed the clamps to inspect the results.
Plenty of character left but a much more workable shape overall
side view immediately after removing the clamps and form.
The overall twist was reduced from nearly 70 degrees to about 5 degrees. The massive reflex was tamed to something much more manageable and the string alignment was now only a little off to one side. The stave now actually looked perfectly workable with plenty of character remaining, so instead of calling the project done I decided to see what I could do to turn this stave into an actual finished bow.
My next job was to get this stave down to some realistic dimensions. It would be unlikely that this stave was totally dry so by getting close to final dimensions I’d soon get this stave fully dried and ready for tillering.
Marking out the limb tips. I’d decided to plan for fine antler tip overlays on this bow so initially I laid the rough tip design out to 20mm tapering out to full width at mid limb.
Marking out the rough outer limb shape using my steel ruler to follow the natural curves of this stave. The final shape however will be dictated by the grain itself rather than by lines.
Working down to my lines with the draw knife. Field Maple is a wonderful wood to use cutting tools on.
The approximate shape of the bottom limb. I decided to go for a classic willow leaf shape and carry the tapper from mid limb out to the tips. This stave was initially roughed out to 2 ¼” wide which is what the stave measures in this picture. I may reduce this width to 2” before tillering though.
Top limb roughed out to the same approximate dimensions as the bottom limb. The top limb will be the straighter of the two limbs.
The string alignment appears to be favouring the left side of this picture which suits the decision to make the nearest limb the top limb. This will result in the arrow favouring the left hand side of the bow which suits me as a right handed archer.
Now to reduce the limb thickness to something more like ready for tillering.
Field Maple is a dense wood so these 14+mm thick limbs will need quite a bit of reducing in order to get them to a point where the tillering process can begin. I’m going to aim for 14mm fade end thickness tapering down to 10mm side thickness at the tips. I want the tips to do a very small amount of work on this bow so I will reduce them down to 10 mm but keep away from them when tillering. This should Keep the last 6” of the tips stiffer than the working section of the limb, but without leaving the tips carrying unnecessary mass which would be the consequence of keeping the tips thick enough to ensure that they are completely static.
Working down to my lines with the draw knife.One edge worked down to the line.
Same on the other side.
Bringing both sides together to make the limb initially flat on the belly.
There are only a couple of knots on this stave which look like they will fall of the bow as more material gets removed.
This limb is now approximately 14mm thick as it leaves the fades tappering down to 10mm thick at the tips.
5 minutes with the Shinto rasp makes sure everything is nice and flat with an even thickness taper. I like the Shinto rasp for this job because it is easy to keep flat. Whilst it’s great for working down flat sections, it won’t get into dips etc very well.
Following the dips and humps on the belly to make sure the edge thickness is even. The half round rasp comes in handy here.
A quick scrap with the card scrapper and the basic limb thickness is ready for finer scrutiny.
A nice bit of wiggle to work with.
When I work the face down to rough dimensions on any bow, I always let the grain dictate the limb shape. This avoids creating grain run out which in my experience is a fast way to limb failure.
Next I needed to get the cambium off the back of the stave.
Until the cambium has been thinned right down I can’t get a true handle on the real thickness of all parts of the limb. I tend to leave quite a lot of cambium on a stave right through to the limb thickness reduction phase as the cambium layer acts as a good layer of protection to the back of the bow. A cushion against scrapes and scratches is a good idea whenever the back of a bow will be seen on the finished bow. Since this bow will not be backed the natural appearance of the first layer of wood below the cambium will be displayed on the finished bow so taking care to protect the back of this stave is important.
The valleys and troughs on the back require the use of a gouge to get down through the cambium to wood.The curved scrapper is used to expose the first layer of wood.
Personally I like the appearance of self bows which have a little bit of cambium left on the back of the bow. This little bit of cambium adds to the beauty of the finished bow and confirms to the observer that the back of the bow is in actual fact the very wood which once grew directly beneath the bark. No ring chasing necessary. This remaining cambium also creates a beautiful camouflaged effect on the back of the bow.
The curved scrapper can get into most of the valleys and troughs and can be useful for working around raised spots like knots too.
As tempting as it often is to hog at the cambium with a draw knife it is too easy to nick the underlying wood and compromise the back of the bow so I always proceed with caution using a scraper for raised spots in particular.
A small gouge comes in handy at times.
The back of this stave has an undulating topography which presents as hills, valleys and troughs. If I were to leave the belly completely flat in cross section then the hills on the back would act as stiff points and the valleys and troughs would act as weak spots. To counter this potential problem I contour the bellies on my wide limb bows so that the belly topography matches that of the back but in reverse. To achieve this I use a mixture of gouges and curved scrapers to remove material from the belly directly opposite the hilly thicker spots on the back. This enables me to leave material behind over the thinner valley and trough areas of the back. This affords them extra protection and creates a truly even thickness across the entire width of the limb.
Here is an example of where there is a hill on the back creating a thick spot. I’ll counter for this by scraping away material on the belly which is directly opposite the high point on the back.
I use my fingers to feel the thickness across the whole limb. If I find a thick spot I’ll remove material from the belly until the thickness is the same as everywhere else nearby. I’m aiming to end up with limbs which are an even taper of 14mm – 10mm thick along the entire length and width of the bow. This means that areas of the back which present as high crowned will have a corresponding belly section which is effectively hollowed out to counter for the crowned back. This stave has a mixture of high crown plus flatter sections with hills, valleys and troughs so the belly will end up being far from flat.
I use my fingers and thumbs to feel for differences in thickness. Once I’ve found a thick spot then the curved scraper gets called into action.Constantly checking for even thickness.Trying to mirror the back on the belly.
Here you can see than I’ve dug out a trough on one side of the limbs belly to replicate what is happening to the surface wood directly opposite on the back of the stave.
Here the limb has a notable crown so the whole width of the belly is hollowed out to compensate.
This limb has a 12” section which has a high crown so the belly here will have a correspondingly hollow profile. Maple is a wonderful wood to work with a scrapper.
Countering the excessive reflex in the handle with some deflex in the limbs.
The next job was to put some deflex into the limbs to counter for the reflex in the handle section. I do this with the flat back of a form and some padded blocks and a clamp to create the right shape. I’m aiming to create most of the deflex around the first third of the limb about 6 – 12” out from the ends of the fades.
Here I’m using a heat gun to gently heat up the belly. I make sure I heat both sides of the clamp to make sure the deflex is evenly distributed throughout the first two thirds of the limb.
After about 10 minutes of heating the belly and the sides I then leave it to cool for an hour.
After both limbs have totally cooled I check both limbs for twist. Both limbs could do with a little bit of a correction so I fit a scrap piece of wood to each limb so that I can lever the limbs into a better position.
Once again the heat gun is used to heat the sections of the limbs which I want to correct
I’m carful where I choose to heat as I want to flick the tips on this stave and realise that if I make an early heat correction to a limb near the tips then the steaming of the tips which takes place later will pull the previous heat correction back out when the heat from the steaming travels down to where the twist correction was made.
Now that the limb twist has been dealt with I steam the tips for half an hour so than I can put a small amount of reflex into them.
I’m a fan of longbows but enjoy the lack of stack which a recurve benefits from. Whilst not wanting to go for a full recurve design on this bow I did like the idea of balancing the deflex and reducing stack a little by flicking the tips on what is aimed at finishing up a longbow.
After half an hour over the pan I fit my steel ruler to the belly of the stave using a small G clamp and a packing block to protect the back from clamping pressure. I frequently do this as it really helps prevent the belly tips from delaminating when being bent over the recurve form. The extra support of the flexible steel ruler simply stops a splinter lifting on the belly which is the kiss of death to many would be bows. This trick is especially important if your stave tip belly is not presenting as one growth ring, which is the case here. On this particular stave, both tips span two growth rings so delamination is a high probability without the ruler acting as a brace.
Into the recurve form she goes. My oven door handles act as the perfect brace to hold the stave in position whilst left to cool for half an hour.The flat wooden spatula which you can see stuffed into the tip acts as a wedge to hold both the limb tip and the steel ruler in place. The old tea towel just prevents the back of the limb tip getting marked by the form. This is how I do most of my recurves/flicked tips.Both tips flicked.After a rest overnight to cool and re aclimatise the stave is now looking quite nice and even from the side profile.
The tips are both kicking out in opposite directions which will call for a little more heat twisting in order to get them lined up.
I’m keeping any further adjustments away from the tips so as not to cause the recurves to fall out. I will give both limbs a bit of a twist with the heat gun then recheck for tip alignment and string alignment overall.
By griping the upper third of the limb in the padded jaws of my vice and fitting the other limb with a wooden paddle I can lever a significant amount of counter twist into the mid limb section.
I have to be careful at this point to make sure that the deflex that has already been put in is not lost. I make sure to protect the deflex by setting up the paddle so that the leverage is the direction that promotes flexion to the limb rather than extension. This trick will ensure that the deflex is preserved.
Now would be a good time to roughly shape the handle.
I thought about including an arrow shelf on this bow and certainly had plenty of wood left with which to do that, but I fancied going old school and figured a simple handle for off the knuckle shooting would complement the natural lines of this stave best.
Working down to my lines with the draw knife first.Hitting my lines accurately and achieving handle symmetry with the Shinto rasp.
Three inch fades rounded into a classic willow leaf shape.
Rounding the corners on the back. I sometimes like a spokeshave for this job.Cleaning up the corners and the sides and making sure the face profile is finalised before tillering starts. Next job – tip overlays!
Bottom nock with string groove cut. Both overlays are left wide for now and will be thinned down quite a bit before the bow is finished. I like quite fine tips on willow leaf shaped limbs.
I’m heat treating both flicked tips here in order to prevent the bend pulling out once tillering begins. I also quite like the dark coloured tips which results from only targeting the last 6” of the limb. The dark colour contrasts nicely with the lighter untreated belly wood.Now that the overlays are functional I can eyeball the tips and handle for alignment. The string biased towards the left side of the bow appears a little too strong so I decide to heat the handle area for a correction.The handle is quite thick so I opt for setting the stave over the wood burner top whilst fitted to a bending jig.
The depth of heat penetration that you get with this method is significantly greater than can be achieved with a heat gun. After 45 minutes the handle section is scolding hot so the stave is manipulated into alignments and then comes off the heat and is allowed to cool for an hour. After the jig comes off I check for alignment and am happy to see that the correction has brought string alignment back to just favouring the left side which is perfect for a right handed archer such as me.
Roughly shaping the handle before starting the tillering process.Deflex reflex staves are always easier to tiller as the even shape has already been achieved through the various heat bending processes.
This stave is heavy but almost braceable right out the gate. After about 15 mins of long string tillering on the tiller tree the bow can be strung at a 6” brace height.
The left limb in the picture above is the bottom limb and is slightly weaker than the right limb which the top limb. I shoot split fingers so want this bow to finish out with an 1/8″ – 1/4 ” positive tiller. This was opposite to what the bow was doing at brace so I needed to reduce to top limb to swing the balance the other way. This is fine though as at this point, the bow is still quite heavy. I’m a short drawer so I’m aiming for 50lbs at 26”. At the minute I’m still getting 50lb at 22” so I spend an hour carefully reducing the weight of the top limb and tickling away at any stiff spots overall.
Bow unstrung after tillering to 53lb @ 26″
I’ve now got the stave down to 53lb at 26″ on the tillering tree. The extra 3lbs will likely come off as the bow is fine tillered and sanded after being shot in. both strung and unstrung I’ve got a really nice even balance of reflex in the handle and tips combined with a nice bit of mid limb deflex. The flicked tips haven’t pulled out and the string alignment is still just slightly biased towards the left side of the bow which for me as a right handed shooter is perfect. No signs of chrysaling anywhere on the belly and no splinters to be seen on the back. Time to get a handle wrap on and shoot her in.
A scrap piece of buckskin leather will do for now.
I always shoot a couple of hundred arrows through all of my unfinished bows before sanding and finishing. I’ve learnt that a bow which has been meticulously tillered on the tillering tree will move considerably through actual shooting. After two hundred shot you know what you have. I then recheck my tiller and adjust accordingly.
Happy with the final tiller it’s time to finish this bow. I start with 120 grit followed by 200 grit followed by 000 wire wool.Next I wet the whole bow down with plain water to raise the grain.After a day to dry thoroughly the grain gets hit back down with 000 wire wool.Then its on with an oil based stain and many coats of Truoil to finish.
I love using deer antler for tip overlays on primitive bows. Not only does antler function well as a material for tip overlays, it also looks amazing. And given that primitive bow hunters both past and present have relished the opportunity to hunt deer, it seems fitting that a material from such a prestigious quary species should be used to enhance and embellish a primitive bow.
In this article I’d like to share my 4 most important principles to making beautiful, functional and efficient deer antler tip overlays.
For this project, you will need the following tools, materials and equipment:
An unfinished bow stave without nocks already fitted.
Suitable sized pieces of deer antler cut from the coronet end of an antler.
A wood saw with small to medium sized teeth.
A rasp/coarse file/belt sander.
Titebond III wood glue.
Spring clamp.
Vice.
Wet kitchen towel.
Tile saw (optional).
Chainsaw file.
Sandpaper 80/100/120 grit.
Principle # 1 – Select the right type of antler.
For the purpose of making deer antler tip overlays, you will not want to use a piece of antler which is full of the pithy porous honeycomb like structure that you will typically find in antler from sections anywhere other than the coronet end of the antler. Antler from the coronet end is very nearly solid all the way through. Antler from anywhere else is effectively hollow from all the micro holes. Maximise the strength of your antler tip overlays by ensuring that your overlay material of choice is solid, or at least as close to solid as is possible.
For this tip overlay project I’ve decided to use red deer antler. The piece on the left is the coronet end from a yearling red stag and is perfect. The piece on the right is cut from the middle of an antler and has the typical hollow, porous appearance. I’ll be using the piece on the left.
Principle # 2 – Achieve the basic shape and profile of your tip overlays BEFORE you glue them on.
Don’t be tempted to simply saw your antler into blocks and then glue then on with a view to shaping them later. Shape then first before gluing!
This antler has some nice features which, with care and planning, could be carried over into the final appearance of the tip overlays.
I often see people take a tip overlay material such as antler and simply glue a chunk of it to the tips of their bows. Once the glue has set, they will then set about shaping the overlay.
The problem I see with this method is that the desirable character of antler is mainly at the surface level. It therefore cannot be optimised for inclusion in the final shape and appearance of the overlay unless these characters conform to the desirable shape and profile of the finished overlay.
If a chunk of antler has simply been glued on to a bow tip before shaping, the shape of the chunk of antler will likely be nothing like what is required of the finished overlay. As the functionality of the overlay will take precedence over its beauty, optimising shape and profile will rank more important than aesthetic appeal.
The absence of appropriate shape and profile will necessitate the removal of the surface material. This will result in the removal of much, if not all of the surface material along with all of the desirable characteristics and features of antler.
For example, if a chunk of antler with beautiful pearling is simply stuck on to a bow tip before shaping, the likelihood of that pearling remaining within the final shape and profile of the overlay after surface material has been removed is very low.
To put it another way, the amount of material which will need to be removed in order to obtain the final shape and profile of the overlay will have resulted in much of the antlers character being removed.
By shaping your overlay before gluing them on you will be able to optimise the inclusion of desirable features whilst prioritising the removal of unwanted material from areas which have undesirable feature. Examples of a desirable features might include the natural colours, shapes and pattern of pearling. Example of undesirable features might include the porous backside of the overlay or a plain spot which lacks any colour or features.
Once I have selected a good piece of antler I will select which part I want to use based on its appearance and its internal structure and integrity. The piece I choose to work with will then be ripped down the middle to create two equal albeit oversized slabs of antler.
The pithy middles of the pieces in this picture is minimal and will be ground away as the profile is finalised leaving behind solid antler for maximum overlay strength. By prioritising the removal of material from the back of the overlay I will be able to retain as much character from the upper surface as possible.Here I’m using my Shinto rasp to flatten the sides of my overlay pieces so that they are easier to grip in the vice. By doing this first I will be able to secure each overlay well enough to rasp away the undesirable portions of material whilst retaining and incorporating the desirable features into the final design.Rasps are useful tools when it comes to shaping antler. Rasps remove material fast and efficiently so are ideal tools for achieving the basic shape and profile requirements.Basic face width ready to be reduced into the basic shape and profile.Now that I can grip the pieces in the vice, I can work on using my rasps to shape the basic top profile. I want to retain some of the colour and pearling whilst at the same time achieving an efficient design.By mounting the Shinto rasp in the vice, I can grind the antler pieces against the cutting face and shape the face of the overlay with ease. This method helps keep everything nice and flat.Basic rounded top profile achieved. Note how I have retained enough of the dark brown colour to contrast beautifully against the ivory cream colour of the exposed underlying internal antler material.Now I’m switching my attention to the back side of the overlay. This is where the bulk of the waste material will be removed from. This will facilitate the creation of the classic wedge-shaped taper which enables a beautiful, natural and functional transition from the overlay to the back of the bow.
It is important that the angle of your overlays taper is nice and low. I aim for around 10 degrees. This will allow for easy stringing of your bow. If you choose too steep an angle, you will find that when you come to string your bow, the string loop meets the transition to the overlay and comes to an abrupt halt rather than slipping smoothly over the overlay and into the string groove.
Here I have gripped the top end of the overlay piece in the vice so that I can rasp away at the underside of the overlay to produce the basic wedge shape. I have pushed a scrapper in underneath the bottom end of the overlay in order to stop it from getting pushed down into the jaws of the vice as I apply top-down pressure from the rasp.Here I am finalising the wedge shape and thickness. By simply dragging the overlay towards me across the fine face on the Shinto rasp I can rapidly remove excess material from the underside of the overlay piece. Used this way the Shinto rasp is a great tool for creating a perfectly flat base. This makes matching the overlay to the back of the bow tip much easier later on.A final functional wedge shape has been achieved whilst retaining maximum aesthetic appeal. Notice how the small amount of porous pith that was previously visible has now gone. I’m now just left with solid antler which will maximise the strength of the overlay. If I’d chosen a piece of antler from further up the antler then the pithy middle would still remain a considerable part of the overlay and would therefore compromise the structural integrity of the overlay once the string groove was cut in. The retention of the pith would likely result in a break at the string groove at some point in the future.A view from on top. You can see that this overlay has been left much wider than it needs to be. This excessive temporary width is helpful at this stage and throughout the gluing stage. The final width can easily be achieved once the overlay is secured in position.
Now that the basic shape and profile is complete, there will be very little work to do to the top of the overlay after it has been glued on. Since there will be no need to take any more tools to the top of the overlay, the risk of damaging the back of the bow where the overlay transitions to wood is reduced significantly.
Principle # 3 – Create the strongest bond possible.
A bow is only as strong as its weakest point. Any joint is likely to be a weak point. With that in mind it is critical that all joints be made as strong as is possible.
Your bow string will sit directly on top of your tip overlays and receive the full force of your bows draw weight. Any torque will be felt by the tip overlays too. It is therefore imperative that the bond which you establish between your tip overlays and the back of your bow is made as strong as possible. We can maximise the strength of our tip overlay joint by ensuring three things have been attended to.
Firstly we must maximise the contact surface area between the components which are to be joined. In this instance we are talking about the roughly shaped overlay being jointed to the wooden tip of our primitive bow.
By making sure that your tip overlays are at least 1” long we are providing adequate surface area to create a large enough contact area to create a strong enough bond. Personally, I like to make my overlay a little longer than this and typically make my overlays between 1 ½” and 2” long. On static tips you could make your overlays even longer of course.
Let us assume we have made sure that our tip overlays have a contact surface area which is at least 1” X 3/8”” wide. Now we must optimise the contact between the two surfaces by making sure that the two faces to be joined together are as well fitted to one another as is reasonably possible.
Creating a flat surface on the limb tip to optimise the fit between the overlay and the back of the bow tip.
By flattening the stave tips ready to receive the overlays we can begin to check how well the two surfaces match up. I like to take my time here and make sure that the two contact surfaces meet up perfectly before gluing. Don’t rush this part. Take the time to make sure that the two surfaces match up without any gaps.
Go careful when you start to flatten your bow tips. It is easy to get carried away and compromise the growth ring which forms the back of your bow. If this happens beneath your overlay, then it will not be an issue as the overlay will distribute the stresses back to the outer growth ring.
If, however, you accidently cut through the growth ring on the back of your bow ahead of your overlay then you will likely break the whole tip off your bow when you come to draw it. Always make sure that the transition from bow back to overlay occurs on the actual growth ring which makes up the back of your bow.
Once the rasp has levelled the tip and the overlay has been tested for fit, sand out any tool marks so that you do not have to try and removed tool marks after the overlay has been fitted.Once both surfaces are matched up perfectly and all the tool marks have been sanded out of the back of the bow tip, don’t waste any time getting you overlays glued up and clamped.
Wood absorbs glue much more readily when freshly exposed wood cells make up the surface layer to be glued. If you leave your prepared bow tips for any amount of time then, the freshly exposed surface layer of the wood will lose some of its ability to soak up the glue. Freshly exposed wood is hydrophilic. However, even after a short amount of time has lapsed, the exposed wood surface soon reverts back to being somewhat hydrophobic. So, get you bow tips and overlays matched up and glued up ASAP for the strongest possible bond.
Stave tips ready for sizing up with TBIII.
The second thing to consider when trying to create the strongest possible bond is which adhesive to use. I’ve tried all kinds of adhesives over the years but always find myself coming back to Titebond. I’m currently using the MK III stuff and am happy to report that it really is a great adhesive for gluing most natural materials to wood.
TBIII applied liberally but only on the contact areas.
If you are planning on using a stain on your finished bow then try and avoid getting glue anywhere other than the contact surface of you overlay area. Any glue that gets on the back of your bow will get soaked into the surface layers of the wood. This creates an impermeable layer which can prevent the absorption of stains at a later date. If this happens then you may need to intervene in order to avoid unsightly patches of unstained wood. You may have to scrap/sand away the upper layers of wood cells from affected areas in order to allow a stain to penetrate evenly across all parts of the bow.
I always like to glue up both contact surfaces. I also make a habit of leaving both glued surfaces to soak up some glue before positioning the two surfaces together for clamping. I believe this “sizing up” habit allows more time for the freshly exposed wood cells to suck up more glue. In fact, with wood that has been dried down to below 10% moisture content, it is often the case that more glue needs to be added after 5 minutes of sizing up. This is because much of the glue will now have been sucked up into the wood emphasising the need for an additional application of glue before placing the overlay in situ ready for clamping.
The third consideration to be made in order to create the strongest bond possible is the method of clamping used to press the glued surfaces together.
Making sure the excess glue is wiped off whilst it is still wet. I use a wet piece of kitchen towel for this.
I find that if I apply significant compression to an overlay immediately after gluing up, all that happens is the overlay slips off the tip. To avoid this from happening, I only use slight pressure from a spring grip type clamp for the first 10 – 15 minutes of drying. This allows the glue to soak as deep as possible into the wood and start to grip the overlay into position. By doing this you will stop the overlay from simply slipping off the stave tip when the compression is increased to full pressure.
After 10-15 minutes I remove the spring clamp and insert the bow tip carrying the overlay into the jaws of my vice. From here I can crank up the pressure to make sure that the bond is really good and strong. The pressure which can be exerted from the vice will ensure that no gapes appear at the joint line.
Be sensible with the amount of pressure applied to the overlay/bow tip and use something reasonably soft as a packing material to protect the bow tip and the overlay from damage from the metal jaws of the vice. I use scraps of leather for this purpose.
Here is the bow tip with the glued-up overlay in situ, set in the vice to cure under pressure. I leave it set up like this in the vice overnight.
I’ve never had an overlay come off when the join has been prepared, glued and clamped it the manner described above. The same can’t be said for the common practice of using superglue and a spring clamp!
After at least 6 hours of drying time, you should now be able to finalise the shape and profile of your tip overlays. Before you grab your tools and start working on the final appearance of you bow tips and overlays, take the time to ensure that the strength of your overlays will not be compromised by their final design.
The maintenance of strength needs to be given priority. A broken tip overlay is a significant repair at best, a broken bow at worst. Very fine bow tips are very popular these days but as tempting as it may be to reduce the width of your tip overlays to the bare minimum, antler is quite brittle and can snap under load if reduced too much.
An overstressed antler tip overlay will typically break at the string groove. To mitigate against this, I like to leave at least 5mm of material in the string groove. In order to achieve this, I find that an antler tip overlay needs to be at least 7/16th” wide and 3/8th”thick. I also like to leave the bottom overlay bluntly tipped because the bottom tip is always more likely to get knocked than the top tip.
Whilst you could leave your overlays much wider and thicker than this, by leaving excessive material at the tips you will be leaving unnecessary mass in the very tips of your bow. This additional mass will affect the performance of your bow albeit in a very subtle way. If maximising speed and minimising hand shock is important to you then aim to achieve a final shape and profile which reduces mass to a minimum whilst preserving strength.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That said, long thin antler tip overlays are very easy on the eye. Especially if a suitable amount of antler colour and pearling has been retained during the shaping process. Play with a few different shapes and profiles and see what works for you.
After a night to dry I work the tips down to a basic profile with rasps, files and 80 grit sandpaper. The top tip will be pointed and the bottom tip will have a slightly more blunted appearance as a hedge against knocks.Filing out the rasp marks once the basic shape has been achieved.
The bottom tip overlay ready for string grooves.
The top tip overlay ready for string grooves.
Note that I will often leave both tip overlays oversized until after tillering is complete. Then I will refine the shape and profile to suit my overall bow design and appearance.
I use a tile saw to cut the initial tillering string groove on antler tip overlays as it removes material fast and accurately. Once tillering is completed, I’ll finish off the string grooves with a chainsaw file and sandpaper.
I like quite fine tips on willow leaf shaped limbs. These overlays are on a bow with some character. Since these particular limb tips are angled out due to the naturally curved out limbs, it was necessary to carry the string groove around the sides of the overlay to ensure that the string did not slip off the sides. This can happen on crooked limb tips which only have a groove cut across the face of the overlay.
Finished antler tip overlay (bottom nock). Note the rounded profile I’ve gone for on this lower limb nock. This design is simply to minimise the effects of a potential impact with the ground.Bottom limb tip overlay viewed from the side.Top limb tip overlay. Since this overlay will be less likely to impact with the ground etc I’ve gone for the more typical pointed profile.Top Limb tip overlay viewed from the side.
So to recap, before you embark on your next antler tip overlay project, be sure to take the time to:
Select the right type of antler first. Then make the effort to achieve the basic shape and profile of your tip overlays BEFORE you glue them on. Work through the steps necessary to create the strongest bond possible. And finally finish your overlays in a way which is guaranteed to maximise strength, minimise mass, whilst emphasising the beauty of this magnificent natural material.
Deer antler is a material which has been used by man in primitive arts and crafts for many thousands of years. In fact, deer antler has been used both as a raw material, and as a tool, to make all kinds of primitive artefacts.
Deer antler is a versatile material. It has qualities which lend itself to promoting its use in the construction of tools and equipment. And as far as primitive archery equipment is concerned, antler adds both functionality and aesthetics to bows, arrows and many other associated items.
Personally, I love using deer antler as a natural material for building primitive archery equipment. And by using an authentic raw material such as antler, we primitive crafters are very much in keeping with tradition.
Deer antler presents an element of symbolism too. Antler is a well-recognised representation of nature. Deer are truly wild and majestic creatures, honoured throughout time, and respected by hunters the world over.
It is certainly fair to say that our primitive archery ancestors (as well as many contemporary archery hunters for that matter) pursued deer as a prized and challenging target species. It therefore seems appropriate to adorn a primitive bow (or even a modern traditional bow) with a functionality promoting, and decorative material sourced from one of the very creatures which inspired man’s most notable primitive hunting innovation – archery.
But before you race out to incorporate deer antler into your next primitive archery build, there are some things you must first consider. As with all materials, deer antler has some pros and some cons. Before committing to using antler as your material of choice, first you should be aware of what antler does well and what is does not do well.
This article discusses 13 things you should first know before embarking on a project using deer antler. First, we will discuss the upsides!
Pros:
1 – Antler is easy to source: Deer antler is easily available. It can be readily purchased in pet shops as dog chews, and it can also be bought online and at game/countryside fairs etc. Ebay has any amount of deer antler available throughout the year so getting hold of some should not be a challenge. I also stock and sell a wide variety of different sizes, shapes and colours of antler so if you’re in the UK, give me a shout via the contacts page if you would like to discuss your antler needs with me.
2 –Antler is easily worked with wood working tools: Deer antler is soft enough to be worked with high carbon tool steel, which is what most rasps, files and saws are made from. Common abrasives such as sandpaper, wire wool etc also work well as a means to finish antler. This means that you won’t need to buy extra tools, materials or equipment to work with antler. You will find that you will get by perfectly well using many of the tools that you already have for general woodworking. The only exceptions being bladed tools such as knifes, chisels drawknives and axes which will dull very quickly if used on antler.
Most saws, files and rasps as well as most abrasives work well on antler.
3 – Antler is aesthetically pleasing: I think deer antler is beautiful. It’s just plain nice to look at. It also has that wild rustic appeal to it which aids in generating the character that primitive bows are renowned for.
The contrast in colour between the browns and creams of the antler stand out from typical wood colours making it an ideal decoration for bows. Wooden bow tip and riser overlays made from deer antler look amazing!
Red Deer Antler used as a tip overlay on a sinew backed yew character recurve.
4 – Antler is hard enough to avoid string wear: Antler is harder than wood and therefore does not suffer from bow string wear. This is another reason why deer antler makes a great material to make bow tip overlays from. For the same reason, antler also makes for a good choice as an arrow rest or as a material for an inlayed arrow pass.
The coronet of this roe deer antler is about 1″ 1/2 in diameter. Note how it is the perfect size and shape to make an arrow rest which could be shaped and glued onto the handle of a primitive bow.
5 – Antler works well with most glue: Antler is usually added to a work piece with a glue being used as the binding agent. Antler can be stuck to other natural material such as wood and sinew very easily using regular wood glue, epoxy and superglue. My favourite glue to bond antler to wood and sinew is Titebond III.
This antler tip overlay is being glued on to a maple longbow tip with Titebond III, which creates a super strong bond between antler and wood or sinew.
6 – Antler is weakly porous: There have been times when I have wanted to stain a bow which has antler components built into the design, but I’ve not wanted the antler parts to take on the stain intended to alter the colour of the adjacent wood. Finely sanded and polished antler is only very weakly porous. This means that it does not readily take up a stain into its surface. This makes it easy to remove stain from polished antler. If I get stain on a tip overlay for example, I simply wipe the stain off with some kitchen towel dipped into acetone. This will bring the antler right back to its natural colour state.
Elm longbow stained dark Jacobean. Whilst the stain penetrates the wood, it is easily wiped off the antler tip overlays, which allows the antler to remain light in colour preserving its ability to contrast against the darkened wood.
7 – Antler is strong in compression: Tribes from various parts of the world have used antler as the main structure of their bows for millennia. These bows were either backed with a heavy sinew application or they were supported in tension with sinew cabling. Our ancestors knew that the compression strength of antler was effective at creating an efficient and effective bow belly.
Cons:
8 – Antler can be expensive to buy: Depending on where you source it, it can be costly to stock up on some decent antler. I frequently see antler being offered for sale in pet shops and on the internet for silly money. Ebay will likely be the cheapest place to buy antler. Country fairs often have buckets full of antler on sale priced per piece for reasonable prices too.
If you have a particular use in mind for a piece of antler, then you really should lay your hands on a few different bits first so that you can be sure that the bit you choose will serve the intended purpose before you part with your cash. At least a bucket full of antler gives you a chance to pick out the bit that suits your purpose best.
I sell premium quality antler on a piece-by-piece basis for a very reasonable price. If you would like to buy some then contact me through my contact page to discuss your particular requirements.
9- Antler can vary considerably in its appearance from one piece to the next: The external structure of the antler, in combination with the vegetation type of the area inhabited by the deer, dictates the colour of the antler. This is why some antler is darker than other pieces, especially when antler is compared to other antler belonging to animals which live in completely different areas.
The time of year which the antler departed from the deer will also influence the amount of staining and subsequently, the colour of the antler. Male deer grow a new set of antlers each year. This new antler growth occurs under a thin membranous tissue called velvet. Once their antlers are fully grown the velvet covering dies. As the dying velvet peels away from the hard antler beneath, the exposed antler is white in colour with a structure and appearance of bone.
As the season progresses the deer clean off the rest of this dead velvet by “fraying” their antlers against vegetation in their surrounding area. This “fraying” activity is what colours up their antlers. If male deer didn’t fray vegetation, then their antlers would stay white.
The dark brown colour that you see on antlers is from the sap and dirt from countless fraying sessions. So, with this is mind, the vegetation type in the locality of the deer will influence the colour and the darkness of deer antler. And if a piece of antler was removed from a deer shortly after cleaning of its velvet, then the antler may not have had much time to be coloured up through fraying.
Antlers acquired early in the season will be much lighter in colour than antlers taken from deer late in the season. Especially after the rutting period which is when deer spend vast amounts of time scrapping their antlers against anything and everything!
2-year-old Red Stag antler from a stag taken in late Autumn. This antler is nice and dark due to plenty of fraying of local vegetation. If this stag had been shot in late summer, it would be much lighter in colour. This antler would produce sections of its main beam which are perfect for bow handle/fade veneers.Yearling Red Deer stag spike. The beautiful “pearling” at the base of this antler spike will lend itself perfectly to making a very attractive antler tip overlay or arrow rest/inlayed arrow pass.
10 – Not all parts of the antler can be useful for certain jobs: The appearance and usability of a piece of antler will depend to a large extent on the species of deer which it came from and the age of that animal. Remember that male deer grow a brand-new set of antlers each year. A young male deer will only grow a small set of antlers for the first couple of years of its life. Older animals will generally have larger antlers up until a deer gets too old in which case their antlers begin to reduce in size with each passing year. This old aging process is referred to as “going back”. Big antler therefore comes from mature but not old male deer.
If you take an antler and saw it in half lengthways, you will notice that the main beam was significantly honeycombed on the inside. Back down towards the coronets however is far more solid.
The honeycombed section is no good for tip overlays or arrow rests as the porous parts are much weaker than the solid parts. These porous areas will crush under compression. If you are planning on making your bow tip overlays or arrow rest from antler, then use the solid section down at the very bottom of the antler by the coronet.
Antler coronets (bottom end) – note how this section is solid looking.Sections cut from the rest of the antler. Note the weak honeycomb centre.
11- Antler does not take up stains/colours well: If you actually wanted to stain your antler a darker or different colour, then you will find that most regular stains will not impart and significant change to the appearance of antler. The outside of antler is not permeable so will not allow a stain to soak in deep enough to have any real affect. Anything that you apply to antler will merely remain on the surface so will likely wipe off if you apply a solvent type of sealer to finish your project.
12- Antler is weak in tension: Antler will break when exposed to tension forces unless it is supported by a strongly elastic material like sinew. This is why bows with limbs made from antler were backed with sinew, either glued on in layers as is conventionally done, or by supporting the back of the bow with sinew cabling as done by the likes of Eskimo and Inuit people.
13- Poor flexibility can make antler behave brittle: Don’t expect antler to bend much on its own. Bending forces along the tension plane can cause antler to snap, especially if the solid outer surface of the antler has been compromised through working with tools.
A classic example of this tendency to break is sometimes witnessed on bow tip overlays. The break happens where the string groove has been filed into the overlay and the usual cause of the break is a heavy impact on the tip of the overlay caused by a bow being dropped.
Another cause of tip overlays breaking at the string groove is as a result of using overlays which are very long and are fixed to a working section of the bow limb tip. The bending of the tip presents a bending force to the overlay which results in a break at the weakest point which is always at the string groove. Static tips prevent this issue.
String groves are weak points on antler tip overlays. Make sure the bow tip under the overlay is not a working part of the limb else the overlay will break at the string groove when the bow is flexed.
So, there you have it. Now that you are aware of some of the main benefits and pitfalls of using deer antler, see if it’s time to incorporated antler into your next primitive archery project!
