Hickory Sticks (The Fighting Irish Kind)
Haven't had a ton of time to finish projects, although I did find time to make a couple of Irish sticks. 38" long made of hickory. The one on the right is my current practice stick, thin and light, but tough enough to bang with.
Bow #3
Partially successful. Made out of a 6' 1x4 maple board with a pyramid shape to the limbs and some scrap hickory glued on for the handle riser. I made the handle section slightly too long but it seems to be working well enough. The hickory adds a lot of necessary stiffening through the middle. Originally I made the limbs longer but I decided to cut them down to get a heavier draw weight. And I wanted a shorter bow in any case. Still needs a little more tillering but there is some twist happening in one limb that I'm not sure how to correct.
Managed to cut a contour to the grip for my hand as well as a narrow arrow shelf. Overall I learned plenty and this bow is fun to shoot despite its flaws. Pictures care of my 4 year old.
UPDATE: Actually got to shoot it a bit and a couple others shot it also. Turns out the bow isn't half bad as it is and the limb twist may yet be fixable. Yay!
Bloodwood – FAIL!
Not sure exactly why, but my bloodwood cudgel cracked while I was practicing with it today. I surmise that there was an inherent weakness in the wood grain and while I was whacking at a free swinging padded post I managed to hit against a corner of that post. I was mildly upset about this as the length and feel of this cudgel was just about right for me. However, not all is lost: I can cut off the jagged portion and still be left with a mighty fine stick.
Sticks
With the early failure of the day's bow project I spent some time hand shaping some sticks with my spokeshave. First up was a hickory Irish stick. It wasn't too bad to work with the shave but it seemed to be more sensitive to grain direction than my previous experience with red oak. Made this one to just over 38". It's lighter than my granadillo stick so it's less taxing for repeated drills.
After a break I decided to finish off my bloodwood stick. Or cudgel, rather, since I made it so that one end gently opened up and became heavier instead of having a distinct knob. This bloodwood is gorgeous but it is brutal to work. My shave was dull not too long after I started working and I didn't have a sharpening stone available so it was quite the chore to shape and smooth the stick out. But I am very happy with how it turned out. I'm going to have to find some more.
Bow #2 – FAIL!
Doh! Snapped as I was flexing it during tillering. So close. Should have backed it.
At least I didn't spend a ton of time on it. And I did make a tillering stick last night so I can use that in future.
I think I'll just work on an Irish stick for the rest of the morning.