yet another "what wood is this? any good for bows?" - Archery - Primitive Bows - Bowmaking/Archery Discussion Forums - PaleoPlanet - Message Board - Yuku

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yet another "what wood is this? any good for bows?"

Author	Comment
toxophileken		#21	[-]
Posts: 7849 (06/29/09 6:13 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Doesn't look like any fruitless (or fruit bearing) mulberry I've seen... Ken
CarvedTones		#22	[-]
Posts: 252 (06/29/09 6:48 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Assuming it is hackberry, which seems to be the majority opinion and held with more certainty by some folks than any other guesses, how important is it that I debark and split sooner rather than later? The ends are sealed and it is out of the weather and off the ground but the air tends to be humid where it is; it is under a sunroom built on piers off the back side of my house. Only 2 of the 8 pieces are large enough to call logs IMO. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
DCM4		#23	[-]
Posts: 227 (07/01/09 4:48 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'd part the logs at least once, or they will have a tendancy to check severly, even through the bark. Debarking is optional, although bugs tend to infest from the bark. When you reduce it to bow size, put it on a caul or clamp it down to something or it will noodle up as it dries into all manner of tortured shape.
CarvedTones		#24	[-]
Posts: 266 (07/01/09 5:15 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I split one limb using the "work from the middle outwards" method and was only semi successful. It veered off before making it to either end. But no twist and it was as really long limb so the piece that split off is a usable stave for yet another light bow. Turns out debarking is best done in the heat. I had just brought it in from the 90+ F heat before splitting. I was debarking it and it was going well when I had to run inside for a little while. I was in the garage working in front of my portable A/C unit and I left the stave there while I was inside. When I got back, it was as if the bowyer gremlins had come and glued the rest of the bark down while I was gone. I suspected the actual cause and tried heating the bark and it came right off. It was hard to start the split, but not that hard to split after it started. I am at the decision stage on the rest of that limb. I could inefficiently make a big longbow or I could split it again and probably make two good bows unless I screw up the split. I am leaning towrd the first option. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
boerneaggie		#25	[-]
Posts: 390 (07/06/09 7:27 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Debark it and coat with shellac. Hackberry can either have straight trunks and some are twisted and they grow in clumps or alone. You have a hackberry and it is a good wood. I haven't seen any over 55lbs but that's heavy enough. David
CarvedTones		#26	[-]
Posts: 299 (07/06/09 8:14 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I can stretch your horizons a little. Urban Hunter built a 60 pounder: http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/23796 but it is 3" wide at the fades! The breeze probably adds a couple of fps to the arrow speed. I tillered a scrap from a less than optimal split to learn about working and bending this wood and it has turned into the ugliest 30# bow you have ever seen. Chunks were ripped out of the belly from the split (my poor technique as I was learning to do that without a froe) and it has some large knots. I expected it to look like a letter of the Greek alphabet when I bent it and it is a pretty good arc with a couple of "almost a hinge" spots which so far aren't getting worse from shooting (still just testing to see how they would react; I have mixed feelings about it not getting destroyed yet). The grain is very straight in what I have split so far, in terms of not being twisted or spiraling. The trunks are not straight, but the bends are minor enough to just add character or reflex/deflex depending on stave orientation. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
boerneaggie		#27	[-]
Posts: 391 (07/06/09 3:48 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	"I can stretch your horizons a little. Urban Hunter built a 60 pounder" Cool!

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Traditional Bowyer's Bible Books By Jim Hamm