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Most expensive bow wood ever: Snakewood

Author	Comment
Patrick St M	Most expensive bow wood ever: Snakewood	Lead	[-]
Posts: 430 (03/30/09 4:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Today I found a stash of Snakewood that costs more than any other organic substance on earth.. Anybody tried it? It gets very good reviews by old time archers. The appearance and texture is like nothing else. Might have to save up for the cheapest piece. The price was between 130 and 269 dollars depending on plank size..
DarkSoul		#1	[-]
Posts: 298 (03/30/09 4:40 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'm currently working on some snakewood, albeit not in a bow. I've read about snakewood used in backed bows. It was in the Victorian era, or am I mistaken here? It is extremely heavy, brittle and very prone to checking. Often only available in small sizes, as large piece are loaded with defects, and mainly because the wood is only traded in small logs, up to maybe 5 feet. If you can get a piece that is good enough for a (spliced) bow, I am sure it may very well be the best looking bow ever. Simply because I adore snakewood :P Be aware of the quality of the figuration. There is a huge variation in the level/grade of figure of snakewood. Prices often indicate grade. A low priced piece may be cracks heavily, and/or with very low figure. Snakewood with very low figure can look simply like plain Ipé, although the density is slightly higher. Jorik "Sonuit contento nervus ab arcu." Ovid, Metamorphoses VI-286
Patrick St M		#2	[-]
Posts: 431 (03/30/09 4:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yes it was used in the time of laminated longbows. Thompson also mentions it repeatedly in The Witchery of Archery. His best bow ever was hickory backed Snakewood. Bickerstaffe uses it today apparently and even thinks highly of it as a core laminate despite most thinking interior lams should be light weight material. The pieces I found seem to have a mixture of pattern within each plank. Some also have deep severe checks, which hasn't diminished the price I bent one of the splinters (price 60 dollars) protruding from a plank and it really doesn't seem any more brittle than a typical tropical wood. The pieces do generally have a good pattern but I think the price for these is based mainly on the scarcity of the wood.
Hartung		#3	[-]
Posts: 585 (03/31/09 1:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	That is quite cheap for a bow wood. Don Adams charges 350$ for a yew stave :-).
Marc St Louis		#4	[-]
Posts: 1863 (03/31/09 5:55 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've looked at it Pat but it's just too pricey for my taste. Nice looking wood though. Marc
Rod		#5	[-]
Posts: 2435 (03/31/09 8:02 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I used to have a hickoryn backed laminated snakewood bow by a well known maker. I gave it away four times before I could get rid of it..... Not the fault of the wood, just not a wood that suits an overbuilt bow. Rod.
village bowyer		#6	[-]
Posts: 66 (03/31/09 5:04 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yeah its beautiful stuff. Not worth risking it unless you have a primo hickory backing, because of its expense, even though natives apparently used it in self bows. I have seen some nice billets on the net but like you said they have a hefty price tag, weigh about 40-50lbs for a half log of the size that would make a typical yew bow. Postage to Australia has kept me from trying it, probably a couple of hundred dollars US just to get it here. I have seen snake wood over here but a piece with average figure, big enough for a knife handle goes for about $100. Even purpleheart in Australian speciality timber stores is 3-4 times the price of what you would pay in the States. The only good news price wise is you don't need much to make a powerful bow. A 60lbs bow was apparently only as wide as a finger, probably 3/4 to 7/8" wide. Try and get a 1" wide cane blank, less likely to have suffered from checking.Saw it down the middle. Splice it, then back with hickory If I had some I would try it on the belly of a hickory backed tri lam elb, with an appropriate colourful corewood. I've always wanted to try ebony, in a bow and have a piece that I paid a kings ransom for, just can't bring myself to experiment with it even with a hickory backing. Hamish.

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Traditional Bowyer's Bible Books By Jim Hamm