dimensions for apple bow

[Susquehannock]

I have been harvesting some apple wood behind my home that is being cleared from a large orchard. I don't know the species of apple, but it is most likely one of the common cross-bred species.

I've found a lot of info on crab apples on the site, but not a lot of standard apple wood. I know the stuff is solid (it was as heavy as similar osage logs I have harvested and I busted a hatchet splitting the wood).

I would like to get a flat bow of 55-60# @ 26" out of the wood. What are some recommended widths and dimensions that I should consider? I have several staves about 66" and fairly clean.

I know RyanO has posted about using apple, so I'm hoping he or some others can give me some insight. Pics appreciated too.

Thanks, Jason

[Ryano]

Jason, from my experiance Apple wood is about as good as good hard maple and very similar to work with. I'd go for a 64"ntn 1 1/2"-1 5/8" wide to mid limb and than taper to 3/8" tips. Apple makes a really pretty bow to with darker heart wood and creamy sapwood.

[hedgeapple]

Jason, as a sidebar, apple is my favorite wood to use for smoking.  Keep the branches.

[Susquehannock]

Thanks. I've never worked maple, only osage, erc, and red oak. I'll season it and give it a go. The farmer told me I could cut as much as I wanted because he was going to burn it. Now if I only had some free time!

[Kegan]

Cut it all! Apple gets very hard- like Osage- when dry, but isn't as dense. You get the drag-through-the-brish durability without having ecxessive mass on a light 60# bow. We've used it for handles, and it makes good bows. I wish I could cut mroe .

[Susquehannock]

Ryan, do you have any pics of your apple bows?

[sailordad]

kegan
 you r right it gets hard,i acquired and apple branch last year.
stripped the bark off and sealed the ends right away and let it dry.
took it out the other day and tapped it on the concrete floor,made a nice ring sound so i know its dry.
so i decided to do some work to it,DAMN that shtuff is like a rock,damn near seen spark coming off the draw knife.
its gonna takes some doing but im gonna get a bow from that piece of wood.

i say cut it all then send me a piece while its still good and green,this time i want to get it floor tiller before it dries.

[Ryano]

Unfortunately I don't Jason I've only made two bows so far out of wild apple wood and they both met with a untimely demise. One was a long bow of the likes I described to you, it was made of two billets spliced in the handle, well I got a little carried away cutting the arrow shelf in and violated the glue joint for splice and the bow broke after a few dozen shots. Lesson learned the hard way. It was a beautiful sweet shooting bow while it lasted. Now I glue my splices up shorter and off set them a little so I have enough room to cut my arrow shelf in. The other one was a short bendy handled bow that I tried to steam and flip the tips up on and it pulled up a nasty splinter on the belly and broke.  I wish I had more apple wood, I do have one more stave of it, I think, up in the rafters of my garage but its got some pretty bad prop twist to it not sure there's a bow in......

[Susquehannock]

Sailordad, I hear ya. I saw sparks flying from the chainsaw as I was cutting through the wet wood. I snapped my hatchet trying to split the wood. (I guess I'm used to splitting osage and osage is much easier to split in my opinion).

Ryan, sorry to hear both bows didn't work out. It will be months before mine is dried and I have a chance to work on one, but I appreciate the helpful hints and advice.