Dogwood for a warbow?

[KShip85]

Just wondering if anyone had attempted a elb design warbow out of dogwood.  Was looking at a wood properties site and it seemed comparable to pacific yew in most cases, the biggest difference being specific gravity .80 to .66 dogwood to yew.  I've got a nice tree spotted out clean for over 7 feet if it will make a warbow.  Currently I have a shorter stave drying in my shop.  If I get no response I might just experiment and see what happens.  Thanks on advance for the help!

Kip

[Jaro]

Yes it does make very good warbow and if you read couple of threads back is report from czech shooting with dogwood bows.
If its only small diameter, then beware pin knots running transversal to belly, they have tendency to fret. It has bigger hysteresis than yew as wood, but its very tough and relativelly light when dry.

J.

[Pat B]

Jaro, do you know which Cornus species(dogwood) was used for War Bow?

[Jaro]

I only know what we use and its all Cornus sanguinea. If you have Cornus mas, then its even better.

J.

[fusizoli]

I had blow one on tiller tree. It was from pin knot so take care of that.

[KShip85]

Thanks all, the tree I have is about 5 1/2 inches in diameter on the small end and looks clean for about the first seven feet.  What would be the top weight I could expect out of a clean stave at 32 inch draw.  Also it is flowering dogwood that I am dealing with.  I'd really love to end up with a bow over 130 lbs or so if possible.  I've also spotted a couple hophornbeams and an American hornbeam if these might yield a better bow at that weight.  I just recently tried to make a hackberry war bow and it took probably three inches of set pulling 80 lbs at 29 inches with a heat treated belly.  I think its just not good enough in compression for the steresses of a
warbow.  Thanks all for the help!

Kip 

[Pat B]

Jaro, I have Cornus mas but it is in my landscape and not big enough for a bow anyway. C. sanguianea shoots make good arrows. I have some shoots that were sent to me from a friend in Germany.
 Kip, Try to make the belly not as deep as a typical war bow; slightly flater. I believe that was traditional as well for some of the less compression strong woods.
  The hop hormbeam works and acts like hickory so design a bow of that accordingly. The Am. hornbeam will make a flatbow but is not the best wood for bows.

[Davepim]

The Cornus Mas that we have growing here around Trieste never grows very straight or wide, but is very dense and seems to be very compression resistant; I have a small diameter piece I am going to try when seasoned, but I'd dearly love a decent stave if and when I can find one. Different Cornus species may have different properties, however.

Dave

[Jaro]

Kip with 5" and more of diameter you have more than anything we have, we consider a stave  with 2" exceptionall. Most of bows made of these looks like whittled broomstick, but we shoot standard arrow at 200-210 consistently with bows of mere 100#.

J.

[Yeomanbowman]

Hello Jaro,
Is that M or yards?  Either way it's good but meters would be very impressive, about 230 yards.

[Jaro]

No no, its yards, but even so its quite good. Take a look at chart I have posted in the thread "shot in czech" We even shoot with ash bows of 95-105# over 200 yards with standard and personally I think 210-15 is not unreachable.

Jaro

[Davepim]

Kip with 5" and more of diameter you have more than anything we have, we consider a stave  with 2" exceptionall. Most of bows made of these looks like whittled broomstick, but we shoot standard arrow at 200-210 consistently with bows of mere 100#.

J.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of dimension that we get for Cornus!

Dave