bow wood

[terence pinder]

hi everyone, im a total newbie and have just finished reading all 3 tbb. in my area in saskatchewan poplar trees are abundant but i dont ever recall reading about them. i do have access to birch and maple, would these be better bow woods than poplar?

[Pat B]

Hard(sugar) maple and birch would be better than poplar for bows. All would be good for arrows!   Pat

[Coo-wah-chobee]

...Terence....Poplar will make decent huntin' bows BUt they have to be wide and long to releive the stress on the wood. Made a few in the past. Huntin' bows are different than "archery " bows. That said Rock Maple (sugar) would be easier to do as Pat said. Whatever you decide good luck and show or post, lots of help here on this forum............bob

[terence pinder]

thanks guys. the maple trees in my area arent sugar maple im not quite sure what kind they are? ill have to look into it. but how long and how wide would you suggest for the poplar? and one last question what is the difference between a huntin bow and and an archery bow?

[Coo-wah-chobee]

.........Huntin' bows aren't as purty  lol. Their purpose is to take game,need to be as unobtrusive as possible and don't need the refinement usually associated with archery bows. That dosent mean they should not be crafted as carefully as possiible. The popular bows I have made have been(2 as I remember) were 2.5 wide at fades tapring to 1/2" at tips, 68" ntn, pulled 52-53 lbs @ 26"and tillered to 28" for safety. I've only worked with rock maple and not others so I can't offer any opinions there.............bob

[Pat B]

With birch you could make the same bow but make it 2" wide.   Pat

[terence pinder]

thanks guys maybe ill give both a try

[Marc St Louis]

You should have Elm over there as well and Elm is superior to any of those, if you can find a decent tree

[davidneils]

If you've read all three volumes of TBB, I'd suggest trying one of those meat slaying bows in TBB II where the bow narrows from 2 1/2 - 3 inches at the fade outs to
1/2 tips (approximately). You can tiller these bows just based on the profile. According to Tim Baker, it should take you no more than 10 minutes to make. 

I prefer Bamboo backed Ipe for performance, looks, and durability. But if I was starting out I'd definitely use a hickory stave or a hickory backed hickory board.

I hope this helps,

David

[snedeker]

Bur oak extends into Sask.   Its in the white oak group, reasonably hard, with interlocking grain.

Dave

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, birch and maple would be better than poplar. Jawge

[terence pinder]

thanks guys   i guess i should say i live in northern sask and havent seen a whole lot of elm or bur oak. but i could probly try a board bow.thanks again!