Huisachi ?

[Pat B]

Any of you Texas or South Western guys ever use Huisachi (Acacia smallii - Mimosa family) for bow wood? Cipriano sent me a 3" shoot(pole, branch) to try. I have stripped the bark and sealed it. It is very dense, hard and heavy. This piece was cut 10/1/11 so I know it isn't dry yet but it feels dry after the bark came off. I know it needs more time though. I Googled it to get whatever info I could. Thats where i got the botanical name.

[gstoneberg]

Nope, I have not.  Interested to see how it goes though.

George

[blackhawk]

Me neither...but this might help ya. Whenever I try an unknown I start as wide as possible(within reason) and once I got it floor tillered ill weigh it and tiller it per steves mass formula. That way you nail the sweet spot for the width with that piece of wood. Say your target weight is 20 ounces and it weighs 30 ounces at floor tiller. And it usually only requires two ounces of belly removal from floor tiller to finish tiller. So that wood mean you could remove about 7-8 ounces off the sides of the bow for example.

Or do a specific gravity test so you know its density.

[Gus]

Hey Sir,

I've seem a few Huisache bows on the net.
Haven't built one yet.

But I collected about 10 or 12 saplings last October to give it a go.
Peeled and sealed about half of them so far.

Have done some carving in Huisache, the wood is quite dense, loves the scraper and will produce a fine finish.
Color of the stuff I've got, the heart wood tends to a deep red/brown, but not as dark as Mesquite.

-gus

[DRon knife]

Idk Pat,but we(me)would love to see a pic or two

[Pat B]

Blackhawk, this stuff is very dense and heavy.
  Gus, this has a redish brown center(about 1" dia) and creamy sapwood. It's only 3" across on rghe butt end.
  Ron, I'll get some pics of it. I have stripped the bark off of it and sealed with shellac.
  George, I'll let you know! 

[Buckeye Guy]

Chris
You are getting a little to tecno for us old folks !
I just start wide and if it gets too thin I reduce width .
( for the first go round at some thing new  )

[Bevan R.]

Me neither...but this might help ya. Whenever I try an unknown I start as wide as possible(within reason) and once I got it floor tillered ill weigh it and tiller it per steves mass formula. That way you nail the sweet spot for the width with that piece of wood. Say your target weight is 20 ounces and it weighs 30 ounces at floor tiller. And it usually only requires two ounces of belly removal from floor tiller to finish tiller. So that wood mean you could remove about 7-8 ounces off the sides of the bow for example.

Or do a specific gravity test so you know its density.

 :oWhiskey Tango Foxtrot???
Anyone care to translate this into human?

[Pat B]

If you read Steve Gardner's Chapter in TBBIV (Mass Theory)you will know what Blackhawk is talking about.   

[Bevan R.]

I have read it Pat, at 2 times, still waiting for the Readers Digest english version.

[paulsemp]

I do enough math at work. Even though it would probably help to apply it bow making, I have no desire.

[Pat B]

 

[SA]

I do enough math at work. Even though it would probably help to apply it bow making, I have no desire.

i agree bow making should be relaxing a stress reducer si

[LEGIONNAIRE]

the wood iis fairly elastic and has a good reputtion. i use to make slingshots with it. i wish i had some, i would love to make a bow from a green sapling.

[blackhawk]

I didn't think 2nd grade level math and subtraction was/is to difficult to understand and apply.  

I run numbers all day at work too,and it doesn't bother me. And you still have to come up and figure out proper dimension numbers when building bows

Stubborn ole men