Hickory/purpleheart

[Kviljo]

I just glued up a hickory/purpleheart flatbow. I've never tried purpleheart before, and only heard of it used as a mid-lam, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.
It's incredibly heavy though, so there's nothing wrong with it's density, hehe, but I fear it's not too elastic.
Any experiences or predictions?

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow night when I'll start bending it.

[Justin Snyder]

I think you will be fine.  I have backed purple heart with bamboo, I don't see a huge difference.  Justin

[Pat B]

I have a piece of purple heart that would be perfect for a hickory backed flat bow. Looking forward to your progress.   Pat

[medicinewheel]

i heard it frets easy, but i also know bows have been made from purple heart succesfully.
frank

[Pappy]

Don't know but it should be pretty if it works,I know purple heart handles sure do.
Good luck.
   Pappy

[bobnewboy]

..Only tried it once, and it chrysalled/fretted like there was no tomorrow.  Some of that was my fault, but I'd only bother using it as an enclosed lam, or for "pretty bits" in future.

[medicinewheel]

i have really even vertical grain hard maple and i'm thinking about using that on purpleheart; maybe that works - and that sure will look good!
frank

[Kviljo]

Sorry to say, it did fret like mad

It's about 1 1/2" wide, tapering to 1/2" nocks, 72" long, and I glued in 3/4" reflex. I took it real slow and got a nice even tiller early on, but at about 6" braceheight the belly started to collapse, with many more frets joining in as I got to 27" draw with a long string as in the last photo. The worst fret nearly got to the hickory, but it didn't follow the string as much as I would have expected with all those frets. No more than an inch or so, though I bet it will gain some more if I dare to draw it to 28" with a short string.
It's so heavy I'm sure it will sink in water, so I was quite surpriced that it didn't do better.

I've glued on some horn nock overlays, and hope to finish it tomorrow. Looking very much forward to getting it sanded well and putting on some coats of danish oil.

[Badger]

KV, that purple heart does fret like crazy, one of the worst. I think with a maple backing it might work but i havent tried it yet. Steve

[medicinewheel]

yesterday i checked on that piece of purpleheart i once glued a handle on and never continued working on it; i decided to give it a maple backing (maybe today) and we'll see whether that's working any better...
i'll also aim for no mor then 40-45 pounds.
frank

ps: i had good success with all my black walnut bows by making the hickory-backing VERY thin, maybe that's the key...

[gpw]

Your hickory backing was waaaaay too thick for purpleheart ... 1/16" -1/8" would have been much more "stretchy" and less likely to fret the P/heart... We tried thick bamboo on P/heart which was a similar disaster...Best purpleheart bow so far had thin strips of bamboo <1/16" X1/2"W glued in parallel strips along the length of the back(from a cheap floormat) ...and it was a long 70"D bow...