mullbery or osage?

[david w.]

we have a good friend who is a tree trimmer. i will ask the tree removal guys and see if i can get some stuff.

my first bow was a red oak bow. i like it. but i want something a little better to possibly take to the woods this fall.

[Kegan]

Mulberry is iun between sassafras and osage (from what I've heard). The whole family makes good bows, escpecailly ELBs, or long, narrow, thicker bows.

[gpw]

Mulberry grows everywhere around here...Bows just hanging from the trees...
Our Mulberry bows were made just a bit wider than Osage (none growing around here)bows , well dried/seasoned and worked fine /shot well. We even left some sap wood on a couple (one ring) and had no troubles , but our bows were long...never tried a short Mulberry bow ... Hmmmm?

[david w.]

how does a mulbery 70" ntn bow sound?

[gpw]

BOING!!!!!   

[Auggie]

Ahh,gpw a true sense of humor! But really you should invest in some fur string silencers.......

[snedeker]

About the ring chasing and the relation of issue to board. It is likely that a board will be cut across the rings, unless you look at a bunch and find an optimum one with stave like ring orientation.  Some of us back the ones with "ring run offs" with fabric, silt for instance, which holds down the ends of the rings along the back.  For your firrst bow actually, a $7 2"x72"x3/4" red oak slat from lowes or home depot works pretty well.

Dave

[gpw]

Sorry, I couldn't help myself...   actually we've made several mulberry 72'' bows in several styles ... we like em' long cause were 6'3 and the longer bows seem to shoot more accurately for us...The 72" comes up to our eyebrows... we regularly thump the competition at our "foam deer shoots"...Beaver balls keep the Boing' down ...hahahahahaha  The wood alone is not the main thing that makes a good bow ... bow design , and appropriate and careful tillering have made serviceable bows out of just average wood... That and some good matching/spined  arrows... they seem even more important somehow...

[david w.]

About the ring chasing and the relation of issue to board. It is likely that a board will be cut across the rings, unless you look at a bunch and find an optimum one with stave like ring orientation.  Some of us back the ones with "ring run offs" with fabric, silt for instance, which holds down the ends of the rings along the back.  For your firrst bow actually, a $7 2"x72"x3/4" red oak slat from lowes or home depot works pretty well.

Dave

that was my first bow it shoots really nice im accurate out to about 20 yards after that im not that good. thats why i wanted a little better wood.

i will get a set of silencers to keep the BOING down

so if the board has ring runnoffs i need to back it witha peice of linen or silk.  if the rings runnoff do i need to chase a ring?

my dad said i couldnt have logs laying around the house so i can't split the logs and have them everywhere.  He said the only way is if i can get someone we know to cut it at their saw mill

[Aries]

Wow i am definitely lucky, I have massive amounts of Osage growing all around my house down around the Texas Oklahoma border. I have not had to invest any more money in my projects than what my few tools cost, and some ods and ends. I cant keep myself from saying that i would go for the Osage stave. But the mullberry would be the better choice for a first bow.

[snedeker]

If the runoffs are pretty significant, which is likely in lumber, it won;t be feasible to chase a ring.

About the logs and dad.  One might ask what is the difference between wood lying around that has been sawn versus wood that has been split?  Seems confusing. I wish my teen aged son wanted to split logs and stop playing video games for 2 minutes.

Dave

[david w.]

i dont know either i guess he doesnt think i can split it .  It might be hard and take a messup log or two but i know i could get it.

I am a straight A student and i don't own a video game system so i think i deserve a log or two. I'l  work on him tonight

[mullet]

  David, Send me a PM with your address and I'll send you a Mulberry stave.I have quite a few,a little character,but nice growth rings,and Free.