Best bow design for Black Walnut

[rapaport]

from what I read Black Walnut could be a problem. What is the best bow design for black walnut? I thought maybe a mollegabet/holmegaard or a pyramid?

[DavidV]

It has poor compression strength compared to tension. Treat it like hickory or maple and keep it wide and flat. I HAVE built a 70" elb with more of a square cross section from walnut but it took about 3.5 inches of set. I can blame the mc of the wood more than anything though, and I tillered it an extra 2 inches because it was for someone else.

I would vote ALB like gundoc said, or a pyramid if you wanted.

[DavidV]

And as to your other thread, the bow actually had surprisingly good cast, especially with heavier arrows. Walnut is a good bow wood if treated properly.

[Josh B]

I prefer the American flatbow design for walnut.  I find that if I do my part right, walnut makes a great bow.  I haven't had any turn out "sluggish".  Since the search function kind of stinks, when I'm researching something specific, I go back through the BOM pages.  It takes a little time, but you'll find more answers to your questions.  I wish folks were still entering all their bows for the contest, as it makes it easier to find how they did things.  But for whatever reason, its not happening much these days.  Anyway there was a walnut bow that won backed BOM last October.  I shot it and it was definitely not sluggish.  Josh

[Joec123able]

The only Negative to walnut is its compression strenth you don't need a backing because it's pretty good in tension just do what was already said make it with wide limbs that are flat and it should work good

[mikekeswick]

The only Negative to walnut is its compression strenth you don't need a backing because it's pretty good in tension just do what was already said make it with wide limbs that are flat and it should work good

Virtually ALL woods are good enough in tension to become bows. It's not the wood properties you need to worry about it's how the fibers are running if it's a board.

I've made plenty of black walnut bows and it works great. Flat belly, trapped back, fairly long and fairly wide to start off.

[Fred Arnold]

I've made only 1 black walnut and was happy with the results. All sapwood, slightly narrow semi-bend handle section, 61" NTN, 1 15/16" at the fades for 10" and tapering to 1/2" nocks. 50# @ 28 Taken about 1 1/2" of set. I've only shot around 100 arrows so time will only tell whether it will last.