cherry wood as bow wood ?

[CherokeeKC]

I have a couple large black cherry trees in my back yard that I am cutting down soon.  I was wondering the same thing about if you can use it for bow wood.  Both trees are mature probably at least 1 ft in diameter.  I believe I will try a few pieces also

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I have a couple large black cherry trees in my back yard that I am cutting down soon.  I was wondering the same thing about if you can use it for bow wood.  Both trees are mature probably at least 1 ft in diameter.  I believe I will try a few pieces also

Watch out for heart rot...

[YewArcher]

The Blackfoot Indians made bows of sinew backed choke cherry. The Blackfoot Indians also made bows of sinew backed yew. That is an important fact and statement as to say the Blackfoot Indians knew how to make some seriously sweet bows. I have yet to make one as I do not have access to Choke Cherry but the bows are high on my list to make.

[BowEd]

I'm shooting in a sinewed choke cherry at the moment.Just got a digital camera.I'll see if I can put it up on this site in a week or so.It probably is'nt a replica type Indian bow but shoots pretty good so far.Were there other tribes that were known to use it for bow wood too?

[ohiocountryboy]

[BowEd]

The bark on the left tree in the picture looks to me to be a large choke cherry tree.Hard to tell for sure.

[ohiocountryboy]

That one?

[hedgeapple]

Beadman, didn't you give me a choke cherry stave at the classic?  I carried the stave to my camper and my mind went completely blank..."who have I been talking to for the last hour, who just gifted me the beautiful stave."  Beer, Classic excitement created a mental blur.

[BowEd]

Yea I did.Gave a couple other fellas some too.They were from the same tree as the one I just posted.Let me know how it goes with it.

[BowEd]

ohiocountryboy...Yep that's it.Scaly bark.I can even see a tiny reddish brown spot there too where the bark fell off there.

[hedgeapple]

Thanks you so much for the stave.  You don't know how much that has bothered me, forgetting your name.  I was pretty sure your real name was Ed. But, for the life of me I could not remember your screen name.

So now what do I do with it?  Should I leave the sapwood on it?  After reading some of these posts, I'll probably sinew it and make a bendy handle bow.  Suggestions

[BowEd]

If I remember right the sapwood on that was'nt too thick.Less than a half inch.I chased a couple of rings off of mine before I sinewed mine.They're chasable.The next one I'll try is to just put rawhide on the back after heating some reflex in the limbs and flipping the tips some.Doing that I'm gonna start out at 1 and 3/4" wide then.If I remember right yours is at least 66" long.You should have length to play with bendy handle or not.

[hedgeapple]

66" sound about right.  I picked it today while I was in the workshop and pondered a bit what to do with it.  The sapwood is might be 3/8 thick. so reducing it to ensure I get some pretty belly wood is what I was thinking I should do.  I'll probably cut it to 62 to 64".  I have a '98 Tacoma.  I can't get a bow inside the cab over 64" long.  I hate putting my bows in the bed of the truck even though I do have a topper on it.

It'll probably be Sept. or Oct before I start on it.  I have several bows I have to get made before deer season starts Sept 7.  I will post my progress.

[QuercusNW]

I have tried bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata from WA state with poor results so far. Granted, the bows were only 48" long, but they chrysalled badly in the early stages of tillering. Adding a backing would certainly help.

Bitter cherry does have exquisite bark that was used for binding all sorts of things. Anyone tried backing bitter cherry with bitter cherry bark?

Dan

[BowEd]

No Quercus but sounds like a project to try.
hedgeapple...The rings are chasable on it.I would'nt worry if one side of limb shows thicker sapwood than the other.Just keep crown down the center of stave.I'm sure you know this but anyway someone else might not.The heartwood will kind of blend in and out into the sapwood like red cedar the closer you get to the transition line.To me it's kind of like red cedars' big brother.Too dry and it can get brittle too like red cedar.Tension failure.Takes heat bending well both ways[on belly] though as long as it is'nt repeated too many times in the bending portions of the limb like most woods.Guess I should'nt be tooting my horn too much about this wood though I've only made one bow from it,and there are so many different kinds of cherry out there it seems.Feel like I've highjacked this guys thread but maybe he's peeking in once in a while.