New Hornbeam Bow

[GregB]

Lennie, I used dry heat and it did well. I didn't put an extreme bend on it, but decent. I first radiused the edges in the bend area and coated that section with cooking oil. We took it slow and easy, giving it quite a bit of heat. Probably won't be able to remove all the brown through sanding.

This time of year is too busy, and I'm a scrooge.

Cowboy...remember..."god bless us everyone!".   Hope you're scrapping again soon.

Thanks VB, I think the general consensus is the wood is hhb instead of hb. I'm going to try and research it further. I think Justin posted a Virginia University website that I had checked out before.

[cowboy]

Your right Greg - I out of the work zone now, need to focus on the important things .

[Ryano]

AHB is muscle wood. (the bottom one in Dana's picture) I think pappys right you got HHB. The barks are nothing alike, hhb is scaly and flakes off if you brush up against it and ahb is smooth and grey like beech, and the tree is lumpy like ripling muscles.

[GregB]

Ryan, yall are wearing me down that hb is the smooth bark (muscle wood), but I'm not quite ready to give in yet. Unless I dreamed it...I thought for sure I saw the two listed with very similar bark, only the hhb was more scaley then hb. Could be wrong, but would sure like to find the website and check it out again.

[Ryano]

   
Do I need to take you pictures to convince you?  We have loads of both up here. I have a tree ID book some where.

[Justin Snyder]

I don't know squat about either, but this might help clear up the confusion. 

30 Encyclopędia Britannica articles, from the full 32 volume encyclopedia
> hornbeam
any of about 25 species of hardy, slow-growing ornamental and timber trees constituting the genus Carpinus of the birch family (Betulaceae), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The hop-hornbeam (q.v.) is in a different genus of the birch family. A hornbeam has smooth, grayish bark, a short, fluted trunk, and horizontally spreading branches. It differs from ... 
> hop-hornbeam
any of about seven species of ornamental trees constituting the genus Ostrya of the birch family (Betulaceae), native to Eurasia and North America. A hop-hornbeam has shaggy, scaling bark and thin, translucent, green leaves with hairy leafstalks. The hoplike, green fruits are composed of many bladderlike scales, each bearing a small, flat nut.

Justin

[Sidewinder]

Thanks for the Discovery channel moment Justin. I have a little crooked knife that a buddy in New Mexico made and sent me that has a hop hornbeam handle and I love the wood. I would be totally interested in trying some out in a bow. Danny

[GregB]

> hornbeam
any of about 25 species of hardy, slow-growing ornamental and timber trees constituting the genus Carpinus of the birch family (Betulaceae), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The hop-hornbeam (q.v.) is in a different genus of the birch family. A hornbeam has smooth, grayish bark, a short, fluted trunk, and horizontally spreading branches. It differs from ... 
> hop-hornbeam
any of about seven species of ornamental trees constituting the genus Ostrya of the birch family (Betulaceae), native to Eurasia and North America. A hop-hornbeam has shaggy, scaling bark and thin, translucent, green leaves with hairy leafstalks. The hoplike, green fruits are composed of many bladderlike scales, each bearing a small, flat nut.

Well, why didn't you say that the start with...I guess I need to start calling my bow a hophornbeam after all.

Ryan, I guess pictures won't be necessary...just a little stuborn sometimes I guess. I could have swore they both had similar bark...guess it's just more symptom's of the inevitable old age creeping in. Yall will just have to overlook me sometimes.

[Anvildawg]

Greg, 
This may be the site you were asking about.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/data_results_with_common.cfm?state=unknown   

[Hillbilly]

Greg, for what it's worth from a horticulturist whose specialty is working with native plants-they're right, hornbeam (Carpinus) has smooth gray bark that's fluted and "muscled" at the base of the trunk, and hophornbeam (Ostrya) has scaly bark. The leaves are similar, but the fruits are different. And it's still a helluva nice bow.

[Keenan]

 Sweet Greg,  I love the natural finish on the back.        Keenan

[GregB]

Thanks Anvildawg, I'll check it out...

Hillbilly, thanks for the feedback, I guess I've made three and working on a fourth hophornbeam bows...not hornbeam. Gotta make me a hornbeam now.

Thank you Keenan, the one I'm working on now I think I'll try and stain darker. Trying to keep the deer from spotting the movement as easily.