You always want what you can't have, right? I live where there are great bow woods growing all around me, but there isn't any yellow birch or hard maple. I had a hankering to try both of them. I sent some hickory and osage north and my friend halfeye sent me some fine birch and maple boards south.
I made a kid's bow out of a splinter of the osage that I sent him in trade. Bendy handled static 25# @25". Sweet shooting little bow that I plan to take to the classic with me. I may find a young'un that needs a bow.
I started out with the yellow birch and was not disappointed with it at all. Rich was absolutely right about it being a serious bow wood. Having never tried it before I made a pretty standard bow for me, 68" pyramid, 55lb @ 28". Dead flat after a 100 shots.
My wife looked at me like you look at someone who has fallen off the wagon and returned to their addiction and asked me "why have you gone crazy building bows again"? I told her that we could blame it on the Tennessee Classic. I am so stoked to be attending my first one this year, that I have been like a kid at Christmas. I have to do something with this energy, so I may as well build bows. I knocked both of these out last week. Here's the pics.
