Tipuana Tipu as bow wood

[arachnid]

Hi guys.
In my attempts to find suitable bow woods in my area I came to know that Tipuana tipu has 0.80 sg. This tree is VERY common where I live and I can easily find a good stave.
Will it work?

[Pat B]

Where do you live? I've never heard of Tipuana Tipu....but at .8o sg I'd say give it a try. I'd start by building a slightly overbuilt bow and adjust from there.

[DarkSoul]

I've never heard of this species before, so I did some internet research.
Tipuana tipu is the scientific name of the species and the sole species in the genus Tipuana. It is closely related to the genus Pterocarpus in the Fabaceae family. This latter genus is best known for the commercial wood species African Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii), and also Muninga (Pterocarpus erinaceus). Since I'm not familiar with Tipuana tipu wood, I can only compare it to its closest cousins; species in the Pterocarpus genus. These species tend to have relatively short fibers (something I observe in many Fabaceae species), and often have interlocked grained (visible as cross-grain in sawn boards). The presence of cross-grain in Tipuana tipu is to be expected, based on a report of the poor splittability of the wood. Wikipedia states the wood as "whitish in colour, strong and fibrous", which sound pretty good for bows. I can't find much more about this wood. This site lists the specific gravity as "Density 0.67–0.75 g/cm³".
I think you should give the wood a try. It might be difficult to split a stave from a log, but you never know. Remove the sapwood and go for a heartwood ring. A backing, applied to a milled board, would perhaps be better than a selfbow.

[Onebowonder]

Did a little reading.  I'd try it.  The crossed fibered grain reminds me of ELM or Hickory.  Though you may have an issue with chasing a ring!  I can't see any discernible difference between layers!  I found this PIC on WIKI.  Checkout that blood red sap!  KEWL!


OneBow

[huisme]

I wonder if there's anything to be done with that sap...

[Crogacht]

My sources indicate an sg closer to .6, but so is elm, and elm is amazing.. kind of sounds like a semi-tropical elm or something. I would definitely try it.

[arachnid]

Ok thanks guys.
Now, since I've only built board bows, I don't have any experience working with logs.
So, I'd like some info plz:
How and when do I season it (before/after shaping)?
How long does it needs to be seasoned? How can I know if its dry enough?
How can I see where the heartwood starts?
Must I chase a back ring? I've heard that hickory just needs de-barking and the back is already established, so if it's anything like hickory, will it work the same?
If I do have to chase a ring, is there a way to do it without a drawknife (I just don't have one and not planning on buying one unless this works and I know I can make log bows)?

Well, thats about it for now... thanks for taking tge time to search and reply.

Dor

[soy]

In the pic of the log I don't  any heart versus sap wood I would try debarking and roll with it

[simson]

That is interesting stuff, the sap looks like dried blood.

[DarkSoul]

Similar looking sap/exudate/gum from some species of the closely related Pterocarpus genus (including P. erinaceus and P. marsupium) has various uses. The sap is very astringent and has medicinal uses, it can be used for tanning and it used as a glaze for clothing. Taste a small amount of the sap/resin: you can feel the astringent nature in your mouth. (Do spit it out, in case it is toxic.)

What little I can find, says that the sapwood has a similar colour to the heartwood. That doesn't mean there is no sapwood, and it also doesn't mean that there is no mechanical difference between the sapwood and heartwood. As with the vast majority of tropical hardwoods, I expect that the heartwood has much better mechanical properties than the sapwood. It is by no means comparable to hickory, which does not have typical heartwood per se. You may very well be the first person to ever make a bow from this wood species and to document it.

How and when do I season it (before/after shaping)?
How long does it needs to be seasoned? How can I know if its dry enough?

These are very typical questions that pop up every week or so. This has been discussed in great detail already. Please use Google for such basic questions. The Traditional Bowyers Bible vol. 1, chapter 1, also has a lot of useful info.

First thing you should do is to find a usable tree and harvest the wood. See if you can split or saw the wood into staves and what the end grain looks like as far as rings and sap-/heartwood concern.

[Ben.A.M]

Hey guys! I know this is an old post but I thought I’d add for anyone looking it up and I can’t seem to post a new topic, Tipuana tipu is amazing! Only tried a sapling but it works and shoots like a softer version of Hickory, you’ll need to toast the belly though as it takes quite a bit of set otherwise, I’ll be getting a lot more soon!