Noob with a stick.

[Jared C]

Hey guys my name is Jared and I'm new to crafting bows and this site. I've made 3 bows so far, two board bows and a sapling bow. Only one of them shoots and not all that well but I am so very proud of it. I learned a lot from my first three tries and I really want to make a bow ,start to finish, from a tree in my own woods. I cut down a small Sycamore Maple that was encroaching on my driveway and I wanted to try to use the little fella. I went ahead and split him and took the bark off. I think the wood is beautiful but I'm not sure if it will make a good bow or if I will be able to deal with the kinks and twist as a beginner.  If you guys think the maple will make a good bow what should my next steps be? Should I seal the ends? How long should I let it dry? Thank you all in advance for your help!!
-Jared
p.s. - I am going to try to get my pictures to the correct file size so I can attach them.

[Pat B]

Welcome Jared. I'm not familiar with the properties of sycamore maple. When in doubt, make it long and wide. (68"x2")

[dueb]

I'm still a noob as well, but I know you should seal the ends of the wood immediately. Some people use glue or oil based paint. If you don't seal it the wood will crack and check.

There are only a few woods that are not suitable at all for a bow (like Palm?). Other than that you can use any wood, as long as you have a good stave and design it right.

Good luck!

[Jared C]

My ends are now sealed! I think I have enough to make it about 66 inches and I should be able to get 2 inches out of it as well. I'm really looking forward to this and I hope I can find a way to resize my pictures so I can show you guys my progress. Thanks for the advice!

[bubby]

Dueb palm can and will make a bow, black palm for sure

[George Tsoukalas]

Welcome, Jared. I can't help either as I never used that wood.
But I can give you something to read.
Here's my site.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
Jawge

[Drewster]

Well, you got my curiosity up with sycamore maple.....a new one on me.  Did a little research and here's what I came up with.

Sycamore maple wood: It is planted for timber production; the wood is white with a silky lustre, and hard-wearing, used for musical instrument making, furniture, wood flooring and parquetry. Occasional trees produce wood with a wavy grain, greatly increasing the value for decorative veneers. The wood is a medium weight for a hardwood, weighing 630 kg per cubic metre. It is a traditional wood for use in making the backs, necks and scrolls of violins. The wood is often marketed as rippled sycamore. Its uses are mainly indoor due to its perishability when in contact with soil.

Could make a pretty good bow.  Keep us posted.

Drew

[Jared C]

Thanks for the website! I read the bit on seasoning and it was very helpful. Going to go back and read up on arrows. Still haven't gotten that down.
 I'll keep you posted on the build, it seems to be a pretty good wood. After I took the bark off it gave me a really nice solid back to work with. Now for the waiting! Good time to try to make some arrows I guess.

[PatM]

Not one of the stronger Maples.

[lenador]

We have lots of sycamore trees around here. You will know right away by the huge leaves and enormous height. Leaves about the size of your head.

[PatM]

Don't confuse Sycamore with Sycamore Maple. Two entirely different trees.  Sycamore Maple is so named because of a resemblance, not a relation.

[Springbuck]

It'll be good practice.  Also not familiar with the wood, as it's a true maple.  Just get all the length and width you can and maybe aim for a light weight.

[Jared C]

I was thinking I would back it just to be safe. When I was shaving the bark I could tell it wasn't as strong as some woods Ive done work on before, not for bows but other projects, but it did seem to be pretty sturdy.

[duke3192]

bubby, I've made elb's out black palm with boo backing, great bows and beautiful when finished, but watch out for splinters when sanding by hand