bow from japanese flowering cherry

[danimal]

Hi All,

I have a Japanese flowering cherry that died about 6 months ago, and I was wondering if this would be a good candidate to make a bow from. The tree is about 4 inches wide at the base and it runs about 6 ft before it splits into branches.

Thanks for any replies. Any pointers or tips are welcome! This would be my first homemade bow and I am very excited about the prospect of making one.

[bowandarrow473]

Well, seeing as how I know nothing about Japanese trees, I'll use context clues.

Cherry is known as a relatively poor bowwood, weak in tension and moderate in compression, but when one holds together it is "an unusually sweet and fast shooting bow" to quote Tim Baker.
However, Japanese cherry could have different properties that i am not familiar with. The best way is to make a sort of quick dried mini-bow of the wood and see how far it can bend. That should give you a relative estimate of the woods strength and bowwood qualities.

[bowandarrow473]

Also, dead wood is not a good source for bowwood, trees such as osage, black locust and a few others can sometimes be exemptions to this rule and Cherri's heartwood is listed as resistant to rot and decay, perhaps take a good look at the wood to get a feel for the state of decay it is in (if any).

If the tree has been stored out of the weather for the last six months, like in your garage, this will most likely not apply to your situation.

Good luck!

[DavidV]

I would go ahead and guess it's good bow wood since the prunus genus tends to be. Black cherry is the only one that really is tension weak, chokecherry (prunus virginiana) and plum (prunus americana) are very tension strong. As to being dead 6 months... It just so happens that it's only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. (Paraphrased from Miracle Max). But seriously, if the bark is still holding on you're probably okay, look for fungus when you cut it and split it.

[Onebowonder]

...<snip>As to being dead 6 months... It just so happens that it's only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. (Paraphrased from Miracle Max). <snip>

Clever!!!  Made me LOL...

OneBow

[sleek]

This is inconceivable. Id back it with rawhide from a screaming eel.

[Pat B]

I'll be cutting one down this winter(gotten too big) and it should make some OK firewood, at least for spring and fall. 

[sumpitan]

I would go ahead and guess it's good bow wood since the prunus genus tends to be. Black cherry is the only one that really is tension weak, chokecherry (prunus virginiana) and plum (prunus americana) are very tension strong.

True. Add bird cherry (Prunus padus) to the list, too. I've never snapped a bow out made of it, be it short, crowned, knotty etc. In fact, I've worst tension-safety record with elm.

Tuukka