Another candidate

[BowEd]

I was at the Amish saw mill yesterday looking for end cuts from logs of black walnut in their scrap pile for arrow shafts and Sam pointed out a piece of red cedar left over from him milling cedar boards for the ceiling of someones kitchen.It's a very straight grained as I've seen piece of red cedar.No knots either.I cut it down to 2and1/8"by 2and1/8" square by 69.75" long.I'd say it could be a candidate for 2 edge grain maple backed bows if ripped to 1and1/16" thickness.Maybe a little extra piece put on the bottom of the handle of the stiff handled flat bow.Two different bows too.A flat bow and an ELB bow.With the length and width 50# should not be too much to ask if designed and tillered properly.What do you guys think?
You can see by the edge grain pic and intermittent sapwood the straight grain.Not very good pic really.It was from the center of the tree and a little rot towards the edge on both ends but out of the layout of the bow towards the tips.

[bubby]

I say go for it Ed, that will make a great combo

[Pat B]

Ed, with an appropriate backing either or both bow style bows should work.

[bubby]

Ed i built a birch backed black walnut pyramid it made a nice smooth shooting bow

[BowEd]

Thanks fellas for commenting here.You've both been down more roads than me in bow building and can appreciate it.My intuition on this piece tells me it'll work from my experience.I'm gonna rip it then so it'll dry faster anyway though.This stuff is so lightweight in mass that it does'nt seem to check very quick or warp much either Sam told me and he was right.I'll do a density test via the old tube of water and a dried half inch dowel 5" long marked off every half inch.My quess is .4 to .5.Now to get some maple 2" wide and about an 1/8" thick.
bubby.....you got that bow on tap there to show?I don't drink no more but still have that way of thinking in mind.....lol.A pyramid flat bow has come across my mind.A stiff handled though.How long was yours?

[bradsmith2010]

just my thoughts, over build it a bit more than you think, just in case,,

[BowEd]

Yep my thoughts exactly  brad.

[GB]

That's a really nice ERC board.  I found one like that last year and backed it with red elm.  For as light as it is, I was surprised at how elastic it is.  I'm just starting a hickory backed one that I'm hoping to glue into a mild reflex/deflex profile.  Was the rot on your board just in the sapwood?  My board had quite a bit of rot in the sapwood on the board edges.  That worried me a little, even though it wound up being cut off.  Just wonder if that's common with ERC boards.  Anyway, it held together and I'm still shooting it.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,50442.0.html

[mullet]

You can't make a bow from Eastern Red Cedar.;-)

[DC]

Ship disturber

[Jim Davis]

Well, one thing you can't do is get two 1-1/16" staves from a 2-1/8" er. There's a saw kerf to consider.

You should have enough thickness though.