Obtaining Bow Wood

[Jodocus]

It may not be an instant solution, but the best way is to tell everybody you meet who handles wood what you need, then be patient.

Meanwhile, collect saplings, they are widespread and much less ristrictively protected. Many people will allow you to cut some of them around their house, and many species can be cut in the wild without anyone thinking much about it. Also, cutting a tree, cleaning up the mess and getting rid of the spare parts is much work, while a spling is cut and lopped off in a matter minutes. And they are great for making bows.

Then gift some of the sapling bows to the most promising sources of serious wood. That way, they'll remember you, see you want to build serious bows and will eventually bring over some nice logs for you.

This will take two or three years, but it will net you plenty of nice bow wood.

[Del the cat]

It may not be an instant solution, but the best way is to tell everybody you meet who handles wood what you need, then be patient.

Meanwhile, collect saplings, they are widespread and much less ristrictively protected. Many people will allow you to cut some of them around their house, and many species can be cut in the wild without anyone thinking much about it. Also, cutting a tree, cleaning up the mess and getting rid of the spare parts is much work, while a spling is cut and lopped off in a matter minutes. And they are great for making bows.

Then gift some of the sapling bows to the most promising sources of serious wood. That way, they'll remember you, see you want to build serious bows and will eventually bring over some nice logs for you.

This will take two or three years, but it will net you plenty of nice bow wood.

+1
For every dozen leads you get, maybe only one or two will bear fruit, but as you build up contacts, you'll eventuall find the wood comes to you! When in doubt gather It... you can always sort out the second rate stuff later.
Del

[bjrogg]

To get started I speed dried my first couple of bows. I was very pleased with the outcome. My 1st was a ash that I harvested 12-7-15 got it shooting 2-2-16 learned a enormous amount from it shoot it many thousands of times. My second was a Hop Hornbeam I harvested 2-27-16 I got it shooting somewhere around 7-15-16. I successfully harvested my first deer a 4 point buck 10-13-16 I still shoot this bow daily and it is showing no sign of wearing out. In the mean time I gathered many more staves and have them cureing.
Also agree with Jodocus and Del. When I got my bows done I showed them to people and there where many who said I could harvest trees from their property.
Also I don't know where you live but some good bow woods are messy trees that home owners want removed. Or even apple tree or plum trees that you my even be able to get a suitable branch from.
Important to keep your eyes open for opportunities and when they arise act quickly on them. With a little luck you'll be drowning in bow staves in no time.
Bjrogg

[LittleBen]

All good advice so far. IMO the best way is to do all of the above, and just keep it in the back of your mind. I've gotten mulberry from a park once (was already cut and stacked by a dumpster), driving down the road after the highway dept trimmed and found chokecherry and buckthorn, asking friends, colleagues, neighbors, landowners etc.

Remember even if you cut today, you won't be shooting for a while, so if you've got a few bucks I suggest finding a decent lumber yard.

Yeah you can go to the big box stores, but there wood is a lot more expensive, lower quality, and at least in my area seems to be dry as a bone. A decent lumber yard will have a much better variety, in a variety of dimensions, and better quality, for less money.

The blue store has red oak at near $8/Bdft, that's too much IMO.
In contrast, I bought some perfectly straight 8/4 ash from an indoor lumber yard near me for like $5/bdft. And that was s2s not rough cut.

Also, I know in this area at least, some of the tree services also saw, air dry, and sell some common domestics like oak, maple, pine and tend to also be very reasonably priced.

If you can resaw the lumber, you can make a number of bows out of a 6" wide 6' long piece of 8/4 ash and I think that would run like $30 around here.

What I did years ago is just buy a couple 10' Ipe 2x4s and maybe 10bdft of hickory .... probably spent a bit over $100 but I've built so many bows from that stash I've lost count.
My average tri-lam is built using a total of ~1bdft of material plus the handl/riser material. And that includes the waste from the table saw kerf. So I doubt they run more than maybe $10 in materials unless I get fancy.

Just one more example, 6" wide 6' long 8/4 hickory would yield 15-16 1/4" thick backing strips and could probably be bought for $25-30.

The nice thing about board bows is you can finish one in a pretty short time with only the most basic tools. Again, if you can resaw a backinstrip and a belly lam and add a powerlam in between, you can really minimize the amount of wood you need to remove from the belly and it can go pretty fast.

Sorry for the essay.

Post script edit: MacBeath Hardwoods in SLC looks like a reasonable place to start.

[StumblyRhino]

I put a couple ads on Craigslist offering to clear lots or cut firewood for people with the understanding that I get to keep any wood I like for bowyering or woodworking.  Hooked up with a guy who owns a habitat restoration business, and now I can cut wood pretty much anytime I like.

[Springbuck]

gfugal, PM sent.  We're neighbors and I have too much wood.  None of it is premium stuff, but lots that is usable.

[JoJoDapyro]

gfugal, PM sent.  We're neighbors and I have too much wood.  None of it is premium stuff, but lots that is usable.

I'm close as well. Let me know if I can help.

[jeffp51]

Gfugal, I just saw you live in utah county.  Where are you?  I am in pleasant Grove