working with twisty wood

[WhistlingBadger]

Hello, everybody!  I cut some nice chokecherry the other day.  I'm itching to make a bow with this wood.  I've heard it makes a snappy bow if you back it with something to keep it from exploding on you.  (I plan on using pronghorn rawhide)

Trouble is all the chokecherry around here is horrendously twisty.  My best piece from yesterday goes around 360 degrees in about three feet. 

So, here's what I'm thinking:  Rather than trying to straighten a corkscrew, why not just use it as it is then back it?  I can use the natural outside for a back with no violations, but obviously I'll have quite a bit of edge grain run off.  Hopefully a rawhide backing would keep that from being a problem.

Is that a realistic idea, or should I just make a few really nice walking sticks?

[Pat B]

I've not made a bow with chokecherry so this is an uneducated guess. With as much twist in this stave I think I'd be looking for another piece instead of wasting time and effort on the one you have. Maybe make a walking stick from it.

[Eric Krewson]

I have bamboo backed some osage with a 90-degree twist, the bow shot well and held up to every day shooting and a lot of it for about 5 years. The lady who owned it was a world champ archer, had a 45-target 3D course at her house and shot the course just about every day and sometimes twice a day. I made her a number of bows, even the best osage bows I made her only lasted about 5 years. It is been my finding that any wood bow that is shot between 150K and 250K times will fail.

It would be interesting to see if your wood would hold up with a bamboo backing.

[WhistlingBadger]

I have bamboo backed some osage with a 90-degree twist, the bow shot well and held up to every day shooting and a lot of it for about 5 years. The lady who owned it was a world champ archer, had a 45-target 3D course at her house and shot the course just about every day and sometimes twice a day. I made her a number of bows, even the best osage bows I made her only lasted about 5 years. It is been my finding that any wood bow that is shot between 150K and 250K times will fail.

It would be interesting to see if your wood would hold up with a bamboo backing.

That's interesting, Eric.  Did you just ignore the twist and carve the bow as if it were straight?

I've not made a bow with chokecherry so this is an uneducated guess. With as much twist in this stave I think I'd be looking for another piece instead of wasting time and effort on the one you have. Maybe make a walking stick from it.

Yeah, you might be right, Pat.  I want to make bows with the local woods, and there really are only three choices around here:  Juniper, Rocky mountain maple, and chokecherry.  So far, every single piece of cherry I've cut has had this extreme twist.  I might try one of these and, if it doesn't work, abandon that idea.

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, I de-crowned the back, glued on the bamboo and proceeded to make a bow.