Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Jmilbrandt on March 13, 2009, 02:00:15 am
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Here is a bow I made out of a small tree I cut down in the mountains of Montana. It is 65" ntn 1 1/2 at the fades with a straight taper to 1/2 at the nocks, It pulls seventy five pounds at 28". The stave had a slight deflex to it after it dried so I reflexed it at the handle so it ended up with a slight gull shape. I have no idea what the wood was I thought maybe you guys could help me identify it. I don't have any picture but it grew in like a group or grove of about ten or fifteen others they were about 15' to 20' high 3" to 4" in diameter. It had smooth grayish bark and grew pipe straight for about 7' or 8" with no branches. The wood is almost bone white with really no heartwood all it had was a small dark spot in the center (the pith?) I think it had small round leaves. It grew in the swan mountains near Kalispell Montana. It seem to be a very good wood and took only about 1/2 inch of set. Samples I broke seemed very strong in tension and very elastic. It also steam bends easier then any wood I have done, though I admit I haven't done a whole lot. Any Ideas?
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By the way I know the tiller is off I'm still working on It :). Just needs a little adjustment after shooting.
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Looks good......although the pictures appear alittle blurry to me so l cant see it to well.....but then again l just woke up :D
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Not familiar with the flora of montana but perhaps a type of serviceberry?
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sounds like hackberry. did the bark have warty looks bumps here and there??? the hackberry i have cut had almost no heartwood and was very white. don't know if it grows in Montana but it grows everywhere it Texas. Makes a darn nice bow.
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love the bow, but it still would be nice to figure out what kind of wood it is
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It's been a while since I cut it but I don't think it really had any bumps on it. It was just really smooth. Wish I had grabbed some more but there was a few feet of snow on the ground and the truck got stuck, I actually cut that to help the tires get traction and threw it in the back as an afterthought. :D I noticed the pictures were a little blurry I'll try to get some more today.
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I just looked up serviceberry and hackberry. It definitly not hackberry and i'm pretty sure it's not serviceberry.
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My earlier pictures were a little blurry so here are some new ones.
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From your description of the little groves etc it sounds almost like Quaking Aspen...?
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By your description of the bark, it could have been a variant of chokecherry.... http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4DMG/Trees/canred.htm
Or it might have been Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) which you folks down south call service berry or juneberry sometimes. http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/4dmg/Trees/Shrubs/junebrry.htm
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It may have been the Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) the bark looks almost identical but the actual plant doesn't grow like the pictures you gave. I saw hundreds of them while I was in the mountains and they all grew as individual trees. I'm going to try to get a picture of the bark for you guys I left a small log of it at my dad's house there I'll see if he can send me a picture of it.
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Bow looks nice :) Quaking aspen or popple as we call it here has smooth bark especially at sampling size.
But its really light weight wood and very brittle so I doubt if it would hold together for long.
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if it was highbush saskatoon/serciceberry they grow as individual trees and not bushes like the more common low bush variety. my backyard is full of highbush stoon it sounds simmiliar first 7 feet no branches fairly straight 3-4 inches diameter max
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I'm pretty positive it's not aspen. It's probably seviceberry like a few of you are suggesting. I'm still working on getting pictures I hope to have some today. :)
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Finally got the pictures hopefully this helps. :)
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Looks very similiar to the service berry we have here.
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Looks like either serviceberry or some kind of maple.
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Looking at it some more, I'm leaning towards maple at least compared to our serviceberry.
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http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/douglasmaple.htm bark is similar
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/vinemaple.htm bark?
just a thought...ran out of time, but on that same website was going to look for choke cherry.....later.
D
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Thanks dilligence I don't know about that douglas maple the bark does look similar but the way it shows the tree growing is different this was just a single trunk straight up about seven eight feet then branching out. I know it wasn't vine maple I lived in western washington for ten years so I know what that looks like. I've been browsing through the field guides and tree sites for trees in northwestern Montana that resemble it and haven't been able to find anything. If I was still in Montana I would drive up there and take some pictures right away, this is starting to bug me I want to know what it is. :)
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well as long as it's not the " Lava tree" ::)
tends to smell real bad when used ;D
ok sorry I'll get back into my cage :-\
;)
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Wow! Who is that good lookin' guy in that last picture!!! :) Oh wait, thats me ::)
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(http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/chockecherry_common/bark.jpg)
And your pic again to compare:
(http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11836.0;attach=20585;image)
(http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/chockecherry_common/leaf.jpg)
These Chokecherry pics found at
http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/chockecherry_common/chokecherry_common.html (http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact%20pages/chockecherry_common/chokecherry_common.html)
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Maybe. :-\ I don't know I am probably going to have to wait until the leaves start to grow again then go and look again. I'll get some pictures of it and the leaves then I should be able to figure out what it is no problem.