Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: 65x55 swedis on December 21, 2011, 03:52:50 pm
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i was wondering what are some woods that handle tension good and other woods that handle compresion. just wondering what people think are the best for each catagory. i normally work with hickory or red oak and even yew when i can find some. just seeing what are some other options. thanks
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I favor hickory for tension, partly because it's easy to work with, and osage for compression. Osage works like magic. That's just me though.
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Tension - hickory,white oak,maple,elm and ash.
Compression - ipe,osage,hawthorn,greenheart,yew (but low bend resistance so needs to be thicker than most woods),spindle,hornbeam and black locust if you're careful ;)
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Osage
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Tension: hickory, bamboo ( a grass), white oak
Compression: ipe, osage, locust, kentucky coffeebean, red mulberry
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I work with compression woods and sinew.
Top 3 compression woods- Incense cedar, yew and juniper
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incense cedar what is that is that just really fine grain cedar?
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For me...
Compression strong: osage, yew heartwood, ipe, bloodwood, yellowheart, jatoba, lemonwood.
Tension strong: hickory, maple, ash, elm, bamboo, white oak, yew sapwood.
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For tension strength I favor hickory, pecan, and elm - in that order. Pecan is probably my personal favorite.
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For tension strength I favor hickory, pecan, and elm - in that order. Pecan is probably my personal favorite.
i may be cuting some pecan limbs in the next few weeks. now i know what to do with them. thanks
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is maple a tention wood or compresion wood?
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65x55
Maple is more of a compression wood. After MLB did their experiment 2 summers ago with maple wood bats and the way they tended to explode when they broke, its probably not a good choice for a backing. Just my opinion.
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65x55
Maple is more of a compression wood. After MLB did their experiment 2 summers ago with maple wood bats and the way they tended to explode when they broke, its probably not a good choice for a backing. Just my opinion.
Not in my experience. I've made many maple backed bows, including a 90# tri-lam warbow. Maple backed osage is also a favourite. I think it's an excellent tension strong wood. It does also excel as a compression strong wood, if kept relatively wide and flat. It's my favourite wood for selfbows also.
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Think the term Maple is too wide a term to be used in passing. Some use the term for the whole genus Acer.
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I agree with Dwardo. Vine maple and big leaf maple are two totally different animals.
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The maple bats prone to shattering are the lower density bats which are made from either Red or Silver Maple. Not quite the same concept as a rock Maple back on a bow.
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I'm also new to all of this, and I was wondering whether cherry or purpleheart were any good in compression.
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Cherry is a decent belly wood, but it chrysalles easily. You have to tiller it perfectly, but if you do, it makes an excellent bow. Best to keep it wider and flat. I usually back it, but not with an over powering material (like bamboo). Maple works good. ;)
Purpleheart? Don't know, but I use it a lot as a mid-lam in tri-lam ELBs. It works excellent in that application.
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My personal favorite is purpleheart. I have a purpleheart back with hickory I have shot for years.
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My personal favorite is purpleheart. I have a purpleheart back with hickory I have shot for years.
Could you post some pictures of that bow?
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Could you post some pictures of that bow?
This is purpleheart (from a board) backed with hickory that I then covered with snake skin. 65" ntn, pulling in the mid 40's at 27"
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This is my 1st purpleheart. 67" ntn pulling 50# @ 28. I have retired it after over 5 year service in the SCA. I can't guess how many thousands of arrows this has shot.
For me, purpleheart is easer & cheeper to get than osage. Go figure.
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Beautiful bows Bevan.