Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: turmoiler on April 01, 2012, 07:55:39 pm
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Hello,
some time ago after a storm I found a piece of wood on a beach, it was quite heavy and I kept it. Now the wood is dry and I have no idea what kind of wood it is or how many time it spent in the sea. It is hard and heavy and pinkish in color with interlocked and wavy grain, I've measured it and its density is >0,80kg/dm3, I think It's some tropical wood. My question is if this wood can be used for the belly of a bow. Does anybody know if the salty water can affect the properties of the wood?
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I think if salt soaked into the wood it will continue to attract moisture enen after it seems dry.
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I agree with pat b. salt will attract water, and I imageine that the wood would be impregnated with it even if it was only in the water for a few hours
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You could try soaking it in fresh water, to get the salts out? Just drop it in a pond, or a nearby creek (tied to a tree so it doesn't float away). Weighing the stave at several timepoints will tell you if the wood contains a lot of moisture. If the wood at EMC (pre-fresh water soaking) is still 15% higher than the weight of an oven dried sample...you know the wood contained a lot of water (and possible salts), more than normal wood without salts. EMC (post-fresh water soaking) might be lower than EMC (pre-soaking) as well. A nice hypothesis. Shouldn't be too difficult of an experiment to perform.
I'd personally be worried about any checks in the wood. It could have been floating in the ocean for weeks. Checks and cracks might very well be present, of develop quickly as it dries.
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Inuits made bows from diftwood quite often. But that was mostly spruce or a type of for or cedar. Can you.identify the wood?
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Hi,
I wasn't aware that the salt content could raise the moisture of the wood, or even that the salt content itself could raise the wood weigh. Unfurtunately there aren't any pond or river nearby to soak the wood but I think I'm going to try the experiment DS talks about with a small sample of the wood to see the overall condition of the wood (I have a precission scale to work with).
About the cheking, the wood was has some small cheks when I found it, but they didn't increase noticiabily as it dried. This wood is wery tight.
As I said in the earlier post I think that is some kind of tropical wood, I'm sure it is not a common wood from around. Will post a picture soon.
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Get down below the outter wood layers andsee what the original wood looks like. Try to chase a ring if possible so you can se the orginal grain. Both might help to identify.
Where do you live and where did you find this wood?
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You could rough out a blank and taste the wood. If there's salt in the wood it will be salty :laugh:
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I seem to remember an article in PA magazine about curing staves in saltwater.
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I seem to remember an article in PA magazine about curing staves in saltwater.
And I remember a subsequent thread about using bull buffalo whiz.... >:D
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...and the contravercy that insued! ::)
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OOps, sorry I brought it up :-[
I remember the article but I don't remember the thread about it.
I guess when you live 1000 miles from the nearest saltwater it doesn't matter much.
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I went to a local carpentry and cut the board in four pieces, the wood is light pinkish but it has been discolored in some places, I don't know if this is because of rottiness, fungus, water or sun exposure, any idea?
here are some pictures:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/turmoiler/driftwood/Foto0190.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/turmoiler/driftwood/Foto0189.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/turmoiler/driftwood/Foto0188.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/turmoiler/driftwood/Foto0186.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/turmoiler/driftwood/Foto0185.jpg)
The carpenter said that he didn't know what kind of wood it was, so no tip here.
The wood was found in the mediterranean coast of spain.
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looks abit like mahogany or sapele which is a substitute for mahogany but isnt as tuff. i have a piece in the shed that used to be a bar in a pub and the grain looks very similar.
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Just looking at the pics I'd be inclined to say live oak but it's purely a guess.Ron
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My guess is meranti or merbau, looks to me like firewood,..
The only hardwood that has a pinkish colour and that I know is a good bow wood is massaranduba. This wood is definitly not massarandubba.
Ofcourse you could give it a try maybe testing it before gluing and using it as a bellywood
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Just looking at the pics I'd be inclined to say live oak but it's purely a guess.Ron
Definitely not. This is clearly no species of oak (it's not ring porous), and it's highly unlikely the wood comes drifting all the way from the other end of the big ocean: USA.
Was the wood a round log section or branch? Or could it have dropped from a ship, which is likely if the wood was squared/processed?
Looks like firewood to me...or maybe it's useful for tipoverlays and handles. I would advice a simple bend test, though. That'll tell you all you need to know.
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I know what it is because i've just been given a sample board from a wood dealers. It's used in marine constructions because it is very very rot resistant.........unfortunately the name escapes me but i'm phoning them up tomorrow to get confirmation of the name.
The sg is the same as mine,the interlocking grain and the colours. They had it in massive 18 x 9 inch x 20ft boards and these were mainly light purple with blue and yellow areas running through it. Any checks are likely to be small and shallow.
I'm itching to get it tried out but time isn't on my side at the moment.
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Sorain reminds me of the Asian wood they refer to as "rubberwood". You see a lot of inexpensive furniture made from it. But I am no dendrologist, just a s.w.a.g. on my part.
Back it with a thin strip of hickory and get to tillering when the moisture content gets down to 8%, I say!
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I want to say firewood....
Bend test it bro.
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Teak was a wood that was used very frequently for ship building. Heavy and hard.
I wonder what years in Salt water would do to the compression strength of wood? Might try backing it with something? If you wanna make a bow, I always say give it a try in the name of research.
Gabe
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Teak was a wood that was used very frequently for ship building. Heavy and hard.
I always say give it a try in the name of research.
Gabe
Amen!
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I'd say mahogany too. I thought oak at first bet the closer I looked the more it looks like mahogany. The pink color could be natural or from minerals, etc it absorbed from the salt water.
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Trust me this is it! http://www.pacemercieca.com.mt/woodcategories/img/ekki_1299075873.jpg
It's called Ekki - lophria alata and it is a West African dense hardwood
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It's too dense for all the other woods that people have mentioned.
I've just glued up a hickory backed bow from my board...we'll see how it does.
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I'd have to agree with Danny..Mahogany
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I'd have to agree with Danny..Mahogany
There's at least five species across the globe called "mahogany". Not to forget all kinds of local woods with vernacular names including the term "mahogany". There is no single mahogany species. So what species are you saying it is?
The color is off for the true mahoganies Swietenia. It resembles Khaya mahogany just a little bit. But the main thing: measured SG was over 0,80. No way this is 'mahogany', just for that single reason! Please don't create confusion by just yelling "Mahogany!" to every reddish-brown tropical wood you see.
I agree with Mike. Azobé (Lophira alata) fits the story and the pictures perfectly. Found in marine environment, high SG, accurate color, the grain matches the pics, interlocked grain...
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The driftwood should work fine in compression. Eskimo bows made from driftwood were usually cable-backed. The Eskimo knew what they were doing. :)
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Thanks to everybody for your answers. Among all the woods mentioned here rubberwood is the one that ressembles the most, I'm sure it is not a common wood and I have seen mohagany and I'm sure it is not. I think it is not ekki because that wood is too dark and too heavy. But there are so many kinds of woods...
What I'm going to do is to try to make a backed bow with oak or maple (there is no hickory here) and see if it works, just for the science ;)
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The fresh cut boards of it are exactly the same colour as yours with exactly the same 'patches' of colur.Trust me thats what it is.
No way is it any 'mahogany' as Darksoul explains above.