Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Alaric on June 22, 2012, 10:50:45 am
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I’ve been reading through past posts and have just finished reading a long thread on the best bow wood. I found it very interesting and occasionally amusing but was surprised that all the arguments defending this or that wood focused solely on performance of the bows that can be produced from it or its availability. I haven’t worked with that many different woods yet but as of this moment my favorite bow wood is Yew but not because of the quality of the bows that can be made from it or its availability (I have to get it from the opposite cost), but because I like working with it, I like the look of it, I like the feel of it, I like chasing those thin rings in that creamy sap wood. I don’t make wooden bows to make the perfect weapon to feed my family, if I needed to hunt food to survive I’d use my Doug Hill longbow not one of my own, I make wooden bows because I like making wooden bows, I use Yew when I can get it, if I get bored with it and find I enjoy the challenge of working with willow what further defense does it require. I was surprised not to hear the argument “The best bow wood is the one you enjoy working with the most” here, I’ve heard it from many wood workers.
I was also pleasantly surprised that despite the passion with which many hold their views on this subject the discussion remained very civil unlike many forums I have been on. I’m happy to be here with such a good group of people
Richard
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Im sort of partial to osage. Might be because its what i made my first bow from, or because ats easy to get around here, most people consider it an undesirable tree. I do have a short knotty piece of yew, but i havnt worked up the nerve to try it yet. Besides osage i have tried hickory,ash,red oak, and flowering dogwood. Have some black locust drying so will give it a try sometime.
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Interesting topic. I have worked mostly with Bois D' Ark. It's readily available here in Texas. It's tough as nails, dense, easily steam or heat bent, tolerant of less than perfect tiller, and I think beautiful. So, after thinking about your question, and my answer, Bois D'Ark is first for me. But on the other hand, I really like Black Cherry which has none of the above qualities except beauty. And I am falling fast for Hackberry,(considered a big weed around here) which also has none of the above qualities, and is the equivalent of the homely looking girl in the corner, that you just found out could REALLY DANCE! Which girl is the most beautiful? Which is the most fun to be around? Which would make the best wife, the sexiest, the smartest, the....So many woods and so little time.
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I think that hickory might be my favorite...thus far. Lots of different woods to still try out though. ;)
Tattoo Dave
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Most often,
I hear what wood,people like best for working properties or for what makes the best performing bow,but rarely do i hear about what woods,best suit the climate for which they will be used in.For example...
Hickory has a poor rep for those in a humid climate,but for those in extreme arid conditions,it can very well be the best choice.
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I make wooden bows because I like making wooden bows,
Richard
There is a certain elegance to that circular logic! That, and I resemble that remark. To me shooting and hunting with a handmade bow is completely secondary, I'd even give it up but I won't give up makimg bows. Journey vs. destination sort of stuff, ya know?
Traxx said a mouthful in regards to hickory. Where I live it don't grow at all...but it makes great bows here.
I think I like hackberry best. Something about the way it works and how I have had such good luck with it. Next choice is osage that has been aged a good long time. Chasing rings on it is downright fun.
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I think plum may be my favorite wood. I know I get the most excited about the prospect of getting some. Last night I think I layed awake all night because I had to meet a tree trimmer at 5 am to pick up some plum staves that I showed him at dies at the hospital he works at. He cut the wrong ones and it was badly twisted and cracked from drying. I finished the split and spent 4 hours steaming a 7 foot section with a full 180 degree twist, I got 90% of the twist unwound and then upon debarking I find it is ate up with bugs. Well monday morning he says he will have the right one cut for me, looks like it just died recently.
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Maclura pomifera, Hedge Apple, Horse Apple, Bowdark, Bowdock, Bois d'Arc and of course, Osage-orange. All the same, depending on where you're from.
Making my first "osage" selfbow was intimidating to me. Way back then, all of the talk about humps, bumps, undulations, pin knots, spring and summer growth rings, etc. scared the bejesus out of me. Especially because I paid $50 for the stave, 20 years ago. It was my second bow. We didn't so much, narrow the tips back then. We were just learning about it. We didn't steam in reflex or make corrections with a heat gun. We discovered that, later. I picked a naturally reflexed, small diameter stave with decent growth rings and went for it. I won the Eagle Eye at Denton Hills with that bow. It eventually developed a little lift in front of a pin knot that I fixed with a sinew bandaid. The next year, I took my first archery whitetail with that bow. It accompanied me on a caribou hunt, an elk hunt and a moose hunt. Fearing It may eventually break, I retired that bow.
I've lost count how many osage bows I've made or helped make, since then. Hundreds, I suspect. I've made nice bows from several other woods to experience and sharpen my skills in the craft. To me though it's resilient, forgiving, tough and versatile. Capable of constructing bows of many different styles. Osage #1 still lies above my mantle.
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Mine would be osage. I am blessed to be surrounded by it. Like Matt said, it has some great properties for bow making. You can make a lot of mistakes and it will still make a decent bow. I love the color of it and how it darkens over time. And when you chase a ring, it's like unwrapping a christmas present.
I'm pretty fond of HHB also.
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Living where bow wood doesn't grow I cannot afford to be picky. I really like a lot of woods, but like Traxx said, some are better based on climate. I find that yew is not a great wood for our area. After testing MC of a lot of woods I found that yew just dries to much in my climate and explodes. Hickory which is well known for being great in dry climates can be a bit temperamental. If I keep it inside or at least in the shade while working it, it produces awesome bows. If however you leave it outside to long or in the sun for a couple of hours before it is sealed it will check, end of story. I do like oily woods for my desert climate. The oil seems to keep them from drying to much or too fast. Ipe is awesome for drying to optimum then not loosing MC.
All things said, most woods are great if you treat them right. But even the old reliable can be messed up by a operator malfunction.
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Good to hear that,about Ipe.Ive got some here to work.Do you back it with Bamboo,or Hickory?How does Bamboo,hold up to our Arid climate?I gave away,my previous bamboo backed bows,so i never saw how they held up in this dry climate,after prolonged exposure.
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Good to hear that,about Ipe.Ive got some here to work.Do you back it with Bamboo,or Hickory?How does Bamboo,hold up to our Arid climate?I gave away,my previous bamboo backed bows,so i never saw how they held up in this dry climate,after prolonged exposure.
I prefer to back with bamboo, it works great in our climate. 10 years later I still have the first bow I made and the boo is in great condition.
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Next choice is Osage that has been aged a good long time.
I have an Osage stave that has been standing in the corner of my workshop for the last 20 years, do you think it's properly aged yet? :)
Richard
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Kind of depends on the day..... I'm more the favor of the day with my favorite....if my arthritis it kicking up Hackberry might be the ticket. If I'm looking for an adrenaline rush there nothing like a chunk of ERC!!! Feeling nostalgic well the it's probably going to be a piece of Osage..... Had a rough week at work then I might not choose by type but more by degree of difficulty so it absolutely absorbs me in the process and blacks out the worries of the week???
Looking for some HHB just because I want to try it.... so many woods and so little time!!!
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I have access to all the pacific northwest top woods...........for durability vine maple without a doubt, but for my self I love Cascara. For some reason I try to make bows fgrom things most people would throw away...that is a challenge to me!
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In order of preference of my fav woods....osage,black locust,yew,HHB,elm,hackberry...i love all these woods for different reasons,and it just depends on the mood i am in and what i wanna make,but the one i use the most is OSAGE.....LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!!!
Ive used many other woods but those are my fav
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I am stuck between winged elm and white oak.
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I inherited a bunch of bow wood when a friend passed on. Some is marked & some isn't. Some has been cut 15 years or more. I don't know what a lot of it is and I'm not smart enough to guess. However, I've made some bows from marked ash, hickory, osage, maple & mulberry. My 1st was an ash that I didn't get to shoot much before a good friend "needed" it more than I did. My last one is pignut hickory. Now there is some nice stuff and prolly my favorite.
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I changed my mind after some thought I think for all the reasons previously stated I think Yew is my favorite.
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Next choice is Osage that has been aged a good long time.
I have an Osage stave that has been standing in the corner of my workshop for the last 20 years, do you think it's properly aged yet? :)
Richard
Not yet, but your great-grand daughter will LOVE it!
As for woods I have not had the chance to work YET, top of that list is vine maple. I got a piece from CMB and it is curing away slowly and gently. Every now and then I hear it murmer to me in the dark. It speaks softly, gently, soothingly, whispering promises I dare not repeat. :-*
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Osage, but yew is nice too.
George
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I have made pyramid bows and eastern woodland style bows from many different kinds of wood. Several species of hickory, black locust, black cherry, black walnut, flowering dogwood, rough leaved dogwood, red osier dogwood, persimmon, eastern red cedar, sassafras, and sugar maple. I have recently moved to Oklahoma which seems to be the land of osage orange, but am yet to make a bow from any of it. I like hickory because it is very forgiving and almost impossible to break. However, my very favorite wood is sugar maple. It is far easier to work than the harder dogwoods, hickory, and black locust. It makes really good shooting bows, and I think it can be quite beautiful if it is finished really smoothly. If I am making a low draw weight bow i.e. <50lbs I like Sassafras it is really easy to work and smells wonderful while your working it.
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I all of them but if I had to choose right now what my favorite was it would be Ocean Spray then after that Viney Maple then Yew.
Josh
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I would like to be different just for the sake of being different but I would be lying. Osage is my favorite for all the same reasons as everyone else and its readily available around here. Ive worked osage, hickory, juniper, black locust, black cherry, ash and hackberry and I liked all of them for different reasons but if I could only use one wood from now on it would definitely be osage.
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Wych Elm, because of its history (the Holmegaard artefact was found close to my home), because its local, because straight pieces are easy to find, but knotty character pieces are abundant too....but mostly because I cant make any other wood compete with it in pure shooting effectivness.
Its forgiving to dry, forgiving to tiller and it can, and will make, allmost any design shine.
I would vote Wych Elm anyday....but I havent tried Osage:-(
Cheers
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Favourite so far is Cherry, prunus avium. Have tried yew a few times and can never get it quite right, lovely to look at but i allways mess up the .sg and performance suffers.
I do like ash and elm but ash tends to end up quite chunky.
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Osage,osage,hickory,elm,& did I forget OSAGE.Like to try some Wych elm though.Grass might be greener on the other side of the fence syndrome.....LOL.Have an ironwood roughed out bow drying which might open my eyes.All these woods are available close except wych elm.Does that even grow in the U.S.?
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This has been talked about before but the reason for that is because it is true.There are many different high points along the way making a bow.It starts when you see the tree and your imagination begins to rise,pulling the bark off to see what you got,those last few strokes removing the ring,getting it dead nuts tillered,the first shot from it,and last but not least chosing a finish.
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Grass might be greener on the other side of the fence syndrome
VERY good point....and this goes for bowmaking more than anything i think;-). I do feel its important to realise this, and appreciate the wood types we have locally.
Personally I much prefer local materials....using that gives me a feeling of....hell, I dont know what it is...it just feels right:-)
cheers
Morten (who would still give his right arm for a good piece of osage;-)
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1. Plum
2. Plum
3. Plum
4. Yew
5. Thick ringed swamp Ash
I like woods that are easy to work. :)
Gabe
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Labernum, elm (any!),black locust,osage,yew,dogwood,boo backed ipe and boo backed greenheart are all great woods/combo's here in the wet. I think choosing a good wood for your environment is important.
I would be very hard pressed to make a decision as to a single favourite. I like to dream up a bow I want to make then go through my staves looking for the right candidate.