Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bow101 on November 27, 2012, 01:28:54 am
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Some say white oak is comparable to hickory even better in some circumstances. I have yet to work with hickory so can't say my opinion. At any rate how would you guys rate the woods in order of prefrence for building, say a self-bow or board bow..I left "Number 10 as a question mark" for some other wood you may prefer. These are only a hand full of species ~I know~ just thought I would throw them out there for starters.. Funny thing becasue many Canadians may prefer Yew because of its Availability up here. In the States it would be Osage.
(1....... White oak
(2....... Osage
(3....... Red Elm
(4 .......Mulberry
(5....... Yew
(6....... Red oak
(7....... Maple
(8....... Ipe
(9....... Walnut
(10 ...?...
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(1....... Osage
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Outlaw, I never thought you would choose osage as your number one wood choice lol.
I like hickory a lot for selfbows. But that's in my limited experience with only hickory red oak and ash(which sucked).
Everyone is going to tell you osage is the best over all.
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10. Cypress
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I wouldn't say everyone here in the lower 48 prefers osage orange. >:D
My preference:
Yew
Juniper
Plum
Oceanspray
Vinemaple
Cascara
Osage orange
Pacific dogwood
Oregon white oak
Hazelnut
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1. Winged Elm - produced my strongest, fastest bow to date.... 70lb. draw @ 29", 64" ntn, zero set, and shoots fast as hell. Once heat treated, winged elm is as good as it gets.
2. Hickory - tough, durable bows that won't break... one of the woods I would use if I were making a bow for someone else. It is a little harder to work than the elm, or I might have rated it number 1.
3. White Oak - if you heat treat it, it makes a fine bow - steam/heat bends easily.
4. Pecan - like hickory but not quite as hard to work.
5. Osage Orange - I would rate it higher if I enjoyed chasing rings!
6. Hackberry - I would choose hackberry if I were making a recurve - you can steam bend it real easy and it makes a good bow.
7. Red Oak - will do in a pinch. I have made some red oak bows from staves that I was right proud of.
8. Persimmon - I made a bow from it.... shot good till it blew up! I think I got it too dry and it seemed brittle to me. I have seen good looking persimmon bows posted on here, so it was probably my misuse of the wood that caused the explosion, which was quite spectacular.
9. Sassafrass - it smells great and will make a bow, but mine took a lot of set.
10. Honey Locust - will make a bow and the wood is beautiful, but I think you have to overbuild, since it is sort of weird, brittle wood.
That's my order of preference on the types of wood that I have tried so far....
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Osage, HHB,Winged Elm, Yew,Hickory,Hackberry. :) Never used any of the oaks.
Pappy
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Osage is number one,and anything else is a distant second. But I do like black locust,hhb,yew,and those are prob my top woods although I will and have used many many others. Most folks not in osage country won't list it as there number one because of its lack of availability.
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I recently worked some massuranduba (bulletwood). The bow turned out pretty nice. I would add it to the list.
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1. Osage 2. Yew
Then maybe but not in order: HHB, Hickory, Black Locust, Red Cedar and I would really like to try some of Misslemaster's Buckthorn!
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I like osage just as much as the other guy, but because of it's weight, it just does not make the best shooting bows. It makes great shooting bows, yes. I think white woods may sometimes take more work and more care to equal the performance of a freshly tillered snappy osage bow. But in my opinion, osage is not always the best choice. Especially if you try something other than the typical shorter flatbow design with it, like a cherokee longbow, or especially an english longbow. Or even if you were to try a west coast native bow. If you were to compare a west coast native bow made of yew or juniper/cedar, to a west coast native bow made of osage, I am sure the yew/juniper/cedar would out shoot the osage, just because it is such a wide flat design, and wide and flat just doesn't go together well with "heavy". Osage has many merits that other woods do not live up to, that I believe we are all very aware of. We all know an osage bow has a better chance of outlasting alot of other white woods. I absolutely love naturally reflexed osage, and how alot of the time it won't even give up a fourth of an inch of that reflex for me. I think the best way to take advantage of osage's properties is to use highly reflexed staves, staves that would otherwise fail in compression. But although density might equal compression strength, it sure doesn't equal fps.
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I'd put Osage and Yew on a par, but give the edge to Osage because of it rugged nature. It can take a lot of abuse in the field and still get the arrow down range, but Yew is a joy to work with, hmmm.
Hickory
Hop Hornbeam
Ash
locust
Lemonwood, though its hard to find anymore.
Oh heck, if I do my part, their all good!
Robby
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Osage, hickory, BL, white oak, HH, red oak, maple. Yew is great, too, but it doesn't make my list for a hunting bow. I'm not convinced it can handle the extremes of heat and cold the hardwoods can. I took a hickory bow out for a hunt and stump in -5 F. Never used ipe, red elm or walnut. I almost made a bow from walnut but it didn't split out well enough. Hazlenut shoots make great arrows. Never made a bow from hazlenut. Jawge
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Cherry is my favourite at the mo. Yew is nice but it always a compromise with knots and sapwood thickness.
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I wouldn't say everyone here in the lower 48 prefers osage orange. >:D
Sure, say that now hater!
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If I had to pick only one wood to make bows, it would be osage... hands down. Osage does it all... backed (with ash, hickory, maple, or bamboo) board bows, stave bows, character bows, ELBs, war bows, flatbows, R/D bows... narrow, wide, flat, stacked, round... osage does it all. It's dense and strong, doesn't break easily, and takes little set if you do your part. Only down side for me, it doesn't grow here.
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Perhaps I'm the only one on this site that has never got hold of any osage....never even seen the tree or wood...or a bow made of it. If anyone wants to send me some to try....I'll tell you what I think of it?
The best bow wood I've found though (so far)... is Ipe... followed closely by bamboo
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OSAGE, if you can't get a bow from a OSAGE stave you need to by one. (ANY DESIGN)
YEW I conceder it a little under OSAGE because it's simbley a little brittle and dos'nt take any big mistakes like OSAGE. AND I ONLY BUILT A FEW YEW BOWS. Just hard for me to get. Anyone wheeling to trade a stave (NO LIMBS). I have OSAGE STAVES up to 20 years old.
ihave a good many hickory staves with 2 or 3 inchs of reflex add also.
HICKORY you need to make a couple precausions on the intake of moister but again there's no reason you can build a HICKORY BOW. With the right design. I've built dozzens.
ELM I conceder ELM just a bit under HICKORY. I love the interlock grain. I've made my longest draw with a RED ELM BOW 30 inchs. Keeping string follow under a inch.
Although you can get a bow out of just about any peice wood. I've used any and everything I could get my hands on at one time or another. I very seldom waste my time with other woods.
THESE ARE STAVE BOWS I've never built a board bow in my life.
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Osage is number one,and anything else is a distant second. But I do like black locust,hhb,yew,and those are prob my top woods although I will and have used many many others. Most folks not in osage country won't list it as there number one because of its lack of availability.
i agree with you, someone like me that wants to work osage would have to trade quite a lot to get enough to where it becomes favorite. If you mess up on your first osage and you don't have enough around you might think "what a waste of time" So basically those that are fortunate enough to live with mountains of the stuff are the ones that cant live without it. Ship enough of it up here and ill call it my favorite too >:D
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I once heard Dean Torges say, during a conversation about someone asking him which woods were best. "Pretty much osage and yew and screw the rest". Of course, there are others, but I snickered to myself when he said that. I wish he'd say what's on his mind. ::)
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Some of you younger guys out west and folks in non osage country need to play "Johny horseapple seed" ,and start planting the stuff everywhere,and specifically down in the lower elevation valleys alongside fertile rivers. That way ya all will have it and for future generations to come,and you'll stop complaining from not having any too..lol. :laugh:
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send over a couple thousand osage fruits and i will!
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I don't even think I've worked with ten different species of wood but my list would probably go like this based on work experience, availability, and the bows I've made.
1. Hickory
2. Maple
3. Red oak
4. Osage
5. Yew
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I wouldn't say everyone here in the lower 48 prefers osage orange. >:D
Sure, say that now hater!
Lol I got some Osage from Steve (seabass) and within a week I had 2 shoot able bows. These are my first osage that I've have to myself and wasn't helping someone with, so Ive had some time to enjoy and study the wood. I have nothing but good things to say about it's just not my favorite lol.
I like woods that are strong but soft and easily workable. Osage is tough hard but very elastic, and practically melts under a heat gun. But to me it's unavailable and makes my tools dull hahaha
Some of you younger guys out west and folks in non osage country need to play "Johny horseapple seed" ,and start planting the stuff everywhere,and specifically down in the lower elevation valleys alongside fertile rivers. That way ya all will have it and for future generations to come,and you'll stop complaining from not having any too..lol. :laugh:
My grandfather would have a heart attack if he found out I was planting non native species trees
I know there is some osage down there in southern Oregon but I ain't driven all the way down there lol
KEEP YOUR OSAGE OUTTA MY YARD ;D :P >:D
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I once heard Dean Torges say, during a conversation about someone asking him which woods were best. "Pretty much osage and yew and screw the rest". Of course, there are others, but I snickered to myself when he said that. I wish he'd say what's on his mind. ::)
Isn't that the conversation that started MoJam?
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With what I've worked with in order best to worse...osage, hophornbeam, hickory, dogwood, hackberry. I've also heard very good comments on winged elm.
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Something that hasn't been mentioned yet I believe is the environment we live in. Some woods do well and better in a desert than vice versa,and it depends on if we hunt or not and in what type of zone we hunt in if we do hunt.
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I'd take yew over osage any day of the week because of how easily it works, its enormous elasticity and its lightness. I sneak around in the woods and crawl through brush, but I've yet to use a bow as a battering ram. I don't mind a ding or two here and there, but good yew heart wood is actually remarkably tough stuff.
All that said, plum is the my favorite, because it feels so damn good to shoot a plum bow. Hows that for a quantitative assessment?
gabe
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1. Juniper
2. Red Oak (because it's readily available)
3. Osage
4. Elm
5. Hophornbeam
6. Mulberry
7. White Oak
8. Hickory
9. Ipe
10. All other woods
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Mmmmmm.. some good replys here. It is of no surprise of course that most prefer, Osage or Yew over most woods.
I noticed a few like Juniper and Red Cedar, Fuuny thing because I did a thread on Cedar and everyone said stay away due to it's softness. Latelty I have done some surfing and some guys have built some nice recurves from cedar, backed with whatever..!
What is the major difference between Winged Elm and Red Elm...?
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ERC(juniper) is an excellent bow wood. I have a stave I'm saving for a special occasion. Western red cedar is good for arras, but as a bow wood, if it is at all possible would have to come from an old growth branch and REQUIRE sinew.
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I'm not sure I'm remembering the right thread, but didn't you ask about Western red cedar? The bows you see built are Eastern red cedar. Eastern red cedar is a juniper and a much different wood than Western red cedar
This is a thread I posted awhile back about cedar bows, I have seen others built from REd Cedar............ http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35837.0.html
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With what I've worked with in order best to worse...osage, hophornbeam, hickory, dogwood, hackberry. I've also heard very good comments on winged elm.
The first time I cut hophorn beam, I thought it was elm, partly because I had never worked elm either, and didn't know how to identify either very well. After working it, I was like "Man, this is some good elm!", ;D ;D ;D
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10. SERVICEBERRY!!! hell yeah!!
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I read on a websearch that you could use any hardwood for making bows.
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not completed my first bow yet (hickory) but have shot a few different bows of various woods....so far, all things being equal as far as craftsmanhip, design for wood type to get most out of it, etc....I like:
- hickory...all around tough wood and if built correctly and sealed against moisture is almost bullet proof
- osage...love the tiny tips that are possible and all around great bow material...but harder to work and easier to make a fatal mistake than hickory I believe
- vine maple...john strunk made one for me out of a piece that was sent to me by a person from Oregon back in 2001....it is a very durable wood and has good cast. he told me it was one of his favorite all around woods for a hunting bow and I see why. Not sure how it is to work though as it can be very snaky I am told.
once I get a few under my belt I would like to try juniper/cedar, elm, pecan and red oak....
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Vine maple
Ipe
osage
hickory
cascara
hazlenut
pacific dogwood
yew
rock maple
ash
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Brian I would have never guessed to see yew and p.dogwood so far down your list!
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send over a couple thousand osage fruits and i will!
i second that........ they will be all over rhode island if i have any say in it ;D
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I stayed out of the other thread, but I'll jump in on this one. First Osage, then Osage - Osage - Osage and finnaly Osage. Nuff said ;) O:). Bob.
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My list includes ten of the woods I've made bows from. Haven't used yew so no opinion on it and I'm trying to finish my first from buckthorn and it would rate pretty high on the list I think, let you know when I'm done with that one.
1) Osage
2} Black Locust
3) White oak
4) Elm
5) Hickory
6) Hackberry
7) Black Walnut
8) Mulberry
9) Ash
10) American Hornbeam
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Most of the bows i have made have been osage mostly because its easy to get in my area. Most people consider it to be invasive trash. But if each of you will send me a stave of each wood on your list i will get back to you in about 10 years. >:D
I should say though that my favorite bow i ever made was from flowering dogwood.
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Bryce,
I rated the woods in order of preference then durability. Yew is a great wood...but not durable in all regions.