Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: lebhuntfish on July 04, 2016, 01:04:36 am

Title: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 04, 2016, 01:04:36 am
Ok,  so without a big long story.  I met a fella that lives a few blocks from me.  He is a missionary and goes to Haiti about once a month. He stopped by Saturday while I was working on my trade bow and we visited for a while. 
He wants to bring me back some kind of "stave" from Haiti.  He said he spend most of his time in the mountainous region. 
I have done some research and found that the Arawak Indians there make their bows with a decrowned back and 6feet long and 1inch wide.  They are not tillered well and if pulled very far they will break.  (pretty much a quote) "They are made of purple heart or letterwood, leperwood, turtle wood. " Google books,  The Central Arawak.

My question to ya'll is,  does anybody have an idea of any kind of bow wood that would come from Haiti's mountainous region? He said that he would bring me what ever I could find that I wanted.

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Dakota Kid on July 04, 2016, 01:46:39 am
I don't know whether these are in the mountains or not but from what I could find on wiki there is: some type of juniper, Brazilian cherry, west indian walnut, mango, Spanish lime, and Spanish cedar. I've heard good things about mango and lime, no idea about the rest.

Here's a web address for a pdf of the important trees of Haiti. This should be far more helpful. 

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnaca072.pdf

on page 183 they have a list of trees and their physical properties that should give you an idea of which ones may make a bow. Good luck and let us know if/what he brings back for you.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: PatM on July 04, 2016, 07:46:27 am
Probably best to  do your token part and leave any trees there alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Haiti
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Pat B on July 04, 2016, 08:38:47 am
He may not be able to get wood through customs. Maybe he could bring you a bottle of rum instead.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: tallpine on July 04, 2016, 12:45:14 pm
My wife tried to bring me some Guava staves from Honduras. They got confiscated in customs.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Knotty on July 04, 2016, 09:17:29 pm
I wonder what they do with the staves they confiscate.. Make a bow? 😅
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Dakota Kid on July 04, 2016, 11:16:16 pm
Sadly it probably gets destroyed.

 If it was roughed out and half dried so it looked bow-ish they might let it through if your buddy claimed souvenir. Probably not worth the risk. If there's that much deforestation happening, you could probably find usable wood among the leftover tops and stumps. They leave some pretty useful stuff laying around if all they're after is dimensional lumber.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: penderbender on July 04, 2016, 11:51:38 pm
+1 to the slash piles tons of good wood gets burnt when they are done! Cheers- Brendan
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 05, 2016, 12:12:11 am
I'm not sure he would be able to bring it back either. But he said he would see what he could do.

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Mounter on July 05, 2016, 01:03:55 am
I tried to bring back a bunch of wood (red heart) from Cozemel Mexico a few years ago. It had already been split and dried for firewood. The only piece the U.S. customs would let through had no bark on it. One other piece had a 3 X 3 chunk of bark that could have been removed easily, but no dice.. I used that one and only chunk to make accents, tips and overlays for a bow.. Still one of my favorites, because it reminds me of a fun family trip..

  [IMG]http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt61/kevin12306/002 (http://s598.photobucket.com/user/kevin12306/media/002-18.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Dakota Kid on July 05, 2016, 01:22:38 am
Ooooo  pretty.  I bet you could find the qualifications for proper import. I'm guessing barkless and dry is a good start. Email the customs office. I'm sure they'd know if anyone does.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 05, 2016, 08:55:36 am
Sweet looking bow!

Yeah I found out that it has to weigh less than 50lbs,  no bark and less than 6ft.

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: sleek on July 05, 2016, 10:33:12 am
Hey that should be doable! And make it 5'11" and your less than 6 foot. Have a simple carving on the belly for a more convincing claim to souvenir. Hey, if he can Pat, and you dont mind, id sure like a stave of whatever to biild an indigenous style bow too....
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 05, 2016, 11:13:47 am
Let's just see what he can do first. 

II did some reading and found that the atawak Indians string their bows just like you do sleek.

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: mikekeswick on July 06, 2016, 03:31:44 am
We all know that most trees we cut have a healthy root stock and will therefore sprout new shoots and grow again. Bowmaking has never aided deforestation....go and watch proper loggers and then compare that to selectively cutting a smallish tree by hand....
As for which wood - ask the locals! We are just guessing they KNOW :)
As already mentioned remove all bark and make some tools marks on it to get it through customs. I've brought plenty of olive back from Spain before.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Gaur on July 06, 2016, 09:01:08 am
If you debarked it and sealed it with lacquer then you would be good.  They don't want unsealed stuff.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: DC on July 06, 2016, 11:41:20 am
As said, remove the bark, and go over it with a fine toothed comb looking for bug holes. Remember that they didn't make these rules just to inconvenience boyers. Ask any Ash tree.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 06, 2016, 12:01:40 pm
IL give him all this information guy. Thanks!

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Badger on July 06, 2016, 12:09:05 pm
  You might look for lemon wood or degame. Most of it for bow making comes from Cuba but I suspect you would have it there as well.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 06, 2016, 12:17:05 pm
Thanks Steve,  I'll let him know.  I've heard of those before!

Patrick
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: Badger on July 06, 2016, 12:25:45 pm
  Look up the botanical name, each country has a different name for this tree.
Title: Re: Possible bow woods from Haiti?
Post by: lebhuntfish on July 06, 2016, 12:42:18 pm
Thats kinda what I have been doing Steve.  And I've been sending him info on each one with the common name as well. 

Like snakewood down there is called letterwood, leperwood or turtlewood.

Patrick