Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Tommy D on July 11, 2020, 01:29:51 pm
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With a friend on his farm in Oxfordshire UK and they have a pile of this in a barn - he’s not 100% but seems to think it’s boxwood... is there a bow in this? Looks like it could be split into a few good billets?
(https://i.imgur.com/kXgKYW4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/eiHUQbn.jpg)
Would appreciate any comments if anyone has any ideas what wood this is?
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It's right there in front of you and dry. If you walk away from it you'll kick yourself for the rest of your life. I guess you know my opinion ;D ;D ;D
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Boxwood is said to be a bow wood but I could not tell you if that's what that is.
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It could be, I really am not sure but I am inclined to say its not. Buxus is incredibly heavy, very, very dense, did you try digging your thumnail in as a hardness test?
Post the images to the arbtalk forum, the guys there are brilliant
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I'd have thought it unlikely, AFIK box doesn't grow that quick or to that diameter... but on the other hand the colour looks right.... I reserve the right to be wrong
Del
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not sure if you guys have it over there (maybe planted as a ornamental) but that looks like the red mulberry growing all around where i live in Ohio, if it is mulberry its good bow wood.
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The boxwood I've see all had very white wood and is very dense and heavy. Never it with that definitely difference between sap wood and heartwood.
It could be mulberry like Dylan suggested if it grows there.
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Not boxwood because bw is diffuse porous, the wood in the photo is ring porous.
Like others have mentioned, could well be mullberry.
Definitely bow worthy.
True boxwood, buxus reputedly does make a good bow, as written in Gaston Phoebus's Book of the Hunt from the 15thC. Never actually seen one made from boxwood though. It would be physically tougher than yew, out for a hunt in a forest.
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Definitely not Box. Ring porous not diffuse porous like Box. Colour is wrong, although of course it is hard to tell on an aged end....Box doesn't have sapwood either.
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Just zoomed in on the photo....its labernum :)
And most definately yes it is bow worthy. Labernum is in my top 5 bow woods.
Treat the wood like it is yew. Narrow and thick is the way with it. Chase the back down to 2 or 3 rings of sapwood.
It is also a stunningly beautiful wood that ages into a dark chocolately golden brown.
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Bonus! Or bownus!
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Wow. Lucky or what!
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Just zoomed in on the photo....its labernum :)
And most definately yes it is bow worthy. Labernum is in my top 5 bow woods.
Treat the wood like it is yew. Narrow and thick is the way with it. Chase the back down to 2 or 3 rings of sapwood.
It is also a stunningly beautiful wood that ages into a dark chocolately golden brown.
Wow - ok amazing. Many thanks for taking a closer look! The larger pieces the bark is more textured than in the pictures I have seen - but the smaller branches seem to have bark similar to the images I have found. Initially I thought they were different trees but is this what you would expect?
I have heard great things about it as a bow wood.
Is it poisonous like people say?
Couple more pics of the best bit...
(https://i.imgur.com/ALvwl7H.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/nEFCXIO.jpg)
There is is a whole trees worth there - though some parts are quite bent - does it straighten with heat?
Also there is one lovely piece that is 30inches long - was thinking with a take down handle sleeve this might just be long enough to make a bow.
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Wow. Lucky or what!
Definitely pure luck! Wow!
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The younger the bark the smoother it is. Yes it is as poisonous as people say.
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It's definitely not boxwood. Boxwood is extremely slow grown with almost invisible growth rings and a yellowish colour.
I would also say it's not laburnum, the heartwood doesn't look dark enough and laburnum bark is not that rough (it's usually a greenish brown and quite shiny).
I would put my money on that being black locust (robinia pseudoacacia). It was often planted in the uk as an ornamental tree but I believe it's quite a good bow wood.
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It's definitely not boxwood. Boxwood is extremely slow grown with almost invisible growth rings and a yellowish colour.
I would also say it's not laburnum, the heartwood doesn't look dark enough and laburnum bark is not that rough (it's usually a greenish brown and quite shiny).
I would put my money on that being black locust (robinia pseudoacacia). It was often planted in the uk as an ornamental tree but I believe it's quite a good bow wood.
Zoom in! The end grain is wrong for black locust. Trust me that is labernum, check the pore diffusion......:) Bark oftens varies and isn't a great indicator of tree type. Heartwood colour of an end grain piece can often be confusing too.
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Just like yew it heat bends beautifully.
Yes the 30" piece is long enough...just!
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In my opinion it's mulberry, not boxwood or laburnum because its rings are porous, thick and demarcated. It could be bl but I think that the rings are too thick and it has too much sapwood. I have seen lots of mulberries and that is what it looks like the bark and the wood
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Ok ... the chaps on the arbtalk forum are all saying black locust...
I guess the take home message seems to be whatever it is of the 3 it’s still bow wood!! :)
I still really want it to be Laburnum though...
Will try and get my friend to send some more pics of some of the other parts of it...
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In my opinion it's mulberry
+1
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Post some more pics once you get it split open, fresh heartwood color might answer the debate.
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It's definitely not boxwood. Boxwood is extremely slow grown with almost invisible growth rings and a yellowish colour.
I would also say it's not laburnum, the heartwood doesn't look dark enough and laburnum bark is not that rough (it's usually a greenish brown and quite shiny).
I would put my money on that being black locust (robinia pseudoacacia). It was often planted in the uk as an ornamental tree but I believe it's quite a good bow wood.
Zoom in! The end grain is wrong for black locust. Trust me that is labernum, check the pore diffusion......:) Bark oftens varies and isn't a great indicator of tree type. Heartwood colour of an end grain piece can often be confusing too.
You're right bark does vary a lot even within a species but laburnum bark is very distinctive and I've never seen it with fissures and colour like that before. It's often shiny with a sort of blistered looking surface. I see a few people are suggesting Mulberry which is quite a likely candidate, always has a thick sapwood like this.
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Here are a few more pics of some of the bits lying around from the same tree...
(https://i.imgur.com/GTm7fuP.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/q4rZHvb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UaHLBSu.jpg)
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Fun day with an old friend and also got round to splitting the “mystery wood” ... Laburnum, Black Locust or Mulberry are the contenders...
Wood is quite stringy... it had a musty almost fish oil smell when we split it...
Here are a few photos...
(https://i.imgur.com/xCZPA2X.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/nnvYrOv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/538nKPG.jpg)
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It doesn't look like locust to me on the inside.
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still looks like mulberry to me, but iv'e never worked laburnum so i don't know how similar it looks to mulberry.
i also agree that it doesn't look like locust.
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Black Locust also seems to really tend to the three rings of sapwood scenario.
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Could this be elm? I’ve heard elm is stringy...
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maybe?
but iv'e seen that level of stringy-ness from Osage and mulberry before, heck iv'e even had maple split stringy like that before.
i will say that the elm i have split before was way WAY stringier then what you have there.
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Could this be elm? I’ve heard elm is stringy...
Elm is incredibly stringy. But that ain't elm, mostly cause he was able to split it!
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Most English elms split ok believe it or not :) At least all the ones i've cut.
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Most English elms split ok believe it or not :) At least all the ones i've cut.
Bownarra... Are you still thinking Laburnum?
I guess I should just build a bow with it!