Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: stuckinthemud on October 17, 2025, 07:00:22 pm
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Ok, so, 4 years ago I buried a couple of 60" long staves of buxus sempervirens in the bottom of my stash to seasonThey're not perfect, in fact they are a bit knotty in places but careful planning will get around most of the problems if I were to use them as bow staves. Equally, I could cut them up and make three piece or five piece bows to take advantage of the clean bits. I am a bit conflicted. On the one hand, box is supposed to be a great bow wood, but I've never seen or heard of a bow being made from it. I have no idea what the best design would be for the type of timber. Anyone know of any bow made from box wood anywhere?
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Hey, I have no clue about it at all, but if it has good tension properties, theres no reason it cant make a good bow. I built a bow design program that relies on the woods specific gravity to design the bow around. If you can do a test to give me the S.G. of the wood, or tell me what you think it is based on online research, I can design a bow for you.
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It is good fine grained, solid, great for small parts. I've never seen a bit long enough to make a bow :(
Try a small piece as a miniature?
Del
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SG is listed as between .80 and .96 at 12%moisture. As this is Welsh timber I would err towards a lower density
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Makes good carving wood from what I've heard. Don't know about bows but like Del said I've not seen any big enough for a bow.
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I think that as it's value is so high, merchants tend to chop it into small lengths to maximise their returns
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SG is listed as between .80 and .96 at 12%moisture. As this is Welsh timber I would err towards a lower density
Seems to be on par with lower grade osage. Id build a bow to similar dimensions of Mulberry. Its stiffer than osage which may indicate it would be more brittle. Making it wider will help with that, maybe make it a rounded belly. Honestly though, it sounds like an excellent wood to use in a laminated bow, with bamboo as a back. Boxwood has much higher compression resistance than osage. I really think its best as a belly wood, under sinew or bamboo. If you do that, you can make it more narrow than osage even.
What type bow do you think you would rather build?
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From memory, I think it was Gaston Phoebus, 14thC book Art of the Hunt mentions boxwood as a good bow wood. I assume he would be referring to a typical medieval bow design like a round belly longbow like an English longbow(French in his case).
I bet it would make any design of bow. I have only ever seen it available in pieces long enough for billets.
Post photos of the staves if you can, so we can see what you're dealing with?
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As Hamish says: heard it is good bow wood IF you find find a good piece...
Pics please!
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(https://stuckinthemudsite.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/img_20251020_124706783_mfnr2.jpg)
Not the cleanest of staves, but I reckon they can be worked around
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I periodically think about box wood and other exotic woods like African Blackwood and strongly consider shelling out some dough for a piece of lumber. Some online suppliers have pieces large enough for a spliced bow. A couple of bamboo backed ELB’s would be sweet. Just a lot of money to spend for a board you can’t see in person.
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True, but God is good and I had permission to cut these
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The log on the left looks promising, for a one-piece bow. Too much character in the other one, but it might have a section for billets, up the top end.
It all depends on rough marking out and if you can avoid any of the major knots. I would get some chalk and rough out potential staves/billets.
Personally, I would go for billets. You end up with the cleanest wood, matched symmetrically, and increases your choices of design to longer draw lengths.
I reckon you will do a good job, once you work out how you are going to tackle this wood. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
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Those would make for some very interesting character bows. Unless, you cut split billets and splice them?
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Hence the original question. The one on the left marks out nicely, missing most, or all, of the knots, and I'm a sucker for a bend through the handle, but my real favourites are five piece with small statics and Turkish style handle with v-splices, not necessarily with sinew, but, I have been known to use it when I can get it
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I think its a great candidate for a 5 piece. Its better than osage in compression.