Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: sonny on August 21, 2008, 08:26:45 pm
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this is a small-ish sapling that I found in my stash. must've cut it a year or more ago as I know it's not from this summer.
no leaf pics. bark is paper thin, grayish-red in color.
harvested from where I hunt in central Va....
any ideas ??
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Black cherry! ;) Pat
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Cherry was my first guess!! ;)
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I would agree its Cherry but more likely pin or chokecherry.
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Yeah, it looks like cherry. Only other sapling with bark like that is sweet birch.
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I haven't seen allot of cherry but that sure looked like birch to me.
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Is that stuff any good? ??? I have that stuff all over the place here in south west PA!
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Pretty hard to say just from the bark. Plum has bark like that as well. What does the wood look like, such as sapwood/heartwood?
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I spouted cherry to myself as soon as I saw the pic and it don't grow around here. We do have plum that looks like that but it only gets about thumb thick.
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River birch. Was it by a river or creek drainage?
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The bark doesn't exfoliate like the river birch around here. Pat
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ARTHUR,
If you're asking if Cherry is any good, YES it is. I have made good, fast shooting bows from Black Cherry.
~~Papa Matt
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Cherry is ok, its not as good as apple or other fruit woods. It needs to be kept wide and long so their is lots of limb bending.
Its fairly weak in tension so a backing is recommended.
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I've shot my black cherry bow for 2 years now without backing and haven't had a problem one. It's 62" NTN pulls 58# at 26". It is flat and wide though, 1.75" midlimb to .75" at the knock.
~~Matt
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Sounds like Perfect Paddle Bow wood then...........how about it Dana.can you see a Wampanoag Bow at 68 inches and 2 1/2" wide out of the Piece of Cherry you give me???
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Based on just the bark pic it could be a sweet birch or Zelkova also.
Dave
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Go for it Mike, just make sure all of the limb is bending. The only BC bow I built that held up checked quite a bit.
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Go for it Mike, just make sure all of the limb is bending. The only BC bow I built that held up checked quite a bit.
Well then maybe I will back it with Hickory before I start....don't want to lose that piece....theres a nice Bow in there....just got to pull it to the Surface
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Mike if you use hickory I would keep the backing thin so you don't over power the belly :)
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Mike if you use hickory I would keep the backing thin so you don't over power the belly :)
You are soooo right..maybe just a good layer of Sinew.or maybe some of that Buck Rawhide I have laying around will do then......
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Oooohhh, I bet sinew would look real nice on there, against the natural color of the wood.
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Dana, I didn't realize the apple was such a good bow wood. The old man had a nice old apple tree a few years back that had killer apples on it and cut it down. I hated it because I always loved to eat the apples and now I hate it even more because he burned a lot of good wood then too, eh.
~~Matt
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Apple is tough wood, I have a stave drying I hope to try this winter, Its an ugly stave but it was free eh :)