Question about bow material

[Lone500]

Had some newbie questions for yall. Been looking around for bow wood today. Ive found a few nice clear strait hickories and it seems those are easy enough to find without to much trouble. Seems all the locust is twisty or gnarled. I have a couple in mind im thinking of cutting tommarow tho.

Maybe i dont really know what im looking for?

Was wondering if dead trees could make something? After a year or 2 i dont think most woods especially like oak do to well laying on the forest floor.

But i have seen some pretty strait peices if dead locust around. some are even still standing there. Could i use any of that? From what ive seen the wood is generally pretty good except for the last layer that is next to the bark which is usually a gray color from exposure to the sun. And if i cant use some locust for bows how do locust arrows do?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Live whitewood only. Leave the dead stuff alone.

[blackhawk]

The only types of deadwood ill play with is osage and yew...and I wood try black locust if everything looked sound with no borers...but nothing else. But it sounds like your a novice and at your level I would just stick to live trees.

[Lone500]

Ok ill just stick to the livewood then. and no borers. gets cold enough that there isnt a problem with those. the only real wood beetle i ever see is this big black beetle. Dont know what kind they are and i dont know if its just the females ive seen since ive pushed down on their backs and it will push their egglaying tube thingy out.

[Josh B]

I would add black walnut heartwood to Blackhawks list. But I also agree with him on sticking with what has a higher chance of being sound wood.  When you decide on a tree to cut check in here to see if there are any special ways of handling and curing that particular species .  We love to help and pics help us help you!     Josh

[Lone500]

Well about the only thing i have my eye on right now is a nice hickory tree that i should get 2 nice 7ft sections and maybe some of a 3rd. bottom of the tree is big enough i can split it in half and then those peices into thirds. so ill should get plenty of hickory out of that. plus the 3 staffs i have now. Thing is i want to look around for some other stuff since i have a few hickory staffs and the mentioned tree is right on the edge of my little campout spot.

So then i have a couple live locust that ive been planning on taking out around the edge of my yard. both have some pretty strait sections. other than that i guess i have a hard time identifying trees this time of year. Leafy time of the year i can probably only identify half of the trees anyway 

When i cut the locust and split how do i need to look at it to split it? I think what im asking is with locust do i need to look for a seriously strait flat section or can it have some sort of gentle recurve in it or something. i donno im tired right now.

I also looked at a log of sassafras i had. cross grained and brittle is all i can say about that stuff.

[Slackbunny]

If you've got ready access to hickory I'd go with that. I have never worked it myself, but the general consensus seems to be that it is very forgiving, and great for the inexperienced. I'm no expert, but that is what I would do.

[Pat B]

Leon, cut a smallish hickory now and build yourself a bow. A better time to cut hickory is after the leaves come out. Then you can peel the bark right off and whats under will be the back of your bow.
  The one you cut now will be difficult te remove the bark. It will however get you started on a bow until spring comes.

[George Tsoukalas]

I think yes on the BL. It is used for fenceposts and it if not buggy it is worth a try. Jawge

[Lone500]

Pat currently i have already cut a hickory. And i have learned first hand how HARD it can be to remove winter hickory bark. I did it without cutting into the back of my staff but it was a time consuming process.

Out of the small tree i cut i have 3 good splits. The 4th could probably make a character bow or a short bow or something but its kinda bowed and twisted so its been set to the side.

So my current staff is 6 ft 4 in long, 1 3/4'' wide, prob anywhere from 1'' to 1 1/2'' thick. So im just waiting on it to dry right now.

So basically while i let my staff dry till spring im looking for more wood for my stock pile. Also looking for wood to make arrows out of since i doubt my bow will be very useful when complete without something to shoot.

One thought was that since there is some solid standing black locust i might get something i can work on NOW out of it.

Of course i guess i could look for more hickory and build a drying box to speed things along. Its just hard to wait on something to dry. its like watching paint. but with far more suspense involved since ill be closer to getting arrows in the air hopefully.

[Josh B]

Leon, I don't know how flush you are, but if you check egay under bow wood, you can usually slide into a seasoned stave twenty to thirty bucks.  I highly recommend  LE enterprises.  I've bought quite a few from him and no problems.  Josh

[Lone500]

I would love to Josh but im only making about 50 bucks a week right now so buying anything is totally off the table. And i with my truck broke down and needing a carburetor rebuild as well as the things lined up behind that i doubt ill have any spare cash till well after i get some spring work done. Havent made any money this winter since we havent had any snow.

If i have anything at this moment its probably time.

[Bevan R.]

Also looking for wood to make arrows out of since i doubt my bow will be very useful when complete without something to shoot.

What kind of draw length / weight you looking for? I have some chundoo shafts in the 40-45 pound spine range. They are 5/16. If you want them, PM me your shipping address. You could at least start fletching some arrows while your wood dries.

Bevan

[Lone500]

my draw is about 26-27'' i believe. as far as weight/spine i dont know since that would depend on the power of the bow is right?

Very kind of you to offer bevan but i hate for you to go through the trouble when ill be needing to make shafts anyway. i have made a couple jigs but i couldnt really get them to work and be consistent all that well.

[Bevan R.]

You should have a 'target' weight of the bow your are making. 'Fishhead' likes them heavy. Us older guys like them lighter. Depends on what you are going to do with it. Target shooting is fine with a lighter bow. Hunting deer size and up requires a little more poundage. A 40-45 pound bow would be fine for all around shooting/hunting. Also, a heaver bow is more likely to blow if stressed wrong.