Southeast Alaska Bow woods (help)

[Sempertiger]

I live in Northern SE AK, Juneau, and am curious if anyone else lives in the area, or has done research on what would be a good bow wood in the area. I've been looking online for months, and going through my recollections from hunting and hiking trips. It seems that the only trees I remember are Alder, Spruce, Hemlock, Fir, some small Pine, Cottonwood and Alder.

I've read that Douglas Maple, Oregon Crab apple and Mountain Ash grow in the wild here, but I've never seen them. I do plan on looking this summer and spring for these three, hoping I can find one, praying that it is straight...ish.

I'm curious if anyone knows of anything else that would work.

BTW, Alaska is a big place. Though Birch is everywhere up north, it does not grow near me and is not a great bow wood to begin with. There are references to it growing near Juneau, but it tends to hybridize with Alder and I'm not sure how it will work. If I find one, I'll give it a try as well.

JS

the list:
Douglas Maple
Oregon Crab Apple
Mountain Ash
Serviceberry
Alaska Yellow Cedar

[Qwill]

You might try to find Serviceberry locally? It's a pretty good bow wood, better than Douglas Maple in my experience. Douglas maple is very weird, and I'm not convinced there are several different sub-types that live in proximity to one another. I've had some great bows out of it, and some terrible ones, and I can't always explain the difference...Anyway, Serviceberry seems to be good, if you have it.

[Sempertiger]

From one of my books, I found that serviceberries are typically small woody shrubs in Alaska. However I think it is referencing the plants that grow in the colder, northern, part of the state.

it's another addition to my small list of posibilities,

Douglas Maple may not be best, but I'll work with what I find.

Thanks for the Idea!!!

JS

[randman]

I know you guys have Nootka Cedar (Alaska Cedar - Yellow Cedar) up there. It's not a true cedar (It's in the Cypress family and is sometimes called Nootka Cypress, Alaska Cypress, and Yellow Cypress) and resembles California incense cedar in looks (and Juniper sorta). Kinda like Eastern Red cedar is really a juniper. I have not seen or heard of anyone making bows from it but it might be worth a shot. Follow the model of bows made from Juniper, ERC and incense cedar and you might be surprised. The Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers: Volume 1, Northeast, Southeast and Midwest by Steve Allely and Jim Hamm describes several Seminole bows and some arrows made from cypress.

[Sempertiger]

Randman,
I think Alaska Yellow Cedar, what we call it up here, would work. ERC has a base SG or .44, where AYC has a .47, though it's a bit softer with a hardness of 690 compared to ERC's 900. However, the other bow quality specifications are closer to white oak, than ERC.

My only concern is that it is considered North America's slowest growing tree, with an average Growthring per inch of 47. However, a good sinew backing would solve the frustrating problem of following that thin of a ring on the back.

It's on the list.

JS

[JW_Halverson]

Shooting my mouth blindly in the dark....but yew and juniper both have intensely close grain and violated growth rings on the backs are the norm.  If you can get a small sample piece about a foot long, carve a mini-bow and bend away.  Great way to test it out!

Wish you luck.  Those close ring bow woods tend to make some rather beautiful works of art-chery.

[Bryce]

Tamarack and spruce

 Inuinnait built their bows wood that was gathered at the tree-line or found as driftwood. The preferred wood for bows was found in selected spruce trees that have a type of wood called itkiq. This type of wood is red in color and is often found in trees that grow on slopes such as river banks. Under these conditions the trees must grow upward and have a curve in their trunk. The underside of the curve consists of itkiq. With sinew cable As a backing

Hope that helps

[vinemaplebows]

Douglas maple with large growth rings in my expirience is a dogish bow (slow) tighter growth rings tends to give a springier bow...in my expirience...interested in others views.

Brian

[DRon knife]

Tiger,you may want to research birch a little more. I've made several bows from black and sweet and there real shooters. I made them wide through mid limb because I've found them to be weak in compression. I also backed a sweet with hickory and it crushed the belly like a tin can,It could have been design a flaw though, my hickory backing was very thick.

 There's got to be a good bow wood where you live,keep searching! Ron

[nativenoobowyer86]

i recetly made a 60 in bendy hadle paper birch that pulls 54 at 27.i tempered the crap out of the belly, i caught a chysal early close to a knot and patvched it. it shoots well witth a nice smooth draw to 27

[randman]

Sempertiger, I wouldn't even try to follow a ring on that stuff. Just use what's under the bark as the back like you would with yew (although I don't know how thick the sap wood is on it). Specially if you are using a branch. Like JW said, grain violations on yew and juniper are the norm especially if you use sinew. Although I'm not sure how useful sinew would be in Juneau since you guys are considered rain forest up there. If it were me, I would pretend it's yew and try using the same techniques, sizes lengths etc that you would with yew and see where it gets you. If the sap wood is a little thick you could thin it like you would with yew and if it gets a little dodgy, put some linen or silk on the back. I have a neighbor with a Nootka Cedar in her front yard (we have that stuff all over Seattle too) and I have been eyeing some of the branches on that thing for a while. Myself, I'd rather take a branch and save the whole tree (since it does take 3 lifetimes to grow). Got some good candidates picked out.

[Sempertiger]

I called the local lumber yard, right after posting my reply about AYC. They had some ruffcut boards in stock from one of the local mills. so I stopped by on my way home from work. I picked up a clear, plain sawn 2x6 at 7.5 feet long. I have to smooth it out and see if the grain follows the board enough to make a bow. I know I can get some pieces of test wood out of it, so I can at least see how it does in a bend test.

I have it leaning against the wall near my Pellet stove (it can't get over 100 degrees and probably not over 80 where it is.) The house smells nice!!! The wife and I decided that we  might just keep some of it next to the stove just for the smell, for now on.

JS

[Sempertiger]

ok, I'm hoping that the wood is wet... I have 2 7ft long 5/8" square sticks that I'm going to weigh, then let it sit next to the pellet stove for a couple days, and then weigh it again. We'll see if they change.

If it's dry, however, I don't think it would make a good bow. my tests, Based on the Standard Bend test in TBBV1, the bow would have to be 5" wide to make a 50lb@ 28" 66"NTN bow.... Like I said, I'm hoping the wood is wet.

JS

My average measurments were 2.88" 12.38lbs to take a 1/4"set. Breaking point was at 7" and 15.79lbs. thoughu one went to 12" and 15.97lbs. The wood is very bendy.

[danlaw]

The coastal natives down in BC loved AYC for bows and would go quite a way to trade for it (see the excellent Native Plants of Coastal British Columbia). I think they only used wood from trees about 4 inches in diameter for some reason (I got that from an old-timer). I made a recurve out of some 1200 year old stuff and it ended up full of cracks that seemed to come out of nowhere - maybe from falling. It's quite a shock when a tree like that comes down. I tried 3" hemlock that grew up under a mature douglas fir and cedar forest, and it was pretty tough stuff - well worth the try. Good for a heavy long bow for sure if you're in a scrape.

[Sempertiger]

that gives me hope Danlaw!!!

I can order anything that can be ordered, I just want to make bows from the forests that I love, and am considering hunting dear with bows made from trees that they live amongst... it just adds to the romance of the art, for me!