Bow woods-just curious

[okie64]

I thought when people got to be your age they moved to Florida to get away from the snow George, hehehehehe. If I couldnt get my hands on any osage I would have to go with hackberry, black locust and then hickory. I cut my teeth on ash and havent used it since, I should probably give it another chance one of these days.

[George Tsoukalas]

I have a generator, plenty of food, chips, Canadian whiskey and some single malt...the essentials. My wife, oldest daughter and I we headed to FL for a few days. We we were supposed to leave tomorrow. But...

[Cameroo]

I'm with Bubs - love the hard maple.  But then again I haven't tried a lot of the other woods that you guys have access to.

[ionicmuffin]

The wood i have the most of is BL, its right on my property and i really should convince my parents to let me cut it  Only issue with the BL i have is that its next to a set of powerlines... might present a problem.

[Gordon]

Of course it would have to be Yew.

[Weylin]

There are so many great choices here in Western Oregon that osage is nice but far, far from necessary. I really enjoyed the couple of bows that I have made from osage and I am working on a new one right now but the staves were either traded very generously or gifted (thanks steve!).  I really love making bows from yew, from start to finish it is incredible wood. I have made two kids bows from ocean spray and am eager to make a big boys bow out of it. I am working on a vine maple bow and have been convinced of its redeeming qualities. I'm looking forward to working with cascara and Oregon white oak someday.

[turtle]

I realy havnt used enough of anything besides osage to have a true #2 go to wood. But i realy lovec the only flowering dogwood bow i ever made it is dense hard hitting and seemed to realy like heat treating. I have only used osage,ash,dogwood, red oak, and one kids bow of hickory. Besides osage i have hickory, black wallnut,black locust, hackberry, and sugar maple, two erc billets and one yew stave to try. Still need to get hhb,elm,black cherry,white oak,persimmon and anything else i can get ahold of to try.

[jimbows]

I am still pretty new to bow making but i like hickory but like its been said already very moisture sensitive. I also like red oak have made some decent bows from it. hard maple and ash are up there too. I have some osage, elm, white oak, black locust, and black walnut all drying and waiting to be made into a bow so i dont know how they are yet but have heard good things about them, cant wait to get to them!

[George Tsoukalas]

Thank you. It is interesting to see what other bowyers use. Jawge

[mwosborn]

Have not tried that many woods (yet)...but I have made a couple nice bows from green ash.  If well seasoned, it makes a very good bow wood. -- and readily available in my area.  I really like trying different types of wood- lots left to try!

[H Rhodes]

Pecan, there is lots of it here and it is tough like hickory and maybe a little easier to work.
Winged elm - springy, tension strong wood.
Hickory - there is lots of it and it is darn near indestructable.
White oak for lots of reasons.
Y'all bundle up!  I am actually wearing my windbreaker to work tonight - going down in the high 40's....   

[Marc St Louis]

It would have to be HHB as an all round first choice but top quality Elm, even more rare than perfectly straight HHB, will beat practically anything.

[Zion]

Serviceberry, Mountain Maple, Hawthorn, apple ( no order)

[wapiti1997]

I have yet to make my first bow.  I'm hoarding staves to work/trade/sell in the future.  I have over 100 sealed and in storage since Christmas. Most are osage, a weed tree to most landowners around here.

I also have mulberry, cherry, KY coffeetree, ERC.

I think it would be neat to have a bow made from the valuable deer food trees.  Osage is high on that list, they love the fruit and leaves of osage. Mulberry is another favorite food for the whitetail.  Persimmon, and bitternut hickory are tops as well, and of course the oaks and pecan. 

I'd love to hunt deer with a bow made of and for the food source I was hunting...  My favorite stand sites are often in ERC, that would be a nostalgic angle as well..

I wish I had snow.... share some snow pics George!  Stay warm!

[George Tsoukalas]

Thanks, my friends. wapiti, I may do some shoeing after the storm with my daughters. I'll bring a camera. Winter is bow making time, wapiti. Jawge