Bamboo backed Rosewood

[Marc St Louis]

I've been working on bows lately that I had started and shelved.  This one is no exception.  I started this bow probably about 7 or 8 years ago, maybe more.  I had it all laid out and floor tillered even then I stuck it on shelf and forgot about it.  I took it down a couple weeks ago and decided that now it was time to finish it.  Ddn't take long to tiller the bow out but the rest of it to the finishing did.  The bow is a Bamboo backed Santos Rosewood take-down in an RD style, I originally though is was Brazilian Rosewood.  The bow is 65" long overall with limbs about 1 1/4" wide and pulls about 52# @ 28", I've pulled it to 29".  It maintains roughly 2" of reflex to the back of the handle.  Santos Rosewood is an outstanding bow wood.  It has beautiful colour and grain and I have never chrysalled a bow made from it and I've made a few.  It's not quite as dense as Ipe but it does have fairly high compression strength.  I've launched a number of arrows with it and it shoots great but it's not as high a performance bow as I've made.  I didn't finish the handle in my traditional leather shelf and grip with this one but decided to do a copy of that in the wood.  Here's a few pics

[Selfbowman]

Looks great Marc! I have been saving the drops out of the limbs of my selfbows and plan some three piece selfbows down the road myself. Arvin

[TimothyR]

Looks great sir!

[Pat B]

Very nice 3 piece take down, Marc.   

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

[Hawkdancer]

Nice!  May have to try a takedown!
Hawkdancer

[bjrogg]

Very nice Marc. I got a bunch of billets split up and ready to work on this winter. I'm thinking there's going to be a few take downs in there.
Bjrogg

[SLIMBOB]

Awesome!  Much beyond my pay grade....Really nice looking.

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

If anyone ever comes cross some Santos Rosewood do not be afraid to try it.  It is awesome bow-wood.  The only drawback it has is that it is a bit weak in tension.  That means that it has to be supported on the belly when reflexing while gluing up, at least I do with the method I use.  It is an oily wood which means it makes a great wet weather bow, hunting in the rain doesn't seem to bother it at all.

[upstatenybowyer]

That's a beauty Marc. I'd love to try that Santos Rosewood. How'd you come upon it?

[Marc St Louis]

There are 2 places in Ontario that I've bought some of this wood from.  KJP in Ottawa, actually my wife bought me the board as a birthday present that time, and A&M Woods in Cambridge.  The wood is a bit expensive, a 6" by 7' board cost $150 back around 2010.  The other board was bought in early 2000 and I don't remember what I paid for it but it wasn't near as much

[Woodely]

Now that's my kind of bow,  gorgeous wood and excellent job.
…?....By the way what angle do you cut your limb pads at.  I make mine 7dg.

[silent sniper]

That is a beautiful take down Marc! Awesome work

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys.

I've made several of these and I can't say I've ever measured the angle of the limb pads. I just go with what looks good 

[JohnL]

Hey Marc,

Beautiful bow!  I'm always impressed by the perfect, elegant curve in your full-draw pics.  Just lovely!

     I'd never heard of "Santos" Rosewood before, so I looked it up on some wood distributer websites.  Come to find out, Santos is a regional term, that some use to refer to the more commonly known Bolivian Rosewood–which is not actually a rosewood at all.  After true rosewoods were over-harvested, endangered/protected/outlawed, some other similar dark, tropical hardwoods took their place, with new "rosewood" names, to fill the commercial void.
Santos & Bolivian Rosewood are both synonyms for Pau Ferro.

*I am by no means an expert on tropical hardwoods, so anyone, feel free to correct me here.  I only put forward this information to aid others in their search, should they decide to go looking for some of that wood.

–John