Todays harvest

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Harvested some laburnum today. I gave the reflexed half of the log to my father for his birth day because i want him to get hooked to bowmaking too.     i never worked with this wood but it looks like these is a Nice deflex reflex in it.
I plan on removing all of the sapwood after reading the "laburnum from pender bender" topic ( sorry if i misspelled the name) but my question is, remove the sappwood now or when its dry?

[DC]

Don't remove the sapwood. Go back and re-read my post. I took the sapwood off because it was rotten. I think the sapwood/heartwood combo in Laburnum is gorgeous. I'd kill to get some more.
Now wait until someone who has made more then one Laburnum bow shows up. Pay attention to them, not me.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

I thought that it was you who did a bending test with the sap and or heartwood combinations and that the heartwood turned out to just be the best. And because im a rookie bowyer and  a noob in real ring chasing im aiming  for performance woodwise  the aestetics will come later haha

Correction my plan about removing the sapwood come from the topic from nic azana : Laburnum (golden chain) bow wood properties test and SG results

[NicAzana]

Hi Ricardo

It was me who did the bend test. Here's my two cents:

First, that looks like a pretty nice piece, lots of character! A lot of my wood looks like that too.
Sapwood is probably fine in a bow, even though heartwood is probably better, unless you tend to make a lot of hinges and set during tillering.

That said, my experience is that it is much easier to chase a ring on the heartwood. I've never tried Osage, but from video it seems comparable, though the earlywood is not quite as "crunchy" as in Osage. As others have said on this forum, the sapwood has a sort of rubbery texture, and with those knots, I at least would need all the help i can get.

The sapwood gets mouldy much easier than the heartwood, so keep the bark on, and keep it dry, with lots of air circulation. It also likes to check at exposed ends, so keeping the bark on is your best bet, unless you reduce it to near-bow dimension right away.

Last, my experience is that it is much, MUCH easier to chase a ring, at least on the heartwood, once the wood is dry, so wait with that untill you are ready to start the bow.

[bownarra]

Leave the sapwood intact no need at all to chase rings. The sapwood makes a perfect back. Just remove bark and cambium once it is very dry.
One thing I don't see mentioned often is that labernum bows are best if made narrow and thick. It has pretty low bend resistance and very high elasticity. A lot like yews proprties.
Wider limbed flatbows tend to be so so performers.
1 1/4 inch wide is good for up to 60#. 66" for a 28 inches draw.
Be careful with it checking as you dry it. Go slowly at first.

[pumarchery]

This might seem a bit random, but congrats on the bow-woods! Honestly all I wanted to stress is to wear a lil mask respirator, ventilate properly etc bc; the dust of Laburnum is toxic,rather bad for you so do beware!

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Thanks tot all the comments, yes it have some character.. maybe a bit more then i would like for my skill level haha
But as it needs to dry slow i will gain experiënce while it is getting ready. Also thanks for warning me for its toxity. I will use protection for working it.