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Will Hickory make a good heavy bow

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Ian.:
 Looking at making a heavy hickory bow 140Lb ish, first off will it make the weight and second if it will what dimensions would you suggest to start on.

Thanks

adb:
Why hickory?

Jaro:
Ian, I have seen some nice all hickory longbows in 60# made for serious clout shooting, but I wouldnt use hickory for heavy longbow.
I would cut that plank into 6 backings  ;D Then contact closest hardwood flooring dealer and get few planks of Ipe.
Hickory is so much stronger in tension than in compression that it will tend to crush its own belly on longbow profile. Also it will come out as I suspect with very bad mass to stiffness ratio, when made as selfbow. It cannot be much improved by heat treating like soe other, more fat woods. The stiffnes and belly load could be improved by laminating hickory on hickory, but then again, once you start to glue, there are much better choices for belly wood.

adb:
Thanks, Jaro... my thoughts exactly.

coyote pup:
Personally I like hickory and I'd use hickory for anything. I'd go 70", start out at about 1.5 wide in the center, narrow to about 5/8" at the tips. Not sure exactly how thick, maybe about 3/4" to start and go from there. Slightly rounded belly. JMO

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