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ash sapling

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mox1968:
I found a nice straight ash sapling tonight about 8ft long and 2 1/2" wide would this be wide enough to make a D bellied longbow/warbow from or do you guys think too thin??

Bill Skinner:
I have never made a warbow but I think there is only one way to find out.  Bill

mox1968:
true, that decides it!!give it a few weeks to dry out and go for it then.

toomanyknots:
Ash will make a warbow, but you will have to make it wider. Still deep, but wider than a narrow yew or osage bow. This is to reduce set that you will get if you make it a normal dimension warbow. Cut it, don't take the bark off just yet, but make sure to seal the ends. If you don't have shellac or anything, just some olive oil will do. Plus it's antibactirial, so I think it won't mold like normal veg oil. Anyway, I use olive oil ensted of shellac. Works for me. After a couple days to a week, take the bark off, split, and seal the backs. Now is the time it will warp if it's gonna warp. Oh, if it's too small, then nevermind the splitting. Ash is good wood. Excessive heat treating will make a narrow bow out of almost anything that can make a decent bow, but i wouldn't recommend it. Sometimes with ash it will take alot of wood to make a heavy bow, especially a d bow. As ash will take set more than osage or yew or hickery, exc.., be slow to take wood off the center of the bow, leave the main center third of the bow unbending entill it's shot in alot. NOT overstressed, just shot in. Then,if needed, start taking off wood just a little until it is the tiller profile you are looking for. Unless you just want a non bending handle profile warbow. A stiff center section bow will preform good. I ruined a beautiful ash longbow by not leaving the center thick enough and stiff enough. Ended up with about 5 inches set. Don't do what I did! :)

nidrinr:
The difference from one ash to another can vary from excellent to quite bad. I've made many warbows from ash, all of them deep, narrow, bending through the entire bow. Some of them are from quite narrow trees even less than 4" diameter. They're all heat treated though, and the finish needs to be as waterproof as possible. Ash likes to soak water, and when it does it really ends up following the string a lot.
I've read somewhere that Scandinavian ash has a higher average SG than what's normal for ash elsewhere, so I guess that may explain why it's considered such a good wood for warbows up here. The "bad" ash I've tried are all imported board ash.

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