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Crab apple stave

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Peter-t123:
Hi, I've just taken a branch off a crab apple tree in my garden and would like to make a heavy bow out of it. I've never heard of this wood being used before, and was wondering if anyone has used it and can give me any idea if its any good and what profile i should go with on it. its got some massive reflex in the middle of the handle which im going to take down with steam, also this is the first time ive used stave wood and there are a few things about it im worried about. there are a couple of knots on the back where there where twigs growing out of the wood, how do i go about dealing with these? there are also some knots that have been cut through along the side of the stave that im not sure about, cheers for any help, pictures below:

Outbackbob48:
Ryan O'Sullivan has made afew out of hawthorn which i believe is about  the same as crabapple. shot a real nice buck with it. Hope this helps . Later Bob

adb:
Hawthorn and apple are not the same tree, or even close. We have both in our backyard.
If that's your first stave bow, you've given yourself a real challenge! It's small diameter, and very twisty. You have a lot of work ahead!
I made one bow out of apple, and it turned out reasonably. I cut some staves green, and had a bit of trouble getting them to dry without twisting and warping, and keeping them from checking badly. I made the bow >45#. I don't think apple is up to a narrow profile, heavy draw weight type of bow. I think it would take massive set. The bow I made is a  flatbow, and as I mentioned, it turned out pretty decent. IMHO, apple is not ideal warbow material.

MrWarSpoon:
Take it down to a nice, single growth ring on the back and smooth out the knots without compromising the ring itself... leave them in there and keep some character in the wood ;)

DarkSoul:
This stave is a challenge in its own. It will be difficult to even get a light weight bow out of it, let alone a warbow! I think it's too ambituous to aim for a heavy bow with this stave. Considering this will be your first stave bow, it would be much smarter to stick to a 40-50 pound bow. But even that will be a nice challenge, with those knots and already violated profile.

Seal the ends and rough out the stave close to the pith. Then set it aside to dry for a month or two.

Crab apple is in the rose family, as is hawthorne. Although they are not closely related, they are certainly related to family level. Which is not related enough to make predictions about the wood characteristics, though.

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