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Black cherry recommendations, And boom she goes
WillS:
By the way, it was Jaro and not me who documented that black cherry outshoots other bows of the same weight. He's got more experience with making bows from unusual timber than pretty much anybody else who's ever posted on these forums, so if it's "hogwash" you should let him know ;D
Marc St Louis:
--- Quote from: WillS on February 14, 2017, 05:54:55 am ---
--- Quote from: mikekeswick on February 14, 2017, 04:05:04 am --- Are you saying that ash doesn't act better with heat treatment and trapped back?
--- End quote ---
Nope. I'm saying it's not necessary to make a good bow. Some people insist you HAVE to do it, to make an ash bow work. This is incorrect :D
There's been quite a few discussions amongst a particular American reenactment group recently about hickory making a good bow. Any good bowyer knows it's an excellent bow wood, but all these reenactors are buying super cheap hickory bows made by terrible bowyers who use a yew cross section, and complain when it takes excessive set and fails. A lot of them consider themselves "experts" and insist that hickory DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD BOW.
It's the same as saying a cherry bow will NOT make a warbow when it just needs the right approach, like all woods. Remember when Ryoon made a poplar warbow? Anyway, I believe we agree - you said it very succinctly with "It is simply a question of scale. Wood is wood and knows nothing of what fancy pants bow it is. The wood simply reacts to strain. If you keep that strain without the woods limits you are within its limits. Take it over and either you will get excessive set or an explosion." This means that black cherry will absolutely make a heavy bow, provided it's treated properly.
I look forward to seeing further attempts, because it's a really good bow wood, so with the right cross section (and tiller - this is important, surprisingly...) it should make a brilliant heavy bow :)
--- End quote ---
Well that's a bit of a stretch. I don't know who has ever said that BC is "really good bow wood" but they obviously haven't made many BC bows. I made several longbows, along with a few other different styles, many years ago out of BC and I can tell you it does not like a round belly. Can you say chrysal, chrysal, chrysal really fast 3 times? With the right style of bow it can out-shoot many others if you make both bows to the same physical dimensions. The problem here is many other wood species can be made smaller.
I've known Jaroslav for a long time and I would be hesitant to say he has made more bows out unusual wood than most others
I cut a couple of fairly large BC trees many years ago, I specially selected the trees for cutting after many hours of looking at different trees. Most of that wood is still sitting in my storage shed, I'm sure you can all guess why from my opinion of BC
Stringman:
--- Quote from: WillS on February 14, 2017, 10:03:36 am ---
I guess everybody just wants to see an endless stream of yew bows and nothing else. 2 people still counts as "everyone" right? ::)
--- End quote ---
Still misquoting me I see... at least you admit to having no experience of what you speak. Never seen a black cherry tree... huh?!? At least the parameters of your professional opinion are no longer in question.
WillS:
Not sure I quoted anybody. I said I guess. That means "I think" ;)
As for my "professional opinion" I made it very clear in my first comment that I'd never worked with black cherry. It's right there for you to look at :)
I have however made a large number of meane wood warbows from wood that a lot of people told me wouldn't work. That's where the fun is for me, instead of reading "expert" advice on wood that SHOULD fail, and just deciding never to try it. We wouldn't get very far in life if we only stuck by what certain people told us.
WillS:
--- Quote from: Marc St Louis on February 14, 2017, 11:07:19 am ---I don't know who has ever said that BC is "really good bow wood" but they obviously haven't made many BC bows.
--- End quote ---
Jaro did. It's on the English Warbow Society and reads "as longbows in sporting weights (around 50#) made from this wood, outshoot everything else - including laminates."
--- Quote from: Marc St Louis on February 14, 2017, 11:07:19 am ---I've known Jaroslav for a long time and I would be hesitant to say he has made more bows out unusual wood than most others
--- End quote ---
I think it's fair to say Jaro has an excellent reputation for pushing woods to very heavy weights. He was one of the first to take ash and plum to around 160lb, and is somebody I would trust if he says BC makes good bows. This coupled with the fact that as Mike said "it's a matter of scaling up" tell me that BC will make a warbow.
I could be completely wrong, but my general point here is that if you don't try, you don't find out. Just because people say it can't be done, doesn't mean it can't be done. There's plenty of proof of that in bow making.
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