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AZ Ironwood Bow

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richgibula:
I have the privilege of obtaining a large piece of Arizona ironwood.  I have previously made a bow out of a piece of mesquite which performs wonderfully, but never ironwood. Does anyone know about the performance of ironwood, like how thick it needs to be (very hard and heavy wood) or how well it will hold together? 

This will be a bit of investment since the wood will be rough on the tools and it is hard to handle due to its weight. I will need to plan a lot.

BetterTrees:
Well, what do they call ironwood in Arizona. Around here, it's American hornbeam (blue beech).
In the PNW they're talking about ocean spray.
Seems like there's one everywhere. I know whatever the Australian version is was very dense if I recall correctly from my guitar building days.

richgibula:
This is what I found.  I don't think that its related to beech:

Common Name(s): Desert Ironwood
Scientific Name: Olneya tesota
Distribution: Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico
Tree Size: 20-30 ft (6-10 m) tall, 1-2 ft (.3-.6 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: About 75 lbs/ft3 (1,210 kg/m3)
Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): ~.97, ~1.21
Janka Hardness: 3,260 lbf (14,500 N)
Modulus of Rupture: 10,880 lbf/in2 (75.0 MPa)
Elastic Modulus: No data available
Crushing Strength: No data available
Shrinkage: No data available; reported to be very stable in service

richgibula:
Workability: Very difficult to work on account of its density. High cutting resistance. Desert Ironwood is usually restricted to very small projects, though it takes a good natural polish and is very stable in service. Turns, polishes, and finishes well.


I just wish I knew something about the use in bows.

Its is considered the 8th most dense wood in the world.

Kidder:
No experience with it but commenting based on the numbers. It appears to have similar statistics to Ipe but has a comparatively low modulus of rupture - substantially lower than Ipe, Osage, hickory. I would probably consider treating it like Ipe and putting a hard backing on it, but I’d really like to know it’s crushing strength though to be sure about that. But nothing beats practical experience - some woods just surprise in a bow context.

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