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Rowan / mountain ash 27draw 55lbs 69ntn
willie:
--- Quote from: Mikkolaht on June 06, 2023, 11:32:10 am ---Thank you everyone! :)
In Finland Mountain ashes grow as proper trees, about 15m are the highest I have seen. Towards northern Finland the trees tend to get smaller, I live in the south.
I haven't had that much experience with mountain ash, but from what it seems like the wood needs flat belly to avoid compression damage.
You would expect the wood to be light and spongy but actually it feels quite heavy and somewhat spongy. What I'm trying to say is that the wood is not that snappy when you shoot it.
Comparing mountain ash to maple ''Acer platanoides'' it feels the same but just softer. I have heard of stories of mountain ash and maple bows just randomly exploding without warning, but those might be just stories..
This bow was a straight stick, now it has about one inch of set, and the bow weights about 565grams.
However mountain ash still seems to be able to produce some decent bows which are worth using :)
Cheers,
--- End quote ---
thanks for the comparisions of maple and mountian ash
I believe european mountian ash from Finland and other northern euro areas is a variety denser than the native mountian ash found in the americas. Some southern european varieties have been brought to the americas as ornamentals (especially in the western US), and are weaker still.
Norway maple ''Acer platanoides'', on the other hand is a lighter weaker wood than the native american hard maples. Sugar Maple of course, being an exceptional bow wood.
Aksel:
I canīt compare Rowan to Maple since Iīve only made a couple Rowan bows and that was long time ago, but I can compare 'Acer platanoides" to Elm. The Elm (ulmus Glabra) I use (Sweden) is very good. I recently tested a random sample -
.sg at .68.
Iīve made many dozen bows from it and a few from Maple and I wouldnīt say any maple bow Iīve made is suffering from spongyness and I havenīt broken one yet.
Minus for 'Acer platanoides" is itīs a slightly more fragile and you must be more careful with grain run off with Maple. With elm you can almost ignore following the grain if the bow is snaky. But with a straight stave Iīm sure it can do anything elm can (at least at weights up to 60lbs, I havenīt made higher poundage maple bows). Maple wonīt take the same abuse as elm which will just take set but never break.
Huge plus for 'Acer platanoides" is it is soooo much easier to work than Elm which is nice if youīre used to work with elm. Maple often grows straight too. And it will make, just like elm, a great sapling bow.
Hereīs a bow from 'Acer platanoides" I finished today. From a 3" sapling. Still holds 1,6" of natural reflex after 200 shots. #48 at 27". 64 long. I think the Maple species 'Acer platanoides" is very much under appreciated and I would encourage anyone to try it and I think Tim Baker rated it pretty good in TBB4..
Just felt the need to put in a good word for 'Acer platanoides" ;)
varangianbowyer:
--- Quote from: Aksel on June 06, 2023, 05:28:29 pm ---I canīt compare Rowan to Maple since Iīve only made a couple Rowan bows and that was long time ago, but I can compare 'Acer platanoides" to Elm. The Elm (ulmus Glabra) I use (Sweden) is very good. I recently tested a random sample -
.sg at .68.
Iīve made many dozen bows from it and a few from Maple and I wouldnīt say any maple bow Iīve made is suffering from spongyness and I havenīt broken one yet.
Minus for 'Acer platanoides" is itīs a slightly more fragile and you must be more careful with grain run off with Maple. With elm you can almost ignore following the grain if the bow is snaky. But with a straight stave Iīm sure it can do anything elm can (at least at weights up to 60lbs, I havenīt made higher poundage maple bows). Maple wonīt take the same abuse as elm which will just take set but never break.
Huge plus for 'Acer platanoides" is it is soooo much easier to work than Elm which is nice if youīre used to work with elm. Maple often grows straight too. And it will make, just like elm, a great sapling bow.
Hereīs a bow from 'Acer platanoides" I finished today. From a 3" sapling. Still holds 1,6" of natural reflex after 200 shots. #48 at 27". 64 long. I think the Maple species 'Acer platanoides" is very much under appreciated and I would encourage anyone to try it and I think Tim Baker rated it pretty good in TBB4..
Just felt the need to put in a good word for 'Acer platanoides" ;)
--- End quote ---
Did a Sycamore Maple mollega, and it is better bow wood than Norway Maple in my opinion. The bow is solid and more snappy, on the other hand Norway Maple seems a bit slower but it might be just because of the growing conditions.
Badger:
Beautiful job on that bow! Are you getting any handshock?
Lehtis:
Great! This inspires me to screen some trees at my cottage
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