Main Discussion Area > Bows
Guava
Hamish:
I would still seal the back if the wood is freshly cut. It's a pretty dense wood, and can crack, if the outside dries too quickly.
I would stay away from quick drying. Just rough it out into a bow layout with wide tips, and floor tiller. Clamp it to a form, with some reflex if you want, and it will dry pretty quickly. Force drying works well with mid weight Northern hemisphere wood, but is usually too quick for denser woods.
2" is way too wide from memory, most bows from guava I have seen were more like 1.5" or less.
Its diffuse porous so it doesn't have typical rings like oak, ash , osage etc. Wood under the bark is fine.
Nasr:
I see that helps a lot. I will seal the back as well but might still play around with force drying the wood just to see if i can get away with it. But I think i will first wait a week after roughing it out to floor tiller that way i get as much of that moisture out as i can. I have 3 logs with maybe 6-8 staves ill sacrifice one for science 😂 science = lack of patience
Stickhead:
I scored some strawberry guava a few years back, and made my current hunting bow from it. Like many have said, just remove the outer bark to get your back. It’s a very dense wood, maybe even moreso than Osage. It responds fairly well to heat bending. It’s strong in tension - I was able to get 75# at 26” and it has held up just fine. I stained this one walnut-colored, but it started out pretty white. Makes for an excellent shooter!
Nasr:
--- Quote from: Stickhead on June 28, 2025, 08:56:52 am ---I scored some strawberry guava a few years back, and made my current hunting bow from it. Like many have said, just remove the outer bark to get your back. It’s a very dense wood, maybe even moreso than Osage. It responds fairly well to heat bending. It’s strong in tension - I was able to get 75# at 26” and it has held up just fine. I stained this one walnut-colored, but it started out pretty white. Makes for an excellent shooter!
--- End quote ---
Thank you for that stickhead can you tell me how wide that limb is and how long. I am glad to hear it responds to heat i was a little worried about that.
Stickhead:
--- Quote from: Nasr on June 29, 2025, 08:50:01 pm ---
--- Quote from: Stickhead on June 28, 2025, 08:56:52 am ---I scored some strawberry guava a few years back, and made my current hunting bow from it. Like many have said, just remove the outer bark to get your back. It’s a very dense wood, maybe even moreso than Osage. It responds fairly well to heat bending. It’s strong in tension - I was able to get 75# at 26” and it has held up just fine. I stained this one walnut-colored, but it started out pretty white. Makes for an excellent shooter!
--- End quote ---
Thank you for that stickhead can you tell me how wide that limb is and how long. I am glad to hear it responds to heat i was a little worried about that.
--- End quote ---
It’s 64” NTN, 1-3/4” wide, tapering evenly down to 3/8”. This was a narrow log, only 2-1/2” in diameter, hence the high crown and the hollow limb design.
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