BITH Powhatan Style Red Oak Board Bow 52lb @ 26"

[Hamish]

" For northern species they have Black Walnut, Black Cherry, Hard Maple, White Ash, White Oak (Red Oak is included in these piles), European Beech, French Oak and Sapele Mahogany. They also have a bunch of exotic hardwoods from South America like Kwila, Purple Heart, Green Heart, Tonka and various Gums from Australia."

              Good to know.All those woods in the first sentence will make good bows(though I don't know about Sapele,may not be up to the task.

Never tried kwila for a bow, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made a good bow, as its hard and heavy. Surprisingly I haven't heard of anyone trying it for bows either.
 Purple heart can make good bows providing they are long enough and wide enough, otherwise you risk chrysalling , and explosive tension breaks.
Add a bamboo backing to many of the South American exotics and you can get good bows. Do you have any bamboo suppliers or local groves that you could trim?

Not a fan of most Aussie gum trees for bows. Some will make good bows, other pieces from the same species will chrysal despite wide shallow limbs and good tiller. They just aren't as predictable as Northern hemisphere timbers. Stats look good on paper, but usually don't translate to good bow wood, in practice.

Gathering Black Maire sounds like an interesting adventure. If they don't grow too large in diameter, and if it splits well with wedges you could probably pack some out, especially if you have a friend. Work off the excess bulk, into a blank. Nevertheless it will be hard work(I used to do quite a bit with wild grown osage, and native timbers here in Australia). The older I get the less attractive the idea becomes.

[Threy Cameron]

Welcome to the site! Thank you for joining and for posting these bows! Oh man is it nice to see a fully heat treated bow! That thing is absolutely beautiful! You should make a post  about one of these bow and post the link into consideration for Octobers bow of the month contest.

Thankyou for the welcome! I do find a heat treated bow really does bring out the beauty and character of the wood, the improvements in performance and cast certainly help too haha. I also recently began heat treating with coals instead of a heat gun and the difference in temper is remarkable. The coals I find so a better job of being consistent and thorough (though with more monitoring involved) whereas the heat gun can be a little spotty, though this could be due to my technique or heat gun quality of course. I will hopefully have the two extra fire hardened bows ready by the end of the month and be able to pick one to enter. Though I would not be keen to rush one to meet a deadline so we'll have to see how they turn out, if not there's always the next bow of the month.

[sleek]

Thats very true! Don't rush, we will do it again next month too

[Threy Cameron]

Good to know.All those woods in the first sentence will make good bows(though I don't know about Sapele,may not be up to the task.

Never tried kwila for a bow, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made a good bow, as its hard and heavy. Surprisingly I haven't heard of anyone trying it for bows either.
 Purple heart can make good bows providing they are long enough and wide enough, otherwise you risk chrysalling , and explosive tension breaks.
Add a bamboo backing to many of the South American exotics and you can get good bows. Do you have any bamboo suppliers or local groves that you could trim?

Not a fan of most Aussie gum trees for bows. Some will make good bows, other pieces from the same species will chrysal despite wide shallow limbs and good tiller. They just aren't as predictable as Northern hemisphere timbers. Stats look good on paper, but usually don't translate to good bow wood, in practice.

Gathering Black Maire sounds like an interesting adventure. If they don't grow too large in diameter, and if it splits well with wedges you could probably pack some out, especially if you have a friend. Work off the excess bulk, into a blank. Nevertheless it will be hard work(I used to do quite a bit with wild grown osage, and native timbers here in Australia). The older I get the less attractive the idea becomes.

I was aiming for French or White Oak for my next bows after I've finished off the remaining Reds. I've heard it can hold reflex well with heat treating and wanted to try it out with reflexed limbs and recurves.

Kwila is similar to other you mentioned good stats but usually splinters or chrysals before too long. I've tried backing it with bamboo and it doesn't do too badly but may need a wider or longer design than what I tried. Can't write it off fully but it would need certain considerations to be made into a bow.

Purple Heart does make some great bows from what I've seen though is best backed like most exotic hardwoods like you mentioned. I think the dense nature of the exotics lends themselves more to compression resistance than tensile strength so they can make excellent bows if backed.

Luckily I do have some massive bamboo stands on my neighbors place just down the road and can cut as much as I like. I do prefer selfbows in my experience as its just less things to go wrong or de-laminate. I have made some laminated bows though they occasionally delaminated, not sure if it was improper preparation or the humid climate. I may have to get my hands on some boat epoxy glue (not too sure of the name) but a local uses it for his bows and he says its amazing never delaminated even with our humidity. On the plus side I've got a limitless supply of massive bamboo whenever I want it.

Yes I've heard of the notorious gum tree chrysals and splintering. The stats seem good like you mentioned but maybe not elastic enough to make a good bow unless comically long or wide. Environmental factors may play a role in the trees individuality and with Australia's climate the unpredictability may come from additional adaptations for the individual tree to survive? Just a theory off the top of my head but it may account for the extreme variation even between the same species.

Packing it out would be interesting, me and my brother usually just cut and split it where it is and leapfrog the staves to certain points until their all at an easy location to pick up in a 4x4. Luckily Black Maire does split well with wedges unless you've got a wavy grained one then its a pain.

[Hamish]

The best local bow quality glue that is readily available in Aus is Techniglue Structural Adhesive, Never had a failure with it. The glue dries rock hard, and won't lift in areas such as a glued on riser, for a self bow. The exposed area around the dips will often lift with common epoxies.
I had a quick look on Carba Tec NZ, they don't seem to stock it. Maybe you could ask them if they can bring you in some from Australia or order it directly from Aus?
They do have West Systems at  Carba Tec NZ. Some swear by it for bows. I have found it good for furniture with static applications, but have had a full length delamination of a bamboo backing. It also didn't stand up to a glued on riser. I don't think is is rigid enough by itself. Maybe there is something available that they sell that you can add to the mix to increase rigidity?

For full length laminations, bamboo backing Titebond 3 does an excellent job. It can work for handle risers providing the area is already around an inch deep or more, and therefore the glueline will be away from the dip transition with where the limb starts to bend. Even so, I prefer the Techniglue for risers.