I’ve heard mixed things about Hazel from it being a very good bow wood to “passable at best” . I had a couple of shots with one of Del the cat’s hazel bows and it definitely wasn’t “passable”!
There is a lot of it around but it’s surprisingly hard to find a piece that isn’t corkscrewed and large enough to use. I found a very clean and straight stave about 2 1/2” diameter at the base on a walk and brought it home.
I underestimated how thick it needed to be so over thinned and narrowed a bit before heat treating and tillering and it only came out at about 29lbs. I took 3/4” off of each tip and it’s up to 31 at 28” and holding an inch of reflex after shooting. Getting 160-163fps 10gpp.
I had planned for it to have a bit of bend in the handle but as I took the limbs down too much it’s stiff though the middle. I’ve got the other half of the stave though so I’m now set to go with that.
Took the heat really well and was very soft to work with.
A little bit of leather stain, an arrow test and handle wrap.
65” total length
31@28”
162fps 10gpp
Let me know any improvement you can see in the tiller. It had a bit of deflexed in both mid limbs but it then also took a bit of set there, I think I could get the inners and outlets bending a bit more?
I happen to own one of Del's hazel flatbows. He left the bark on the stave all the way to the bitter end. With the natural white wood and the color of the bark, it simply reminds me of a nice floury baked potato. And if you know my deep and abiding love of carbohydrates you will recognize that is a compliment of high order.
That cute little wide limbed bow is snappy and has a very sweet draw. Honestly, I'd love to go back 45 years and plant a nice thick row of hazel, come back 10 years later to coppice it, and now go and harvest some nice pieces for bowmaking! Hazel is a wonderful wood and is used in so many wonderful tradition crafts in Britain, no sense ignoring it when bowmaking time comes.
