Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Taxus brevifolia on November 18, 2018, 08:24:37 pm
-
https://youtu.be/wTC3f5_ceY0
Thanks
in advance!
-
Possibly a honeysuckle(Lonicera)
-
to me it looks like some kind of syringa - but dont trust my guess...
-
Looks like honeysuckle. Always famous for its shoots making good arrow shafts, but the wood is also a good bowwood....if you can find a big enough piece. The heartwood is a nice honey orange color. Very dense.
-
I've never heard of a vine making arrowshafts...I have honeysuckle all over the place here.
-
There are many types of honeysuckle; small trees, shrub and vines. What you have is a shrub type.
-
Ok here is what I harvested, looks like a couple premium pieces.
I may rough out a stave while it's green. I've done some looking around, sounds like for this material, it might be better to work it green to some degree. Cut down to smaller pieces, it might help it properly dry without checking problems.
https://youtu.be/1bu2Gao37gA
-
Those knuckles should be fun to play with.
-
I think maybe one of them is possibly solid enough for a handle. The rest are definitely not, so for those it's either short bows or more likely individual limbs.
-
Although I said Honeysuckle before, that wood does not look like honeysuckle I've seen when cut. The larger diameter piece ought to have some darker honey colored heartwood. I am not familiar with your area, but it might be something else.
-
Here's why I think it's honeysuckle:
All season long that place reeks of it; government PDFs say it's present in the area; it fits all the descriptions of honeysuckle I can find; mygardenanswers and plant snap both id'd it as first choice; and many of the pictures of different examples of bark match well with the variety of bark found on a single shrub;
I was pretty sure before I posted, and 2 of the first 3 replies corroborated. BTW, pretty sure it's not syringa. Syringa has similar bark & leaves, but not the same, and the way it grows/branches is different
-
Agh now I can't stop wondering if it's syringa. Limbut you may be right. I look back on my list, objectively I haven't nailed it down with the discrepancy on what the wood looks like in cross section, and lilac does grow in that area. So it may be spring before we get a positive ID by the flowers.
-
From what I've heard if it was Lilac it would have checked by now ;D ;D. Take care with it, it's supposed to be good wood.
-
Thank you yes I've got it all sealed up nice and tight with paraffin. I'll rough one out to compare over time. There's strong anecdotal evidence to suggest cutting it early might help avoid checking.
You know the heartwood doesn't even closely resemble that of syringa
-
You would probably get more replies if you posted photos instead of YouTube links.
But to answer your question it’s Mock Orange, also knows as syringa
-
Bryce, the mock orange you mention is interesting and probably correct. Mock orange that I am used to is murray paniculata. Also a great bow wood, but definitely not what he cut. I looked into what you posted and that is probably it. The leaves look serrated though in the pics online and I can't 100% tell from the video if the one he found is. Best bet so far though. Seems like it ought to be good wood too.
-
Ah Bryce, thanks for weighing in on this. I posted YouTube links to what I found because I don't know how to post video here otherwise. There seems to be some confusion. That last pic I posted is of syringa, found on the internet, posted to compare against the mystery wood. It's not the wood I found, but rather it's a known example of syringa which looks nothing like what I found.
Limbit, the leaves on what I found are not serrated.
-
Here's a screen grab of what I found
-
Looks like honeysuckle to me, the leaves, bark, and how it is growing, all look like the stuff I have cut in the past.
Be careful and can check really easily, best time that I have found to cut it is the dead of winter then it’s easy to keep in check :P
Sometimes I’ve found it with some dark honey brown “heartwood” but I don’t think it is actual “heartwood” my suspicion is mineral staining.
It’s not a bad idea to rough them out now, just take some wood off the belly that’ll keep any checking on the belly where it won’t matter to much.
I have(or had) a writ up on what I do to season and work it somewhere, I’ll see if I can find it for you.
-
Thanks Dylan I really appreciate it!