Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Wulamoc on February 04, 2008, 10:56:11 am
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Is black locust a good wood for making bows? I have access to some and didn't know if it should go into bows or the fireplace. Thanks in advance.
Wells
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Black locust is very good bow wood; use the dark corewood, sometimes "frets" will develop with no apparent reason, but don't let this stop you. BL is a strong, hard, pretty wood. Good luck.
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Oh no! Not the fireplace. BL is a very good bow wood. :) Jawge
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I have seen more fretting with BL when used in backed board bows. I've made a handful of slefbows with no trouble (I'm also probably better at tillering than when I did the backed bows). I like to go a little leaner on wood than a lot of the guys. I love a BL selfbow 63" ntn, 1 3/8" wide. Takes heat very well. Hmm.... theres a BL stave over theere right now...
Dave
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It's a great wood. Even straight trees can hide some twists, knots and snakiness inside but as said above, it takes heat really well if you need to straighten it. I've made 6 bows so far and 3 are of black locust and I have been harvesting more staves as I really like it. Two came in at 45 # although I wanted 50 because I find tillering flat bellied bows challenging, but my next will come out the weight I want.
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Excellent bow wood, I would recommend getting a lot of limb working and get it working right out of the fades. It can chrysal but when made right they are fast and beautiful. Steve
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I've got one drying i'm busting to get stuck into!
(http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/AnLoki/Bowmaking/BlackLocuststave003.jpg)
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BL is excellent bow wood (and excellent firewood :) ). It was the go-to bow wood for the natives in my area. It will sometimes chrysal if you hinge it or have an uneven tiller, but that 's just because it's so tension-strong. Making a trapezoidal cross section helps.
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Wish it was more common up here, but I've found 3 different houses that have it growing in their yards,
sounds like a midnight raid in the making eh >:D
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B.L. is about all I have around here on Long Island. Iv'e got some staves drying as I write. I was wondering if a short 58" ish D style would be ok for locust. I thought if the handle was bending it may have less of a fretting problem. Is this correct thinking or is that too short for locust.
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Wish it was more common up here, but I've found 3 different houses that have it growing in their yards,
sounds like a midnight raid in the making eh >:D
Dana....I have a Buddy that keeps Pipeline Right of Ways clear off trees ...and He has asked me if I wanted any of what He cuts...and He cuts quite a bit of Locust...Honey and Black...they use it here for Wind Breaks...just like Horse Apple....if I can find some nice ones....I will drop one by the Ole Treatment Plant this Fall when I come back for da Sal-Mon( Texas pronunciation!!) Tourney......
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Is it good wood???
when the archer God cries his tears turn into black locust trees.....he's generally a sad god I would imagine due to the prolliferation of the species.
...Guess his girlfriend left him. MAN ITS GOOD WOOD!
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Does black locust grow in the northern states? Minnesota to be exact. The way everyone is raving about it makes me want to find some.
Dale.
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It's awesome wood! I wish I could get more. I've only had one stave :(
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yankee that would be awesome and much appreciated ;D
nailbender were probably in the same boat, it will grow this far north but its usually a decoratibve tree in someones yard >:(
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Rick, a lot of the Cherokee bows were about that length, and 90% of them were locust. Locust likes that Eastern Woodlands flatbow design. Make it about 1 1/4" wide, tapering gradually to 5/8" nocks and bending slightly through the handle. The main troulble I've had with locust fretting has been when I pulled it too far with an uneven tiller. If there's a hinge or near-hinge, it will fret there. Locust is really variable, too. Some is excellent, some is crappy.
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Thanks for the info Hillbilly. I have an abundance of B.L. here. By the way you told me about Cracked Cap Polypore and I told you that they seemed pretty rare around here. I finally opened my eyes, and you are right they are everywhere and some are huge.
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You guys keep praising this locust, I'm going to have to cut one. All I have around here is Honey Locust I assume, it all have those six inch thorns. Gonna give it a go anyway ;).
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There is a bunch of it near my son's house. He's canvassing the neighbors and inlaws to see what he can get! I think he wants another bow!
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Black locust is thickern hair on a dogs back around here, but most of it's pretty knotty and twisted about like osage. I do know where a cedar thicket is with some nice straight ones. I think i'll cut a couple, just in case I might want to try it.
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So you've got to take the lighter wood off? I've got one that I cut last summer, it has since deflex'd to extremes, and only has 1 HUGE knot:(, so I've got to decide on either a much shorter bow, or one heck of a nice 3/4" peep sight:)
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that would look sweet
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Verry goo wood bow...gr8 in tension...but a lnot so good in compresion.....a trapez shape will help, and a doog tiller...BL. is that type of wood who show's to a boyer whenn he makes mistake ;D...so be carefuul how you deal with this wood ... the color is also beautifuul...
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Peep Sight!!!!! :o
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I'm into flat bows, so might making it a bit wider than 1 1/4 help deal with the compression weakness and my weak skills? It will only be my second bow... Thanks all for the advice:)
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If you're making a stiff-handled flatbow, make it 1 5/8"-1 3/4" wide fades to midlimb.
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That's the plan I used (about 1 and 3/4" wide at the fades) and it shoots sweet. Mine was made from a log I found- had some checks on the belly at the handle area, but no problem. I wrapped that area with sinew and it's fine. A little bit of a character bow. It bends very well with dry heat so I was able to fix some humps and dips pretty easily.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/richpierce/locustbelly.jpg)
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Nice, and thanks, both of you's. Does that bow you posted fade evenly to the tips, and it looks like a D bow? I wonder how mine would do if it has to be really wide mid limb because of the huge knot? Maybe I can figure out this technology stuff and post a pic of the stave sometime.
thanks again!
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my next door neighbor has a bl tree thats got to 50ft tall,looks like it need some trimming.
gonna ask them ifn they want me to trim it up for them,free of charge of course.
has nice long straight limbs,damn things reach over my roof and in the spring and fall clog my gutters up.
so I'm gonna do the neighborly thing.
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Ouch, that reminds me that I used to work for a tree trimming service, but I didn't build bows then, just used my glassed martin back then:( hmm, you've got me thinking now, I've got an apricot and an apple tree that border my land, I've already got permission to trim them since the neighbor doesn't care about em, I'm so all over those trees in the morning, can't believe I hadn't checked em out yet.. So I just left the shop after trying to get the back to one layer on my BL stave, it was a lot harder than I had estimated. Tough to tell the dif rings apart, but the belly I can tell really easy. Any advice? I'm seriously thinking about having a 1X3/4 hole mid limb where my giant knot is. If I make it wide enough to compensate it should work ehh? you all have a fine navy day
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serviceb. wipe the back with a damp cloth, this helps make the seperate growth rings visable....Brian
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Chasing a ring is done as much by feel and hearing as by sight. After fooling with it awhile, you can easily tell the difference between the spongy/crunchy early growth and the harder late growth. What tools are you using?
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I'm using primarily my draw knife for this part, but scraping a little with my pocket knife as well, I've blown past a couple heart wood rings and am getting close to ruining the stave. oh well, it's free BL, tons of it around Idaho, and I've got 2 serviceberry staves and a yew to work with anyhow. I'm think that my drawknife might be a little dull since I'm not able to get very small shavings at all. Or is that just this hard BL? thanks again hillbilly
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BL is really hard wood. Plus a slightly dull drawknife is better for chasing rings than a really sharp one. Be sure to use the drawknife with the bevel down. If you use it with the flat side down it'll dig in.