Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on May 02, 2016, 10:27:56 am
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Had to go to Ottawa last week so that my wife could take care of some family business. I took the opportunity to go to a spot I know that has a lot of wild Plum. The spot is fairly secluded so cutting a couple small trees here and there does no harm and since the area is part of an Algonquin land claim I feel entitled :). I was shocked to see what they had done to the area. Somebody came in with large machines and flattened most of the area, what a mess and what a crime. There were some nice Plum trees in there. I did find a couple nice ones to harvest though
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Wood/Plum/Plum%20wood%20end.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Wood/Plum/Plum%20butt%20end.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Wood/Plum/Plum%20top%20end.jpg)
The bigger one is about 4" at the butt, 6' long and clean on 2 sides. The other is about 2.5" at the butt and clean on 1 side, that one should be good for a longbow of some kind. There was one I found that was about 7" in diameter and it was very nice but I just didn't have what I needed to tackle that one, my little bucksaw would not have worked in this case.
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Nice! Marc I came home with 2 plum logs a couple weeks ago too.
Can't wait to work them
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Nice! Marc I came home with 2 plum logs a couple weeks ago too.
Can't wait to work them
Well I don't know if you have ever worked with Plum but you won't be disappointed with the wood.
I split the big one today and bandsawed the other to rough shape to speed up the drying a bit
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There are so many different plums. Small yellow, large purple, purple leaf and on and on. Is there any difference in the quality of the bow wood? Most of the plum I've seen around here is small and twisted.
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The only way I can even try plum here is to cut some billets.Don't even really know what kind of plum it is here either.
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The plum I have access to grows little cherry size plums that are super tasty.
There's 1 big tree that seems like it mothered all the others around it.
I haven't worked any yet, but I can't wait to get into them
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Looks like they'll make some nice bows. Jawge
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Looking forward to seeing the bows you get from these. I know plum is a slow drier or it will check.
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The plum here has the cherry sized fruit too with a large seed nut inside.Tastes very bitter unless fully ripened or ate after the first frost or so.
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It looks like these got away from a community that surrounded a Limestone quarry my wife's grandfather owned in the early 20th century. The trees that I'm harvesting grow at the bottom of the hill where the soil is rich. They have nice growth rings while the trees at the top of the hill have thin rings
I don't remove all the bark, only small strips that help drying. If left whole they split
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those look great congrats on your find,, :)