Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Oleguy64 on March 03, 2019, 08:07:18 am
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I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with carrotwood for bow making. I have heard it doesnt handle compression very well. I am interested in making some bows from local woods such as carrotwood and australian pine. Would love to have some input from people who have some first hand experience on these woods. I would like to get them cut and drying while working on my current projects. )-w( (A)
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I have never had a full size stave from carrot wood but I tried some mini bows just to see if it would work. It had compression problems right from the start. I don't think I would bother with it. It looks like a good wood and is hard.
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I think Australian pine makes good bows. I've never used it but I think Eddie(Mullet) and Parnell both have used it.
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There was a Seminole bow build here with carrot wood as I recall. I'll see if I can find it.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,5699.0.html
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The year before last I cut a nice Australian Pine (Casuarina, Sheoak,this particular one was Casuarina Cunninghamia—River Sheoak) about 8", very straight and very few knots. I got five nice staves from it......
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4609/24752975427_f898325e8e_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/DHktdp)Casuarina, Sheoak, Australian Pine staves (https://flic.kr/p/DHktdp) by korey Aitkenhead (https://www.flickr.com/photos/155311393@N06/), on Flickr
I roughed out the five staves in varying profiles with Axe, Hatchet, and Rasp......
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4607/38642919400_3f207b38a0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/21SK4D3)Roughing out casuarina stave with shinto and rasp (https://flic.kr/p/21SK4D3) by korey Aitkenhead (https://www.flickr.com/photos/155311393@N06/), on Flickr
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4670/40409786582_731a466398_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/24ySHGj)Silky Nata, perfect for profiling bow staves (https://flic.kr/p/24ySHGj) by korey Aitkenhead (https://www.flickr.com/photos/155311393@N06/), on Flickr
I let them season for roughly 9 months averaging 50%RH before working the first one down to roughly floor tiller dimensions without bending too much at this point. I allowed a couple weeks further drying time once brought down to rough floor tiller dimensions. The back, once the bark was removed, was seriously fissured. As Casuarina has some seriously interlocking grain, I decided to scrape the fissures down to a more-or-less flat-ish back. The first one I finished took some serious set, though it had basically a D cross section. But that wasn't the issue. See below......
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4718/27848049189_166acd7a43_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/JqQwP8)Casuarina end grain (https://flic.kr/p/JqQwP8) by korey Aitkenhead (https://www.flickr.com/photos/155311393@N06/), on Flickr
Those radial lines you see are really brittle wood. I had to take extra care when profiling or it would tear out. But the real problem is, if your profile violates these radial "features", and it will, there is an inclination to split and splinter, so wasting all the time you put into it........ for me it was a lesson learned.
The first took bulk set, before splintering. The second and third splintered during tiller. All of them were introduced to the band saw.
I had heard tell of Australian Pine/Casuarina/Sheoak being a decent bow wood. Maybe it was the particular species I harvested, but for me, Casuarina is not a bow wood.......... There is one guy on youtube I saw with a 70"+ Casuarina bow. It had a lot of string follow, and looked a sluggish shooter. Sorry to disappoint.......
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I'm not a fan of carrot wood. It tends to break pretty easy. The Australian pine seems to be a very tough piece of wood with interlocking grains. Steve Parnell and I broke a small bow on purpose. Leaned it up against a shelf in my shop and ate lunch. When we came back out it had straightened itself almost back to the original form. Very tough fibres in that wood.