Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 02:39:37 am

Title: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 02:39:37 am

Anyone have any thoughts good or bad on using Brazilian cherry wood for a self D bow @ 60" long looking for as close to 60lbs at a 27" draw length?

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: bubby on April 11, 2010, 03:03:50 am

 nothing wrong with cherry, makes good bows but tiller has to be spot on

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Keenan on April 11, 2010, 03:30:39 am

Possible but Brazilian Cherry  (Jatoba)  tends to be brittle. It's dense and fairly hard and can be prone to chrysalis if tiller isn't perfect.

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 12:21:52 pm

I saw an example of a cherry wood bow and the wood looks different than what I have. The grain on my wood looks as tight as Ipe only with a red/maroon tint to the wood. I think I will try both a self bow and one backed with either deer hide or real thin bamboo and see if I can keep it from chrysalis. Does 60" sound too short to pull this off to you guys?

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Badger on April 11, 2010, 01:26:53 pm

Tim, brazilian cherry is very prone to chysals. I have made many backed bows with it. Make sure you get tiller very even and use as much limb as you can I don't think it will chrysal in a not so stressed design. There is no relation to jatoba ( brazilian cherry) and real cherry wood. Steve

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 02:25:35 pm

Hey Badger, the wood is 63" over all length so I can't go much longer with it. That is why I was going to make a D bow to get as much bending out of the limbs as possible. I got the wood from Mayan hardwoods lumber co. and it was labeled as Brazilian cherry wood but it does look a lot like a red Ipe to me.

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 04:20:51 pm

Here are some pictures of the wood I have on hand. They show the grain both end and longitudinal and a comparison between it and the Ipe. It also shows one of the profiles I want to try making a D bow. What type of wood do you guys think it is from the pictures?
http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz233/Mnthunter_photos/

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Badger on April 11, 2010, 05:11:50 pm

That looks like brazilan cherry, jatoba is just another name for it. Like I was saying before it has no relation to cherry, just the color of the wood. D bow would be a good design for what you have. Steve

Title: Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
Post by: Tim B on April 11, 2010, 05:55:12 pm

Thanks Steve, I will go slow in the tillering process and see if I can pull it off.