Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Justin.schmidt23 on August 23, 2016, 01:22:45 pm
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Ok so I post in here probably more than most would prefer but I like asking questions and learning.
With that being said, BESIDES osage (obviously it's king of bow wood) what is YOUR favorite wood to work with? And what wood do you feel makes a superior bow? This should be interesting
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I have not made a ton of bows but I like hickory myself!! Ya just gotta make sure it's dry.
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Yew, Hazel, Elm.
Yew is tops because you get 2 distinct types of wood in the one tree and the caramel/cream heart/sap wood looks so damn cool, it's also V light and fast.
Hazel 'cos it's plentiful, straight, relatively knot free easy to work and can be seasoned quickly.
Elm is tough and makes a fast bow, nice colour too.
Del
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Elm
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Yew, Hazel, Elm.
Yew is tops because you get 2 distinct types of wood in the one tree and the caramel/cream heart/sap wood looks so damn cool, it's also V light and fast.
Hazel 'cos it's plentiful, straight, relatively knot free easy to work and can be seasoned quickly.
Elm is tough and makes a fast bow, nice colour too.
Del
Del I like that snakey hazel you did. I haven't seen any around my neck of the woods I don't even think it grows in this part of Florida
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You fellas go ahead and play with all the woods you want, Ill meet you back at Camp Osage when your ready.
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You fellas go ahead and play with all the woods you want, Ill meet you back at Camp Osage when your ready.
Hahaha I'm just trying to see what else is out there. I don't want to be like everyone else and made an osage bow that looks like every other bow out there. Not to discredit anyone I just like be different
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Since you want to be different and you live in Florida maybe you should track down the elusive and legendary Snakewood :D
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That would be nice. However I don't even have hickory in my back yard. Lots of red oak and pine but I'll keep my eyes open
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I think one's preferred wood depends on their goals. If my goal is always to make the perfect bow that will last a very long time and stave availability and cost is never an issue, then sure, ultra-dense, thin-ringed osage orange would be my preference.
This isn't the case though, at least not for me. Straight, clean staves that meet the above description are few and far between, and when they are available they cost a lot. I can't afford to invest $200+ in a single stave, at least not frequently, so I've learned to use woods that are available to cut locally, or that I can buy for a more reasonable price. For me, living in northern Vermont, that means eastern hophornbeam, hickory, and black locust. I'll even use white ash sometimes. If used correctly and properly seasoned, all of these woods make excellent bows.
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I like HHB
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I use American Elm, it make a great bow.
Cheers
Thunder
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Sounds like elms the way to go. Supposedly some grow around here but have yet too see any
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lots of great woods,, usually what you have the most experience with will make the best bow for you,, most of my bows are osage,, but other woods work great too,,
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I have a buttload of laurel oak and Shumards oak out here. I know they're both red oak but every hackberry I've shopped down had been knotted up and twisted.
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Since you want to be different and you live in Florida maybe you should track down the elusive and legendary Snakewood :D
Look up Surinam Cherry, Snakewood's first cousin.
After Osage I'll take Vine Maple and HHB.
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Since you want to be different and you live in Florida maybe you should track down the elusive and legendary Snakewood :D
Look up Surinam Cherry, Snakewood's first cousin.
After Osage I'll take Vine Maple and HHB.
None of which I have. Just don't want to be stuck with red oak, hackberry, and cherry laurel
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If not Osage , I will always have a soft spot for hickory since that's what I made my first successful bow out of but the white wood I get most excited about is sugar maple it's a pleasure to work and takes glue really well and has good cast but I think you like what your successful with.
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Hop Hornbeam, American Hornbeam, and Black Locust are favorites thus far. I was also really impressed by hazel wood, which is what my current hunting bow is made from. I even found a grove of them that have unusual color streaking in them, similar to what happens in rainbow poplar. Plus it polishes the best of any wood I've ever finished. It shines like buffed ivory or bone, really pretty stuff.
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Osage of course and runnin a very close second is Hackberry. the stuff is easy to work, and makes a hard hittin smooth bow.
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If you got hackberry, your good. I don't know if it's my favorite after Osage, but it's really good if built properly. Temper, temper, temper.
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Go find some mulberry. Its a kissin cousin to osage.
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Justin,
You only have 123 posts. You are not being a pain.
I have made bows from just about every conceivable bow wood and some not so conceivable. LOL.
I do like osage. I like the way it changes color. :)
I also like black locust and hickory.
Jawge
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Ya know camp osage has some BOM and BOY that are yew lol
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I've used a pile of different woods as well. Osage is my favorite... good snakey osage bows. Others can't compare. Next would be Yew and Hophornbeam.
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Thanks for the replies gents. Build bows is the only thing I have to do. I don't work so I treat this hobby like a job Inow that I take ALOT OF pride in what I do and don't like to fail.
It's definitely nice to hear how great hackberry is. It's pretty plentiful out back. I have 2 hackberry bows that are at floor tiller and drying. While I'm waiting I decided to mess with a shurmand oak stave I cut about a month ago, this wood just LOVES to be worked. Hackberry had been killed during of a PIA. but this red oak just is alot easier to mess with. Kinda determined to make the red oak work for me
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Heat-treated first grade Elm will make about as good a bow as good Osage
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Marc, I'd wager it will out perform osage, expecially in tension.
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Marc, I'd wager it will out perform osage, expecially in tension.
Probably but finding the right tree is an exercise in frustration, not all Elm are created equal
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A very proven fact. I have a bow I made of elm, my first one really. If I knew who to send it to, id like to know the exact species of elm it is. This tree is the perfect bow wood.
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what's available, at home that means juniper (but only if sinew backed), but now that I'm in collage station it could be anything (including sage), I tried hickory once I could be a contender if I get my hands on some more.
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As of now, my preferred wood to work with is Brazilian Guava (pretty much because it's what I have available in big quantity) , but I'd LOVE to have an Osage or a Yew stave to work on 😐.
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You fellas go ahead and play with all the woods you want, Ill meet you back at Camp Osage when your ready.
I heard you were a closet ERC fan ;D
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Osage,hickory,ironwood,good elm and really any of those can be put in extreme designs and handle it.Black locust too but not extremely designed as much.All available around me here.
The native species map says you should have winged elm in your state.I'd hoard a bit of that if I were you.Then I'll trade ya an osage stave for a good one......lol.
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Elm!albeit it likes to change it's tiller till u nail it!
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My favorite is whatever I can get for free. >:D
Of course around here land owners hate that trashy pesky osage. So thats what I have the most of.
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Osage,hickory,ironwood,good elm and really any of those can be put in extreme designs and handle it.Black locust too but not extremely designed as much.All available around me here.
The native species map says you should have winged elm in your state.I'd hoard a bit of that if I were you.Then I'll trade ya an osage stave for a good one......lol.
That's what I keep hearing but have yet to see any.
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Besides Osage maybe mulberry. Want to try some black locust tho.
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I'd say hhb, elm, and mulberry
Tattoo Dave
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Justin....You gotta go where the panthers live to find it.In the deep swamp....lol.
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I've only built something like 20 bows, so I don't have a lot of comparison experience, but my favorite bow I've made so far was from a black locust board backed with a strip of maple. Really satisfying to build and shoot, and had a lot of really good zip to it.
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After experimenting with over 20 varieties of trees my favorite is dense American Beech. My best performing bows have been with it. Osage does amazing things with short d bows, it just wants to be a bow. Any Hickory I have tried is great after getting good and dry and it is plentiful anywhere I have ever lived. Winged Elm is amazing wood also but the American Elm I have found has been weak for the designs I have tried. Hackberry wants to take some set but still makes a nice bow. Now after experimenting with a lot of knotty twisted trees I would pick the straightest cleanest trees I can find and make a design to fit the wood.
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Chinese Elm (proper Chinese Elm, not Siberian...and no, they are not the same thing) is great. Juniper is my personal favorite so long as it is backed with something (could be as simple as rawhide). Plum is awesome as are apple and crabapple.
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My favorite woods are what I can get locally,and have made bows from,so that will be 1-osage, 2-hackberry and 3-hickory.
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Hickberry and hackory.
I mean hackberry and hickory!
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want to try more than osage:
More bamboo.
Hickory, because it's cheaper and more common and I live in a dry area. And it's more forgiving, isn't it..
juniper or (reaction?) incense cedar backed with hickory SOUNDS good... hmm..
Or bamboo backed ipe with a more primitive design.
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Loon makes a valid point. Who said we even have to stay with wood?
FIBERGRASS!
Yeah, I said it, fibergrass! Rattan and bamboo!
(doing the dirty cheater dance here!)
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The carbon fiber of toasted hickory..
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Osage,hickory,ironwood,good elm and really any of those can be put in extreme designs and handle it.Black locust too but not extremely designed as much.All available around me here.
The native species map says you should have winged elm in your state.I'd hoard a bit of that if I were you.Then I'll trade ya an osage stave for a good one......lol.
That's what I keep hearing but have yet to see any.
Still a piece in the shop, cured. I have Osage.
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Hhb after osage... Heat gun turns it into putty in your hands. I love the stuff 😜... Brian
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Where are u located Justin? Crepe myrtle is a nice one
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Where are u located Justin? Crepe myrtle is a nice one
I believe we have some I'll have to double check but I'm in West central florida
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Im going to say yew, but that's what I have a ton of and it seem to do amazing things. I have never tried osage, but I have a stave waiting that I recently chased a ring on. We'll see how it compares to yew.
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I should have added, Osage is my favorite for SELFBOWS, with Yew and Hophornbeam next.... but once we move into other bow types, backed, glass bows, composites, tri-lams, and such.... other woods may surpass even osage for certain applications.
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I like Black Locus. I have it everywhere. We also have huge hickory trees but never cut one. Those crazy squirrels love them. I also like Osage
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Hickory is the king of bow wood. Strong and elastic. Can't seem to break a good hickory bow even if it is tillered poorly. it's superior to every bow wood as long as the moisture content is managed properly. That's with every wood though.
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Where are u located Justin? Crepe myrtle is a nice one
I believe we have some I'll have to double check but I'm in West central florida
If u can make over my way some time I'll give you a piece to try out its dense stuff working on a really reflexed piece right now.
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Naturally its going to be whats available around you.. Hickory is top of the list..its a bugger to work here in high humidity but when done right it rivals osage pound per pound...next is hop horn beam... elm, black locust, mulberry may be cousin to osage...but it doesn't compare IMO...can make a good bow no doubt if wide enough or it will fret, but not my preference anymore....chasing a ring on mulberry is hard to see..I found wetting it and proper lighting makes it easier but still a bear... I'm working on a red cedar now two layers of sinew on back and 4 inches of reflex...letting it cure..been about a month so getting close to get back on it..might wait till deer season is over though..:)
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Where are u located Justin? Crepe myrtle is a nice one
I believe we have some I'll have to double check but I'm in West central florida
If u can make over my way some time I'll give you a piece to try out its dense stuff working on a really reflexed piece right now.
Where are you located? I'm about an hour south of ocala and I believe 2 hours north of eddie.
Hickory seems to be phenomenal just for the sheer fact it seems unbreakable. That's all I ever hear about it, no one really says how fast or malible it is.
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Hickory is the king of bow wood. Strong and elastic. Can't seem to break a good hickory bow even if it is tillered poorly. it's superior to every bow wood as long as the moisture content is managed properly. That's with every wood though.
I think compression spruce/pine is better with high moisture?
Could hickory make a more efficient bow than Osage in a dry-ish area if heat treated somewhat heavily?
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I would say it would rival the best osage... in a dry climate...yes...
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Id like to see that experiment done. An osage and a hickory boy built to the best design for both woods respectively, then left in the desert for a few moths and then shot and compared.
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Id like to see that experiment done. An osage and a hickory boy built to the best design for both woods respectively, then left in the desert for a few moths and then shot and compared.
You mean a boy like pinoccio? lol
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Be honest, who didnt wanna shoot that puppet?
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That would an awesome experiment. Chrono and everything same arrows. Who could make this happen? I'd love to see that puppet as the target as well
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I'll start making the puppet. Donkey tail and all.
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Where are u located Justin? Crepe myrtle is a nice one
I believe we have some I'll have to double check but I'm in West central florida
If u can make over my way some time I'll give you a piece to try out its dense stuff working on a really reflexed piece right now.
Where are you located? I'm about an hour south of ocala and I believe 2 hours north of eddie.
Hickory seems to be phenomenal just for the sheer fact it seems unbreakable. That's all I ever hear about it, no one really says how fast or malible it is.
I'm in palm harbor in Pinellas County. Ocala is about a hour from me maybe 2
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Id like to see that experiment done. An osage and a hickory boy built to the best design for both woods respectively, then left in the desert for a few moths and then shot and compared.
You mean a boy like pinoccio? lol
Hahaha
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Id like to see that experiment done. An osage and a hickory boy built to the best design for both woods respectively, then left in the desert for a few moths and then shot and compared.
I've heard old legends and stories that suggest that just such a question/contest was the initial purpose and organizational idea that got MOJAM started many many years ago. If I recall correctly, Lloyd even showed me one of the old osage bows that participated in the testing. That little bow was nearly CHOCOLATE colored though it had never had any kind of stain or finish put on it. The color just came from years and years of patina.
There are likely guys on here that can speak to such legends better than I and could recount the tales from personal memory...
OneBow
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wouldn't such an experiment be a bit inconclusive. You chose a design to fit the wood, because they have different properties meaning that any single design will inevitably favor one type of wood over the other. And since they are different woods how similar do we think the dimensions could be (presumably osage is going to take quiet a bit less wood to reach the same draw weight as hickory) and how that might impact results. btw I'm not against this idea, but unless it shows a very clear difference it may not tell us much about anything except how those species preform in that one design
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Since live in the desert, You would have to send both staves to me, obviously. I could use a good piece of hickory
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In a dry climate the hickory would probably fare better than an osage bow. Hickory performs best at about 5%-6% M/C. Osage could easily blow at that low M/C. Osage prefers 9%-11%.
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I beg to differ, my friend ;). I don't think I've ever seen an Osage bow blow because it was cured too good. Usually poor tiller or flaw.
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Now Eddie, you know there is a difference between dry and cured. >:D
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Osage 1st , hickory 2nd , Black locust 3rd . Don't usually get past that anymore. Arvin
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Hey Osage don't need no special treatment like hickory so I'd say it's already ahead lol shoot it in any humidity it don't care.
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I don't have a ton of experience, 3 adult Osage bows and two hickory's. But I have a 10 year old hickory stave anyone can have for free. I'll wait till next spring when my Osage stave's have cured :)
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I have seen some guys around here make some hickory bows pretty much on par with osage I agree with Pat you just have to get it dry in my limited experience, but it's a good poor mans osage
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I don't know, haven't seen to many shootable 20 or more year old hickory bows ;) Osage I have 8)
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HHB,WALNUT ;)
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I don't know, haven't seen to many shootable 20 or more year old hickory bows ;) Osage I have 8)
Twenty years ago people were still listening to the old stories from the 1920's that no one could make a bow from hickory. Hickory has really only recently gotten any real attention as a bow wood.
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I don't know, haven't seen to many shootable 20 or more year old hickory bows ;) Osage I have 8)
Twenty years ago people were still listening to the old stories from the 1920's that no one could make a bow from hickory. Hickory has really only recently gotten any real attention as a bow wood.
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