Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Gregoryv on January 17, 2020, 06:42:01 pm
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I have a chance to harvest some of these trees. Should I? Do they make decent bows?
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Bassman has had good luck with this wood.
Back in the day it seems to have been pretty highly regarded.
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I made a few black walnut bows early on and used the sapwood right under the bark for the back. If you wait a few months before you harvest the bark will peel off easily exposing a pristine back. The only black walnut heartwood I used was an ELB style bow with a boo backing. It fretted badly and both limbs folded over at the same time. That wouldn't necessarily stop me from trying again.
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Since Pat M. has mentioned me as having good luck with Black Walnut as a bow wood I feel the need to clarify some things. It is a 2nd string wood that can make a good bow with proper heat treating, and design. Inferior to woods such as Osage,Elm, Black Locust, Yew, etc,etc. Low mass ,and soft, thick outer growth ring, and just Ok in tension, and lacks in compression. Akin to Birch. Easy wood to carve on, and smells good. Draws smooth when finished, and shoots with average speed. Less sensitive to humidity than Hickory once complete. Most of my bows from Walnut were made from clean thick saplings.I have made my share of Walnut bows, and can honestly say I have never had a back break with Walnut even with some violation. This has been my honest experience with Walnut for bow wood.If you have access to it ,harvest it ,and give it a try. A good wood to learn on.
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I've made quite a few and have had generally good results. I've made all sapwood, all Heartwood and combinations there of. Where I live, the trees that grow on higher ground where the roots aren't in the water(Creek and river bottoms) the tree grows slower and the wood is more dense. This is also the wood with the most color in it. If you live farther east where it rains more, it might be a different story.
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I have made a couple out of black walnut and had generally good luck. I made on in particular that was a great shooter that was all sapwood with some heartwood in the handle. I also broke one in the tillering process. It wasn't the wood's fault though. I tried to get it on a short string too soon. I was impatient.
The nice thing about black walnut is that it grows nice an straight so you can get some nice straight staves.
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I just harvested a black walnut log to try for bow staves. I'm going to use a lot of the remainder of the knotty/branchy trunk to make carved bedposts for a "dragon" bed frame I am slowly working on. The wood's Mostly sapwood, which for bows is great.
It'll need to season for a looooong while, but that's ok with me. I'll let ya'll know how it goes whenever I get to it!
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Walnut can make a good bow with a good heat treat. My go to bow the last three seasons has been a black walnut heartwood ELB style pulling about 68# at 27” draw and throws a 625gr arrow in the high 160s though I typically draw about 26” for about a 155fps average. It’s been stable in set, draw weight, and speed since it was built with lots of shots through it each year. It’s not a speed demon at all, but is smooth shooting, stable, and quiet.
I’ve made a few other walnut bows and they are all typically smooth shooters that are low in mass with little vibration. Though the best attributes of black walnut: easy to carve, smells great, and looks great with any finish you decide on.
The bow used is the walnut bow. Only took about 3 seasons to finally get a kill with it. No good picture of the bow though.
Kyle
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Nice . Good shot placement.Nice job on the bow. Maybe more people will try Walnut for a bow wood now that it is being exposed more. I have cut ,and harvested some what I think is paper Birch, and have made some bows with it in the last 4 months. They also turned out better than what I expected. Feels like your working with Balsa wood, but with proper design ,and heat treat can make a good bow.My best to date is a 45lbs at almost 26 inches of draw that will shoot a 425 gr arrow at 159 fps. average. I have to work hard to keep these 2 woods from taking to much set in the process of building. By doing multiple heat treating while tillering I can pull it off. With out heat treating I doubt I could make a very good bow with either wood because of excessive set.That being said their are many on this sight that probably could.