Wood statistics. What matters?

[BoisBrule]

Sitting down an looking at statistics of different trees/lumbers, there's a lot going on.

janka hardness, modulus of rupture, crushing strength, etc...

which of all of these is "most important"? I.E. if you sat down to a list of all woods available to you, that you could walk outside and cut yourself... which of these numbers matters most? Or, is the easy answer "all of them/ pick the one that has the highest in all categories"?

I'm obsessive about learning as much as I can, to my own detriment sometimes, as I overclog the brain with info that doesn't matter, but the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know, and I want to know as much as I can.

[DC]

I've tried to use the "numbers" and it seems that they are not testing for use as bows. If you look around on here you'll find lots of people that have tried to use them and their results just don't seem to be consistent. The best way is to ask or try to make a bow.

[BoisBrule]

Yeah, I kinda figured as much. Just wanted to ask.

I've been devouring research papers that I find online lately. The most interesting so far have been those on compression woods, and another I found that shows that wood strength is increased in areas that have been burned, and allowed to start fresh. Basically, that a forest of "one layer" will far better quality wood than a "multi layer" growth forest.

So now, since it's "wandering in the bush" season, I'm keeping my eyes open for those nice, slightly leaning, hillside trees in forest fire recovery areas.  

I want to get some stuff drying so I can make comparisons come next summer.

[DC]

You have to watch what they mean by "quality". Again, the numbers don't relate to bow making. The compression wood thing is interesting though. I have a big Sitka Spruce in the back that has 3-5" dia, long swooping branches. I'm thinking it needs pruning

[BoisBrule]

The research paper I read, re: single layer growth forests, mentioned crushing and bending strength/resistance specifically.

It planted a large enough seed that I want to cut a couple from my backyard (multi layer forest) and a couple from nearby "burned a decade ago" areas. Just to see. My choices in bow woods are so limited that I figure it's worth checking out.

[willie]

MOE or stiffness is a useful quality to keep in mind. It is loosely associated with density, but both can vary.

Most important is elasticity, which sadly, is not well reported in the test data. An elastic wood like yew can build a superior bow to most woods in spite of its lighter density and stiffness.