Author Topic: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?  (Read 5234 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Tim B

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« 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?

Offline bubby

  • Member
  • Posts: 11,054
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2010, 03:03:50 am »
 nothing wrong with cherry, makes good bows but tiller has to be spot on
failure is an option, everyone fails, it's how you handle it that matters.
The few the proud the 27🏹

Offline Keenan

  • Member
  • Posts: 4,824
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #2 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.

Offline Tim B

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #3 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?

Offline Badger

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,118
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #4 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

Offline Tim B

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #5 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.

Offline Tim B

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #6 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/

Offline Badger

  • Member
  • Posts: 8,118
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #7 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

Offline Tim B

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
Re: Brazilian cherry wood bow self bows?
« Reply #8 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.