Mystery Wood 2

[Coo-wah-chobee]

            Nope Justin (chucklehead 2)-------------------sooo sooorrry ! ......bob

[mullet]

  Don't worry about me.I don't like using Florida wood except cedar.I like yeller'wood.

[welch2]

Bob ,can the rest of us submit a stave once in awhile?
I for one would love to turn the tables and stump you.

Ralph

[Coo-wah-chobee]

               If y'all want, we can set up some basic guidelines that seem fair to everyone. Lets say, to start :Anybody can submit a stave for the month. 2) No broad categories, need to name wood. 3) People in same state cannot put in a guess. 4) First person to name wood correctly wins. 5) Owner of wood has to send winner wood. 6) Winner must make bendy handle huntin' d-bow and submit on board and show everyone else. 7) Honor system is in effect. No backed bows, only rawhide, sinew, linen, etc. Can anyone think of anything else, and is this agreeable to everyone ? If not, lets discuss it. I think we all could learn a lot from this, especially if wood is not in our geographic area and we can work some different woods. Do we want only bow wood or as mentioned before by Pat can any primitive wood be used; Arrow shoots, etc. Should we include makin spears and atlatals from natural material. Ralph, Iam sure I can be stumped  ! What does everybody think, comon lets make this a fun endeavor ! ...........bob

[1/2primitive]

I for one think that the rule that no one in the same state rule is pointless. At least in my case. It doesn't matter where the tree grows, I don't know what it is. 
     Sean

[1/2primitive]

Ha, your last one could have grown on the slopes of the Himalayas for all I knew.
       Sean

[Coo-wah-chobee]

               Ok Sean, so maybe we should discuss this and get a general consensus ?....bob

[Justin Snyder]

Sounds like a good time to me Non.  Besides bow wood, it might be fun to do shoots, or shafts.  You could post a picture of the shoots, or trunk of the tree type that matches the shafts. Justin

[Coo-wah-chobee]

           More opinions please ?.Sounds good to me "chucklehead 2 "  .........bob

[Pat B]

This could be fun and educational.     One suggestion...to help make this educational, the person who is submitting the wood should know what they are submitting. They should know the botanical name and some characteristics. A common name(as long as the common name is common enough!) can be used by those guessing the wood. We have a few folks around here that use botanical names and I'd like to see more folks following suite.  That is the only way to truly know what you are dealing with(anywhere around the world). A simple field guide to trees(or a Google search) will give all of that info. We, as wood bowyers should know what we are dealing with in our bow wood. This is a good chance for all to learn trees(and shrubs and other plants) and get some good bow wood, or at least good experimentation wood to work with. 
   Plant ID is something I enjoy. A friend and myself used to have a simple competition while walking through the woods. Point out a tree and ID it. You can tell what it is by it's leaves, bark, canopy shape(if out in the open), limb structure and other characteristics. It didn't take long for both of us to get pretty good at tree ID. So!, we made the rule we couldn't look higher than 4' above the ground. That makes it a bit more difficult...but that is the first place I look now when I try to ID a tree.
  Please don't be intimidated by the botanical names. The specie name usually will give you a characteristic(s) of the plant.    Pat

[Coo-wah-chobee]

                     I think Pat has a good suggestion. Submittee of wood should know what it is and its botannical name, characteristics, etc. Not good enuf for him or her to say its "hickory".LOL That leaves to many types of hickory possible and what is called one thing here may not be called that there. There are many regional names of wood that dont correspond to name in another region. Botannical names are not hard to learn, as Pat said, hey if I can do it anyboy can, and it leaves no doubt about what you are describing. Any other suggestions ? When we are all done I will start another thread for this.............................bob

[koan]

I think we would have to leave the bark on for the picture. This could be alot of fun and edju..edu..edguc..., it could make us smarter! ....Brian

[1/2primitive]

lol, Lord knows some of us could use it!
      Sean

[Hillbilly]

Sounds good to me. Do we get leaves to look at or just a chunk of wood?

[Coo-wah-chobee]

                                  I dont think leaves are a good idea. One of the benefits of this will be to be able to get better at identifying trees, etc in their winter dress (no foliage). What do you think and others ? .............bob