"Second String" woods?

[DanaM]

I don't think anyone questions the contributions made by all these folks. But I do think some of thier obsession with Osage in particular
does scare away budding bowyers. Especially those that live in areas that it doesn't grow. I personally like Paul Comstocks attitude that white wood
does make a good bow. The high price for a stave of osage is beyond most peoples reach other than an occasioal purchase, buying osage just isn't practical
unless you have lots of money(not me) or are selling the bows and can pass on the cost(again not me). Trading is an option to aquire osage but once again
most new folks don't have any trade goods except perhaps white wood staves, how many folks that you know will trade even up white wood for osage??
Thier are a few but most won't do it even when they are sitting on a truck load of osage. As to the silver maple question, his other choice was pecan
and of the two woods he is most likely to achieve success with the pecan, Silver maple is so weak I felt that would kead to failure and discouragement.
Perhaps a more experienced bowyer could get a functional bow from silver maple but I think its asking a bit much from a new guy.

One other thing it seems that a few feathers were ruffled by this whole thread and that shouldn't be the case were all adults here and its just people expressing their own opinion, whether its a member or a moderator, I think that is the purpose of this forum to freely exchange ideas and share our successes and failures. There is no need for anyone to get upset over the question of First string or second string woods, kinda silly isn't it???

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 .................Hahahaha ! DCM--------- what he said ! hahahaha ! Ya hit nail square on head David ! How refreshing !  .....bob

[sailordad]

      and here I thought that second string wood meant that you broke a bow string and needed to put on a second string because the first wasnt strong enough for the wood. LOL 

                                           Tim

[PepeLep]

One man's second stringer is another man's Hall of Famer.

Excellent point.

[Badger]

Dana, good post. I love osage but it is less than about 10% of the bows I make. Maple, and elm are both two of my favorites. I have always said if I could only have one bow wood it would be elm. Steve

[sailordad]

so which kind of elm would work best for a bow ,chinese elm,dutch elm etc.
just curious i have acces to some elm near where i live



                                                  Tim

[DCM]

J. D. I was thinking about some of your exchanges with Justin when I wrote that this morning.  When you read the thread straight through, at least when I did, what becomes most obvious is the passion that underlies the messages.  This relates back to the nature of mankind.  I apologize for singling you out, even without naming you.  We all have some passion for this craft, and our own investments in it, and I know too well how hot that passion sometimes burns, and how quickly it can wane.  I didn't mean to be critical of you, don't consider the observation to be critical even.  Passion, generally, is a good thing.  Rather that it exemplifies my point.  Humans are a passionate lot, and this topic seems to stir deep.

Fact is, IMHO, it's a trick question (what's the better bow wood).  The only answer is "it depends."  And appeal to authority, or antiquity, doesn't expand our understanding any more than ignoring the lessons from antiquity or from authorities. 

I usually use osage, because I'm butt deep in it, and usually the knarly, misshapen crap.  But I sure as hell wouldn't spend $200 on a stave, even $20, if I had other timber readily at hand.  I swear I think theres as much variation across specimens as there is across species in many cases.

[Justin Snyder]

I think what we have here is an inappropriate set of terms.  I think George was headed down the right road, so Ill use another football analogy. Rather than first or second string, maybe we should refer to them as different positions on the team.  When was the last time a quarterback won the Super Bowl without any teammates?  All of the positions are different, not everyone can be or wants to be the quarterback.  But without a good offensive line and a couple of running backs or receivers, even the best QB is going nowhere.  Woods fill different positions.  Climate price and bow style determine the best wood. Some of us are on a team with a salary cap right Dana. And even Tom Brady needs his punters help once in a while.  

DCM, You bring up another interesting question.  I wonder how much bad osage is out there. I know Pappy spends a lot of time deciding which osage to cut. Watching grain and bends and whatever else he thinks defines a good tree.  If we went through indiscriminately cutting osage like hickory or some white woods, we might never get a bow. Justin

[adb]

Hey, Everyone
Whoa, just read the whole thread... Wow some of you guys sure got worked up.
J.D., your last post was right on. Amen. Nuf said.

For all you guys who complain about getting wood... I have to order (and buy) ALL my wood. Up here in North -Western Canada, there is pretty much NO native bow wood. Lots of evergreens (no yew), and soft wood, like poplar. No osgae, no ash, no hickory. So, stop your bitchin'.

 Good osage and yew are the best woods for making bows. White woods are a close second. Let's move on.

[Badger]

Justin, there is a lot of bad osage out there, there aint no bow wood worse than bad osage! Steve

[sailordad]

    o.k so I'm like pretty new to all of this,but in my humble opinion i think any wood you can make a working bow out of is a good bow wood and anything that you cant make a working bow out of would be considered second string(a.k.a. fire wood) wood.being new to this,andnot having access to the so called best bow woods like yew,and Osage that it why and how i developed my opinion,and like i said this is my humble opinion. thank you.

                                                                           Tim

[George Tsoukalas]

JD, I will take the mantle of village idiot from you.  There. That must be a tremendous relief for you.
Actually, I had that hat on my head all along.
Keep in mind the TBB's were written many years ago. 
Mullet, you are absolutely correct. I am amazed at why a person's wood choice engenders so much feeling.
Ryan, not sure. Probably 6-8 osage  bows and  a couple of yews. They are both excellent woods. I don't know how many times I've said that. I have a good dozen total yew and osage staves waiting for the dknife. I may make myself one osage bow a year usually. Several whitewood bows. I go in phases. I seem to  be in a hickory phase now. I don't like ash though.
If I  like whitewood bows why is that a concern? For the record, I've seen some pretty clunky osage bows made by some pretty excellent osage  bowyers.
I may draft osage for my next project. Depends on what I want to do
If I were starting a team I'd take Brady.

[duffontap]

JD, I will take the mantle of village idiot from you.

I'm naked without that mantle Jawge.  Give it back.   

DCM, I'm an existentialist.  Passion is what we do.   

        J. D.

[mamba]

 Well I didn't take the time to read all this but I thought I'd add my two cents.
I've come to conclusion I have never had a good piece of sage or ash (did I just say that).All this time that I've seen those great lookin yellow wood bows I always thought that some of you were pretty good,but now I know - it was just the wood   

[mullet]

  Thanks Jawge, Makes me feel good, coming from you. I think my first post kinda insinuated this thread was going to start beating a bunch of dead horses.