old growth bows

[brian]

#7087

i’ve seen those shows on the discovery channel where these loggers are pulling old growth trees out of lakes and rivers, and i was wondering if there are any bowyers making bows out of this wood and where would a fella see one of them?

[Clay Hayes]

#58564

Where I come from these old sunken logs are called “dead heads”. There mostly(at least down south), cypress and longleaf pine – not really good bow wood, but beautyfully tight grained nonetheless.

Maybe there’s some deadhead Yew in the Pacific NW somewhere. I’d love to get my hands on a piece of that stuff.

ch

[Kegan]

#58719

I remember a while back someone on another site made a bow from an Osage log they found drifitng in the river after a big local flood. In the end they had to go down about three inches of wood to get a good ring, but it shot fine- nothing really superior to normal staves. Not sure if it’s the same thing though?

[Clay Hayes]

#59010

Deadhead’s were logged from the virgin stands back in the 1800’s. The growth rings tend to be tighter and, as for LL Pine and cypress, they tend to be more decay resistant.

Not the same as just any log in a river. There’s a whole industry in salvaging these giants. I’ve heard of a single log selling for nearly 5 grand.

ch

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