Other woods

[MontanaFord]

#3870

Does anybody use anything other than hickory or osage for their self bows? I live in western Montana, and am wondering what kinds of wood that I have locally would work for a self bow? Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Michael.

[David Petersen]

#24603

Michael — you shouldn’t be too far from an easy supply of Pacific yew.

[MontanaFord]

#25041

Dave, all the yew that I’ve seen up here is in the form of the brushy stuff…doesn’t get more than about 2″ diameter, and tends to be pretty well bent. I’ve never seen any of it in the form of a tree. And I’m too cheap (frugal) to go buy wood for this kind of stuff. LOL. What IS Pacific Yew, anyway? Am I right that it’s a brushy tree, kind of like brush maple or mountain ash?

Michael.

[Holten101]

#27706

I cant help you with local stuff since I live in Denmark;-).

But Bowyers Bible vol 4 and a pictured tree identification handbook opened up a new and wonderfull world of bow wood gallore for me:-)

A tip: Almost any fruit, nut or berry bearing tree will yield decent bow wood. Wood with a hight SG will too. Yew and Juniper (both berry bearing trees) might be native to your area.

Good hunting;-)

Cheers

[MontanaFord]

#28263

Holten,

Thanks for the information. We do have both yew and juniper here. The problem with most junipers is that they have limb-split after limb-split, going up the trunk, and it seems like there’s never any decent “trunk” to get a blank out of to start with. I do have a piece of juniper that was a small diameter tree (probably 2-2 1/2″ at the butt) that’s about 6 1/2 or 7 feet long, perhaps a bit more, that I kept from a job site we were working on. Most of the yew that grows around here is just a big bush, basically, about the same diameter as the piece of juniper I have, but yew tends to have more curve to it, so I don’t know how well that would work. I may have to look into finding a copy of the Bowyers Bible, and go from there. Thanks for the information, though, as it will get me thinking a bit…lol….of course, that could be dangerous, too.

Michael.

[Holten101]

#28484

I have done the following:

When ever I stumble upon information about potential bow wood (on the internet or in books) I find the tree species in my handbook. If the species is relevant to my area, either native, introduced or grown in gardens I give it a bow wood grade (1-4 stars). Yew, Laburnum and elm has 4 stars, ash, plum, cherry, rowan, hazle, black locust 2-3 stars, willow and fir 0 stars…you get the point;-). The grade is highly subjective and based on my own preferences and experiences as well as other bowyers experiences.

I also add notes about how likely the species is to check while drying (VERY important), if its good for back/belly only or both and if it is poisonous or not!

I keep the book and a folding blade pull saw in my car:-)

Cheers

[The Gopher]

#28750

i’ve made bows from plum, red oak, white oak, osage, hickory, ironwood (hop hornbeam), ash, elm, maple.

there are soooooo many woods that canbe used for selfbows, the most important thing to rememeber is that each wood will dictate a different design. you can’t make a red oak bow to the same dimension as an osage bow or you will be dissappointed, (i think that is why woods like red oak have gotten a bad wrap). but if you make a longer or wider bow, you will end up with a very high performing selfbow of a “lesser” wood. As far as i am concerned there is no such thing as a “lesser” bow wood only poor design choices for the wood at hand.

[Clay Hayes]

#30456

Yew can, and does, get rather large. The problem is it grows so slowly and most of the bigger stuff has been logged off or just cut and pushed aside to reach the more marketable timber. 👿

I’ve recently moved up to north Idaho and we’re supposed to have some yew around, though I haven’t had time to look around much yet. When I do, I’ll let you know what I find.

For the time being, you could use some locust if you can find it, or cherry, or just about any fruit tree that has a semi straight section.

ch

ps, don’t hold it against me if I don’t respond. I don’t have internet access at home yet.

[rayborbon]

#43254

Out here the Forest Service will expect you to obtain a permit to harvest yew. That stuff just doesn’t grow on trees ya know. LOL

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