Purple Heart Bow

[Woodcrv01]

#5206

I’m new to bow building and was thinking of making a Laminated longbow using purple heart as the core wood backed with hickory. Has anyone tried purple heart as a core wood.

[snitkerb]

#40172

I tried something similar to what you are asking. I made a laminated bow with alternating woods of purple heart and yellow heart and then backed with sinew, it even came close to out shooting my osage bow at the same weight. I tillered it to 65# at 28” and it held up very nicely. A few months later I decided I wanted to up the poundage and added two more layers of sinew and turned out when the sinew shrunk it pulled apart some of the glue, some pretty dang strong stuff. I was pleased with the outcome with using purple heart and plan on using it as core wood with a boo bow sometime in the near future, it also adds some really nice color. Hope this helps.

[Woodcrv01]

#41267

Thanks, the purple and yellow sound like an interesting combination. Let me know how the Purple Heart and Boo turn out.

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