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Bow Woods (Read 9461 times)
english
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Bow Woods
Oct 8th, 2004 at 1:37pm
 
I know quite a lot about bow woods from lots of books.  But there has really only been one bow wood properly accessible to me - ash.  In southern England, there are yew trees, maples, and loads of others.  But the yew is gnarly and knotted and pinned and maple is not a fantastic wood (I know, I have made quite a few bows out of it, of different styles - perhaps only sugar maple is good).  Elm only lives in parks now, because of Dutch elm disease, and oak is naturally out of the question because only English oak is common - and it is generally gnarlier, and thicker, than yew, and quite poor, apparently, as a bow wood.  So ash is the only bow wood I can realistically use.  So I am restricted in the styles I can use.  I made a slightly flattened section (only slightly, and it is also marginally wider) English longbow, which bends in the handle, &c.  It shoots well, is reasonably authentic and is one of my best tillering jobs.  I also have a lot of flatbows, of various designs, which are ideal for ash.  But I want to branch out.  Ash is a nice wood, but....
  And I am also curious - what bow woods live near you?
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #1 - Oct 8th, 2004 at 6:19pm
 
Hickory, cedar, osage orange, and some trees with alot of torns that seams to me that it would make a good bow but sorry i don't know the name. I am in northern arkansas if that helps. If any one can help me name this tree it would be appreated. It is a nomal tree with very long torns on it.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #2 - Oct 8th, 2004 at 6:31pm
 
Only wood around here that might be good is elm: and there is a LOT of it.  we have three or four trees my dad wants to cut down, so if there's any way to get some good bow staves out of 10-20 inch diameter elms.... let me know.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #3 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 1:21pm
 
I wish, I really wish, hickory, osage and cedar grew in England.  I mean, they can grow, in theory, but they aren't grown properly and aren't native.
  Elm is a great bow wood, apparently - according to Robert Hardy, the best in north Europe.  Yew is not great in England, even if you can get it - temperate climate means that it grows quickly and the rings are spread out too much.  I have an elm longbow that I bought but rarely use - it has long started to follow the string too much.
  Elm trees 10-20 inches wide?!!  I'd kill for that.  You could get about six staves from a tree like that, so long as it is straight grain.  The problem would be splitting it.
  I was thinking about bow woods, and I think that the bristlecone pine, native to California/Nevada, would make a brilliant bow.  It is so old and grows so slowly that the rings would be very close together.  That's what I figure anyway.  Problem is.... how could anyone cut down a 4,000 year old tree without conscience kicking in?
  Also, I was reading the Traditional Bowyers Bible "Other Bow Woods" section, and it says that any nut trees, and fruit trees, would make good bows.  I used to use hazel to make bows (like most kids do), but I never thought it would make a good bow.  It grows in nice diameter, is very easy to split, and is quite a sturdy wood.  I think I am going to try to make a bow from it, a proper one.  My only problem is the colour - just as drab, superficially, as ash - a boring white.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #4 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 2:15pm
 
well lots of locust here. I have made a few bows out of it but im usaly not strong enough to pull it.

how do you mesure the pull on a bow? always wanted to know.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #5 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 2:26pm
 
Well, you take the tillering stick, if you have one, (do a search if you don't know what that is), place the bow on it, with a pad, or a flat board of wood underneath (so it doesn't slip) and then put the bow, braced, in the notch on the stick, put the stick on a measuring scales and then pull on the string to full draw (to me, 28" is maximum draw that I use) and then look at the weight on the scales.
If you can't draw a bow that you have made, then try to reduce draw weight.  This can be done a number of ways - first off, by re-tillering the bow entirely to new specs.  If it is a flatbow, or just has a flat belly, then what you can do is bevel the edge on the belly - this reduces drawweight without changing tiller.
 Oh, sorry Gun, I don't know the tree you are talking about.  It could be mulberry, maybe...?  But it's unlikely.

  Also, i just did a search on "hazel bow" on google, and came up with the following:
http://www.studionet.it/cenni/nocciolo.htm
"Wood/Legno: Largely used in the Middle Age Italy for durable self bow.It is a better choice to make bows with long and flat limbs to prevent string follow. Omogeneous and light wood, the colour is white or slightly brown."  That is just what I wanted to hear.  I have a compulsion to make a hazel bow now.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #6 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 2:33pm
 
thanks english.

My uncle can draw my long bow. Made it out of locust. I thought that it would not work so i wanted to see how heavy a weight would bend the thing.

I put the bow on 2 logs and I jumped on it. It bent and did not break so its a nice bow. just a little hard to pull.

so i strung it by placeing my foot in the middle and pushing down, and i let my uncle draw it. it fired nicely but he had one hell of a time pulling the thing back.
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #7 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 2:42pm
 
NEVER EVER use that method of stringing again.  It can develop into a bad habit.  It can break a bow badly.  Locust won't, because it is apparently tough, but try it with something like ash or yew and you have a broken bow.  The correct method is difficult to describe, but is in many archery books.
  Anyway, if you made a bow that strong, you must be a natural bowyer.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #8 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 6:16pm
 
Bristlecone pines as bows?  I wouldn't try it.  They're fairly rare, and when you do find them they're like, 6-8 ft. high and so twisted and knotted and bald that they look like... I don't know.  A really deformed ent?
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #9 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 6:17pm
 
Douglas the black- one good way to measure poundage is to get a heavy duty fish scale, put the string on the hook, and pull down until it's at full draw.  I have a friend that does a lot of work on modern bows, and that's what he does.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #10 - Oct 9th, 2004 at 8:49pm
 
English, you said that wood that grows slow would makes a good bow right? Well i am in to scandivian knives and they uses curly birch from sweden and norway. They used it because the grain is tight because of the short growing season in scandiva. I am not say to use curly birch or that it would make good bow wood but maybe you could get some swedish wood. I remember on a viking ship building show that they used 10 or 20 feet long that they could jumb on and it would bend and not break. It is worth a try, if birch will grow slow there so will everthing else too.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #11 - Oct 10th, 2004 at 4:04am
 
Yeah, I was kinda joking about Bristlecones... But most gnarly trees make good bows, actually - yew and osage being considered the best bow woods....
 Birch typically grows quite fast, and is almost considered a weed here in England - it seems to take over land quickly and dies relatively quickly.  We have two species, silver and downy, that grow well here, and the odd imported paper birch that has grown well.  Silver birch is quite long, thin and twisted, as is downy.  I think that if you could find a straight tree, it would make a good bow - apparently it was used as a substitute in the middle ages for longbow making.  I am still waiting for that tree.  And I am not going to buy any wood - I just have a thing against it.
 I will be going out this afternoon:  I am going to try and get about four bowstaves: two ash (at least), and maybe two hazel.  I have found the ash tree I want to cut (didn't have time to cut it last time) but I will also be looking for a large piece of hazel.  I want to end up with four good bows: one long flatbow and one longbow of D section, (both ash) and one short Plains style bow and a short California flatbow, both of hazel.  Hazel apparently has quite low density, so not good for something like a longbow.  It's very elastic, though.
  Hazel is quite forgotten by everyone.  Apparently it was mentioned by Ascham, in Toxophilus, 16th century, as being a great bow wood, along with elm, ash, yew, and laburnum.  A bow of hazel was called an Alborium.  I's quite strange that no one mentions it as a bow wood.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #12 - Oct 10th, 2004 at 8:05am
 
well i have only made 3 bows so far. 1 i cant bend, made of locust 1 is bending down to the string real bad and in a little while will ether snap or bend into a o, and the 3rd bow was working great but it devoloped cracks and things and blew apart when i was trying to use it. It did too it like blew up it was ah inspiring.  Smiley
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #13 - Oct 10th, 2004 at 1:32pm
 
That is what happens when you leave rings exposed on the back of the bow or cut through the sapwood.  Or simply overdraw the bow.
  Today I only ended up with one stave - it is a nice piece of straight ash, about shoulder height.  I hope to make a flatbow of some description.  I didn't have enough time (or energy left, to be honest) to find, cut, split and perhaps roughly cut bows to shape.  Nice stave I got, though.
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Re: Bow Woods
Reply #14 - Oct 10th, 2004 at 9:45pm
 
if you can, ahem, BORROW your dad's camera again, I'd love some pics of the bowmaking process.  Pictures help me to understand how to do something.
Incidentally, my last name is Bow.  I wonder...
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