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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: JV Rooster on December 23, 2009, 12:03:00 PM
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I am going to order a longbow soon and I realy like the looks of walnut in the limbs. Now,should I order it with bamboo as a core wood or is walnut good by its self? Thanks for your help. John
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I had a recurve that had Black walnut limbs and was very smooth drawing and really looked good. Not sure about on a longbow.
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Maybe you can Pm Kennym or he may chime in. I know he did some testing on his Rd longbows and I believe one of them had walnut cores that performed well. I think that thread was in the bowyers bench.
Bob
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I have walnut limbs on my H2 and love them
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A few years ago I was selling bows for Vince Yak (Shadow Bows). He sent me a real pretty bow with walnut veneers. Long story short...I had the bow strung at the Muzzy shoot so people could try it. In the sun the limb simply delaminated. I called Vince about it and he told me that Walnut turned out to be very oily wood and he had a number of walnut limbs fail in the heat. He stopped using it in his limbs. I do not know if the wood can be "cured" in some way but I don't think I will ever own a bow with walnut in the limbs based on that experience and Vince's troubles with it.
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I would go with bamboo for a core, veneers of what ever pleases you.
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Bill, that's wierd. Never heard of walnut doing that before.
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I have a Kolomi long bow that was made by Lynn Harrelson. It is bamboo back and belly with walnut core. It is the smoothest long bow I have. It is not the fastest, though. I have seen walnut bows shed their sinew backing as fasr as it could be applied. The bowyer had to use lye to degrease it so the sinew would stick. Bill
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I've used walnut on several recurves never had any problems,it preforms quite well.
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I had a Marriah Thermal with walnut limbs, it was a good shooting bow. I never had any problems with the limbs.
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Thanks guys. I will go with the bamboo cores.
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Tom: I'm not a bowyer but here is a pic of the bow. It had a walnut core...not veneers...and you can see how it simply let go along the walnut glue line and according to Vince it was a common problem for him. He had to replace a number of bows and the one constant in the bows he had trouble with was what is in the picture....glue failure at with the walunt lams.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Arrowworks/brokenshadow.jpg)
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I'm a big fan of bamboo. Dirty or otherwise.
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According to Bill Howland, walnut is one of the best woods for a core wood, along with wenge, I have to agree, I have a Quest with custom verticle laminated wenge/walnut cores and it is smooth, quick and quiet.
Danny
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Seen several Elburg's with walnut on the belly,red elm on the back,looked pretty good.
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I had an Elburg that Harry made in 95 for me that was just like Randy described...
should have never gotten rid of that bow... it was the only bow I ever got to order and have built for me...
Jaguar Express, 60" 63# @ 27" and tillered for 3 under... I'd love to have it back...
Jonathan
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Thanks for all the info. I am going to order a longbow. Cocobolo and Bocote riser, Bocote over Bamboo or Bocote over Red Elm. Not sure yet.
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I had a longbow with Black Walnut limbs. It was very smooth and very quiet! I do however prefer Bamboo or even Action Boo limbs. Pound for pound they are hard to beat for smoothness and cast IMHO!
-Leonard-
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I had a longbow with black walnut limbs under clear glass. It worked great, sold it this year and as far as I know it is still flinging arrow.
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I'll use fancy walnut in thin veneers under the glass but not in the core. I preferr red elm,hickory, actionboo or maple. over the years I have seen and heard of too many glue line failures with walnut. I do not think its all walnut but theres that one piece of wool LOL. Just not worth it. The pic that was shown here is definately a glue line failure. but Was it bad glue or was it because of an oil in the wood. Who knows?
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The thread by Kennym in Bowyers bench is very good. If people can used Coco Bolo veneers they can't say Walnut is to oily. Their is a failure of the glue up in preparation. I have never had Walnut fail in A Bamboo backed glue up or Coco Bolo for that matter and have made several bows of each.
Merry Christmas
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Well, I'm not a bowyer but those I respect most tell me it's an excellent core wood. The glue is as much a common denominator as the walnut in those bow failures. It's akin to having a scotch and soda, a vodka and soda, and a gin and soda and concluding that it was the soda that made me drunk! :biglaugh:
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Not sure why walnut would fail ,,as said before,each board you cut lams from is different.
Bocote and cocobolo are very greasy,just try to get finish to stick to a riser made from them. I've made a bow with bocote lams,just wirebrushed and blew the lams off,it is still shooting in AK as far as I know.
The 3 bow failures I've had were
maple core(bad glue joint,loss of clamp pressure)
red elm(bad glue joint,glue starvation,epon-versamid,Binghams said red elm soaks that glue in and can starve)
red elm (super long draw,shorter bow??)
Sixby noted walnut burns easily,but purpleheart seems worse to me,and I go from 50 grit on most woods to 36 on bocote and coco to prevent belt clogging.
The test bow I'm workin on now may shed some lite tho with p-lams and tip wedges,it may work the mid limb harder...???
All just my observations,yer mileage may vary!
Merry Christmas guys!!
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Bamboo as a limb core is a better choice--you can still have the veneers for the walnut look.
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Good info guys, but I am getting scared, I was thinking of going with the black walnut on my next bow, but after reading some of these threads makes me wonder.
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It depends on the design of the bow. Some bowyers swear by walnut as one of the best and others swear at it.
I tried it once and had the walnut come apart right down the middle of the lam.
Mike
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Thanks everyone for there input. going with a bamboo core. Now I just got to figure witch bowyer to use. I havent bought a custom bow in about 11 or 12 years.