Lemonwood or Osage? pics

[dposalski]

Picked up this old Pearson selfbow last night and am trying to figure out more about it.  Age?  Is it lemonwood or osage?  The grip is worn out and the tips are "dirty".  Would it be best left as is or should I refinish it and make a new grip?  I don't see any cracks in it.

 
 
 

[D.Sheppard]

Or Hickory ?

[dposalski]

Maybe.  I don't anything about this bow or the history of Ben Pearson stuff. The bow looks yellower than the hickory I have used.  Maybe the finish has turned yellow.

[don s]

this is my indian archery flatbow. i'm told that this is lemonwood. compare the two. your close up pic shows the grain the best. to me it looks like hickory.
                                   don

[dposalski]

I am thinking about refinishing this bow.  How was the long term durability of hickory versus lemonwood?  Is it possible to make it a shooter again?

[don s]

scroll down to my post "indian archery flatbow repaired and refinished. i had the same questions as you did. some people said leave it as a wall hanger and others said fix it. it's not a bear grumley. so, i decided to fix it and try to shoot it. mine came out nice. i haven't tried to shoot it yet. too much snow in my yard right now. look at my before and after pics.
                                         don

[Liquid Amber]

An 1880-1900 Highfield lemonwood ELB on the left.

A Ben Pearson flatbow of hickory on the right.

Pearson reserved osage for high end bows.  Your Pearson bow appears to be hickory.  Note the back on the hickory Pearson in my photo.  Note how the growth rings have been "violated" or cut through?  Very typical of Pearson's hickory flatbows.  The grain in hickory is much coarser than lemonwood.  Osage would be much darker in color after all these years.

Once you put osage, hickory and lemonwood next to each other, you will quickly learn they are quite different in appearance and easy to tell apart.

 

[dposalski]

OK so the grain is violated pretty well, so it is hickory.  Thank you all for that.  I know hickory likes to be dry and this bow has quite a bit of string follow. How is that measured? If I refinish it and maybe shorten it a couple inches, maybe we can resurrect this thing.  thoughts? Moisture in it?

[Liquid Amber]

"OK so the grain is violated pretty well, so it is hickory."

It's hickory because it has characteristics of hickory.

When you encounter one of these old flatbows, it's a pretty good bet its made of hickory or lemonwood.  The reason is this.  These two woods lent themselves to mass manufacture.  You could saw out a 2"X2" billet with the grain and mill the bow out with minor attention to the back.

For those who have little working knowledge with wood, the first thing you can do to narrow the playing field is survey the back of the bow.  If its obvious that little attention was paid to following a growth ring on the back, then it pretty much narrows the wood to two species.

From there forward its simply learning to distinguish between hickory and lemonwood.  That's pretty easy once you get the opportunity to actual handle and study these woods.

This is the reason I asked if the back has violated growth rings.  It eliminates a lot of time and guessing as to the species.

Sometimes those of us who have worked with woods and are fairly proficient in their identity, become impatient over what we view as a routine ID.  We ask that you ignore this human fault.  

[dposalski]

Liquid Amber.  My response was not a jump to conclusions response based simply on the fact that the rings were violated.  It was simply a conclusion reached that answered the original question, so that perhaps we could then move on to the other questions raised in the discussion or close this topic.  I also had a piece of hickory in my garage that I was able to compare it to. I had never considered hickory in my initial question or post. I appreciate the education I received by posting this question.  I learned the following

These bows were mass produced for many years.
That lemonwood has a less coarse grain structure.
That the bows were made with little concern for the grain on the back of the bows.
That osage turns really dark over time and it was reserved for higher end bows.

Thank you again.  I like to learn, it keeps the mind working and will help with future buying of bows at swap meets, yard sales, etc.

[D.Sheppard]

I have a few old all wood bows by Pearson, Indian Archery. None of them are osage but here is an example of hickory (L) and a lemonwood (R)

 

[Andy White]

Hickory!