tiger wood

[bubby]

anyone use tigerwood for a bow? I was at the hardwood store and they showed it to me, nice looking stuff, I think in the teak family

[bubby]

O.K. its goncolo alves,tropical, about an .80 on tim bakers bow wood list. probably build similar to ipe, just a guess

[greyhawk39]

I have made 4 riser's out of this wood very hard. I was told it is the second hardest next to brazilian walnut and teak is third.Belt sander is your best bet to get the scratches out.One riser took me 25 hrs by hand sanding alone.With the one inch belt it took and hour.Then sanding was a breeze...hope this is helpful to you...

[bjhaug]

Tigerwood is hard, but not quite as hard as ipe.  It's somewhere on the order that's similar to Santos Mahogany.  Janka hardness rating is just under 2200.  To put it into perspective - ipe is almost 3700.

[bubby]

how does it do as far as set, can I build a narrow straight profile bow, and should i back it?

[bjhaug]

That one I couldn't answer.  I made only one bow with tigerwood limbs.  It was the first bow I ever made.  It came out insanely heavy so I strung it with the help of clamps and havent taken the string off it... that was in december and it's still really heavy to this day.  

Only thing I can say is that try it both ways and see what happens.

[bubby]

thank's, I'll pick some up and try it out, should be real pretty bow