Wood flooring/ tree ID/good wood

[Broke another one]

Hello,
This post has many questions so lets get started.

First, I found some nice Brazilian cherry wood flooring for cheap and would like to make a bow out of some. Are there any steps I need to take before I make a bow out of it (I ask because I saw wood on there that looks like particle board the cherry is only on the top about than a 1/8 inch I would say)

Second,
I have tried to ID two trees that are in my yard and would like to make self bows out of.
I think this one is either Maple or Gum but i can't tell.
     
 
 
 

Now this one I thought was a dogwood but it doesn't have any flowers on it nor has it ever.
 
 
 

Now this last, I live in the town of Okeechobee, FL and have only noticed oaks. Someone told me Osage grows here but I haven't seen any. If anyone knows of good bow woods that are in the southern part of florida please let me know.

[Pat B]

The first is definitely a sweet gum tree(liquidamber styraciflua). I have heard of folks making bows from sweet gum but splitting it can be a real bear.  The second looks like a type of bush honeysuckle(Lonicera) but I'm not sure because of your southern location. Usually they are in more temperate climates. The honeysuckle will probably make good arrows and if you can find a stem that is big enough(2" in diameter MOL)it should make a bow too. You will just have to experiment a bit.

[Robertfishes]

look for some mulberry or hickory trees, check with any local saw mills or tree cutters. I made a board bow from a Home Depot red oak 1x2 back in 1994, backed it with deer rawhide. There should be a few good osage staves at the TBOF shoot in March,there will be a guy there teaching bow making and I would guess he will have a few staves for sale

[Robertfishes]

Mike Mcguire has some osage staves for sale for a very good price, look in the trad materials thread. You cant go wrong with osage.

[Broke another one]

Sweet thanks for all the advice, does anyone know about the cherry flooring? I would like to get it before it goes off sale.

[Robertfishes]

If the flooring has particle board in it it won't work. Jatoba (brazilian cherry) is often used as flooring and I have seen jatoba and American cherry used in laminated glass bows as veneers. Looks like Mike pulled his thread on this site but still has osage bow blanks for a great price on bowsite ***********.

[BigJim]

If you are going to make a glass lam bow, you can use the flooring and grind away everything but the hardwood. Grind it real thin and use it as a veneer and you will be ok. Make shure there's nothing left but hardwood.

bigjim

[2treks]

If you have a lumber store near by you may beable to get a JATOBA(braz.cherry) board from them. I would think it would be cheaper than bying flooring.
Chuck

[Pathfinder065]

That second tree you listed is most likely a Brazilian pepper tree, which is considered an invasive weed in the everglades. I was looking it up just now because at first I was worried it might be poison sumac, which would be a very bad thing to make sawdust out of. Brazilian pepper trees and poison sumac are both in the same family and look very similar, but poison sumac only bears green-white berries and its leaves turn red in fall.