any body ever used soft maple

[fujimo]

has anybody ever used soft maple for the construction of glass bows, and or self bows. is it suitable, or as the name implies is it unsuitable

thanks
wayne

[Dick in Seattle]

If by soft you mean Western Maple, I use it for bows and used to use it for gunstocks.... Ive heard the maple called "quilted maple referred to as soft.  If there is another maple "soft" species, I'm not aware of it.   On bows I use it only for outer lams, using boo or walnut for cores, not so much because of softness as because who'd waste wood with grain like that inside.   Bow on the right in this pic was done with quilted maple... this one was done by Jesse, young fella learning in my shop...

 

[Knawbone]

If you mean like silver maple,Iwould think it would work well. Silver maple is very springy even when it's green. I'm going to try it as a belly wood on a bow

[GREG IN MALAD]

All of the "soft maples" are strong enough for laminations.

[Tucker]

Hi Wayne,

I just made a 60" r/d glass laminated longbow with soft maple cores from a board that Tracy gave me. Shoots great!

BTW - I skyped with him in England today, seems he's doing well. Moving into a place with a 40 yd back yard tomorrow.

--Tucker

[jsweka]

I thought soft maple is red maple and hard maple is sugar maple - at least here in the east  

[okie64]

We call red and silver maple soft maple around here. Hard maple is sugar maple. I would like to know if silver maple would make a selfbow too, lots of it around here.

[fujimo]

i have access to some soft maple from ontario, that has been infected by some kind bug( no holes etc) but it gives it the most stunning "sunburst" patterns in it- i have a sample coming- have yet to see it, just an explanation from a friend, so will see when it gets here.
thanks all
wayne

tucker- woohoo!! 40 yds sounds like a farm on that mud island!!- well at least he will be able to shoot.
regards

[Knawbone]

we call it the same way here in NY Okie,I'm planing on building a SM bow at some point.I fell a Red Oak and broke a silver Maple, only it only split half way. A two foot section sprain up with an auwsome force. The maple was about four in. in dia.- I was pretty impresed.Springy stuff it was for being green.

[SaskTrapper]

I live in South Eastern Saskatchewan and I have alot of maple growing around me.From what I could find on the net it is called a Manitoba Maple and it is a soft wood.Has anybody tried making a bow out of this kind of maple before and if so how did it work out?

[John Scifres]

I have tried selfbows from silver maple and they were not good at all.  The wood was weak and spongy and slow.  A long wide bow was required for survivability.  Even then the bows took a lot of set.