Crape myrtle as a selfbow wood?

[So-Mo Archer]

Hello, all.

I have a myrtle in my yard that is somewhat out of control, and it has one trunk (or branch, or whatever you call it on an ornamental) that is laser straight with no obvious twist for nearly 8 feet.

Is it possible to make a selfbow from myrtle? And if so, how rough is it to work with?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Frosty the Bowman]

Matt,

wish I could help, but all I know is it is sure apretty wood.

Wish I had the problem of "nice trees" growing in my back yard. Mainly all we have around here is lots of Pine, Fir, Larch, and some Spruce.

May have alead on some apple, sorry for the hijacking, and now back to the regularly schedule talk about Myrtle!

[Black Mockingbird]

Yup..it'll make ya a fine bow.

[Pat B]

I've never used crepe myrtle but I have sen a few. One guy on PA a few years ago was building 90#+ war bows with crepe myrtle.
  FYI SoMo, a trunk comes out of the ground and a branch comes off the trunk. It doesn't matter if it is ornimental or natural.

[So-Mo Archer]

Thanks, Pat, just don't tell my hs ag teacher about this  

Kevin, you may not have bows growing in your yard, but with the spruce and fir, you might have a few arrows ready to be harvested.  

Anyone know where I could view some pics of a myrtle bow? Would like some finish and/or design ideas. Keep it coming.

[Pat B]

The guy I was talking about goes by Thimo on Paleo Planet. You might try looking him up.

[So-Mo Archer]

I think I've seen some of his bows. As memory serves, Thimo is a great hand at selfbows. Will have to look him up, thanks Pat.

[scrub-buster]

Didn't Ken75 on PA post several CM selfbows a while back?

[Black Mockingbird]

Yeah Clint....ken made a bunch of bows from crepe myrtle....run a Google search with the words ..crepe myrtle ken75 tradgang.  I'm sure some of his will pop up...he made some dandys.

[Pat B]

Yes, Ken75 did make a few crepe myrtle bows. I wonder where Ken's been. Haven't seen him in quite a while.

[So-Mo Archer]

Thanks for the lead guys. I'll search around and see what I can find.

[red hill]

I've eyed a crepe myrtle in my yard for two years now. It branches out from the ground and there's one fairly straight limb that is about three inches in diameter. (Wonder if my wife would notice?)

Yeah, I remember seeing those bows Ken made. I think they are why I started looking at my wife's shrubs to begin with.

[Dan Landis]

Every time I drive to Myrtle Beach I eye all of them growing in the median,and I wonder if the highway dept. would miss a few.  I'm guessing they would probably frown on that.

[Keenan]

Crepe Myrtle is a great bow wood. Can be tempermental when heat correcting sometimes but is a very good bow wood. Thimo on Paleo planet used to make allot of Crepe myrtle bows. Was his favorite wood for a while.

[So-Mo Archer]

@Dan, yeah the SCDOT doesn't like people to play on their medians, trust me  

May have to bring that trunk down and let it dry on out. Thanks guys! I'll let yall know how it turns out once I can get it seasoned and carved.