Hot Off The Press - New Smokewood Bow

[red hill]

Beautiful bow, Charles!  Also a cool story and explanation.

[timbermoose]

wow! just wow! a masterful piece of artwork right there. that eagle is awesome.

[J. Holden]

Very beautiful bow.  Great job!

-Jeremy  

[RAGHORN 3]

Sweet rig!  

[Troy D. Breeding]

A small amount of the wood grows in the southern range of the Smoky Mtns. in north Alabama. The color range coming from it is unreal. Yellows and oranges with red, blue and green streaks.

I've used it and would like to point out one thing for those that think they might like to give it a try.

It's the only wood I've ever tried that for some reason sent my allergies into a rampage.

For me a single cut on the bandsaw (even with vac attached) turns my nose into a faucet. Even had one friend walk into my shop a couple hours after cutting a piece of it and the remaining dust in the air made him sneeze enough he had to leave.

I know different woods effect people in different ways, but to have it effect two wood working fellows the way it did forced me to discard the remaining wood to the burn pile.

[soy]

NICE  

[kennym]

Very nice job Charles!!      

[Erwincm]

I haven't experienced any allergy issues with the wood but it's just like you said Troy - different woods affect people in different ways.

I live in Madison, Alabama which is just to the west of Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville (Monte Sano) is pretty much in the center of it's limited range in our pocket. Most of the land on Monte Sano and surrounding peaks are owned and protected by the local Wildlife Trust. While this is a good thing for the environment, it does make obtaining the wood extremely difficult. There is a select group of volunteers who collect fallen smokewood trees every year. Most of the plunger is in the form of fallen limbs and only good for very small projects. I wish I could get my hands on more material but it's just so hard to come by even here.

[bamboo]

nice job on that!!!
very interesting!!--and a great use of rare wood!!