self bow woods

[Gordon martiniuk]

Thinking about self bows and good wood to use . we have lots of saskatoon around here also have access to some caragana which is better any other native wood in Alberta ca that I could use?

[Pat B]

I'm not real familiar with your local woods but I believe the saskatoon is serviceberry(Amelanchier alnifloia) The western serviceberry is a good bow wood. Our serviceberry(A. aborea) is more of a small tree and should also be good bow wood. I have some cut and split but haven't worked it yet.
  Do you have another name for the caragana?

[Gordon martiniuk]

I think service berry is called choke cherry up here ,, saskatoon trees have sweet berrys somthing like blueberrys and grow up to 3.5" in dia , was wanting to start to cut staves and let them dry , Just wanted to know which trees local in Alberta to start with , and weather to split before drying

[Pat B]

Choke cherry is different from serviceberry but both should make good bows. The bark from choke cherry is an excellent decorative backing for a bow and adds protection and some performance.
  You may also have Canadian yew growing there or sugar maple. Like I said, I'm not familiar with the indigenous trees of your area.

[shamus]

this might help:  http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/6213/t/List-of-Potenial-Bow-Wood-Species-With-Comments.html

list of bow woods from Tim Baker. The Traditional Bowyers Bible Vol.4 expands on thatlist.

[Dano]

Here's a link to the same list.  http://sites.google.com/site/onemississipp/bowwoods

[Tilbilly]

Not sure where in Alta. you' re at. Had the pleasure of living near very-rural Picture Butte in my youth.
The Saskatoon and the Service Berry mentioned above will be great. In the south, Russian Olive should be tough/hard bow wood.
Hickory would shine if you don' t mind spending money ordering it in. Loves dry air.