I'll tell ya what wood I DON'T like...

[fish n chicks]

Sycamore. Some guys may have some good success with it, but not me  None of it ended happily. So bows number 3 and 6 were firewood. 3 was red oak but an experiment that failed.

So sycamore (and it was quarter sawn and perfect, by eye-judgement anyway) is not a friend of mine.

Another one i'd like to enter into the books, Padauk for any sort of veneer, or exposed, application. It always has grain-pores. Kinda like red oak, but more obnoxious. it looks great as an accent layer, but watch out for those tip and riser applications.

Your experiences lead to a hatred of a certain species?

[Dublin Joe]

I'm sorry, did you write something?

[ber643]

Didn't mean to double post. Once was enough.

[pipedream]

TA, TA,TA, TA,TA,TA,TA,.....SPEAKIN' OF WOOD.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Sycamore is fairly soft wood for bow making I believe? We have tons of it growing around here along the river and nobody even uses it for firewood because it burns like paper.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

I don't like the wood that breaks after I turn it into a bow  . Its always the woods fault ...RIGHT?                            


..your shooting buddie go home ???

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by getstonedprimitivebowhunt:
I don't like the wood that breaks after I turn it into a bow  . Its always the woods fault ...RIGHT?                            


..your shooting buddie go home ???

Yeah aparantly it's hard for people to conversate with her floatin around totin that wheelie.

And of course it's the wood's fault!

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by SEMO_HUNTER:
Sycamore is fairly soft wood for bow making I believe? We have tons of it growing around here along the river and nobody even uses it for firewood because it burns like paper.

Well, according to my wood bible, and my physical perception of the stock I found, it looked like a great bow wood. Of course I am still in my rookie season, and some knowledge will come hard. This lesson simply taught me the grain pattern of sycamore is not what it appears. This is what my info tells me:

American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is known as
sycamore and sometimes as buttonwood, buttonball-tree, and
in the United Kingdom, planetree. Sycamore grows from
Maine to Nebraska, southward to Texas, and eastward to
Florida.
The heartwood of sycamore is reddish brown; the sapwood is
lighter in color and from 4 to 8 cm (1-1/2 to 3 in.) wide.
The wood has a fine texture and interlocked grain. It has
high shrinkage in drying; is moderately heavy, moderately
hard, moderately stiff, and moderately strong; and has good
resistance to shock.
Sycamore is used principally for lumber, veneer, railroad
crossties, slack cooperage, fence posts, and fuel. The lumber
is used for furniture, boxes (particularly small food containers),
pallets, flooring, handles, and butcher blocks. Veneer is
used for fruit and vegetable baskets and some decorative
panels and door skins.


It's not like I hate the wood, it just doesn't make a good bow wood in my hands. It was a lot like working with ebony. Frustrating as heck.

Beautiful, but frustrating. My gosh it sounds like my wife!!

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Hmmmmm......maybe our variety around here is different than what I'm thinking of?
That description sounds totally opposite from what we have all around the river here at my place? I'll have to do some investigating on it.
The hardest wood we have growing in my neck of the woods goes like this:

Black Walnut
Osage (Hedge Apple)
Hickory
Red Cedar
Persimmon
Locust....mostly Honey Locust
And of course every Oak variety you can think of, White, Red, Black, Water Oak, Pin Oak, Post Oak, and the list goes on and on......

[red hill]

Wait a minute, Fish. Didn't you get married only a short time back? My wife didn't get frustrating untilll... Never mind, memory's returning.
Stan

PS
Sycamore down here in southern Ark doesn't seem to be worth much either. Beautiful tree though.

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by red hill:
Wait a minute, Fish. Didn't you get married only a short time back? My wife didn't get frustrating untilll... Never mind, memory's returning.
Stan

PS
Sycamore down here in southern Ark doesn't seem to be worth much either. Beautiful tree though.

LOL! yessir. The funeral, I mean wedding, was 2 weeks ago. And the saying certainly holds true:

Women, can't live with em, can't kill em.

Good thing she stays out of the shop for the most part. That's my sanctuary!

As far as the sycamore goes, that's what drew me to it. It was gorgeous!

Wait, so what you're telling me is that like women, a bow wood can be gorgeous and sound sexy but till you get to know it only then will you know it's true self!?