core material

[Beanbag]

Hi Guys, Brother in law brought me a nice piece of sapele . Pretty nice grain, will it work well for cores.??

[LittleBen]

I know it's similar in density to black walnut, I don't know much about the mechanical properties, but it sounds reasonable enough to me ...

[Bowjunkie]

It's worth a shot. All I know about it is that it's often used in acoustic guitar bodies.

Perhaps you could compare it's properties with known bow wood.

Try  www.wood-database.com

[Robertfishes]

I used some 020 sapele "pommelle" veneer once in a recurve, I used red elm for the tapers.This is the only picture I have, bow was fresh out of the form you can see tape still on edge..  

[Dan Bonner]

It is pretty light weight and looks good. I have used it as decorative veneers several times with good results like Robert. I think it will work fine.
Bonner

[Beanbag]

Well, I made the limbs and I'm in the process of shooting them in. I used the sapele as the core with just .040 glass over them no veneers. Somewhat soft to work with but does glue up nice. Made the cores .010 thicker than I usually do and poundage was pretty close to my norm. Seems to be pretty smooth also. We'll see how they stand up over time. Thks Jim G