Lumberyard Blunder... Sapele Pyramid Bow?

[Bow_Buster]

Well, I did it again... I went to the lumberyard meaning to get a nice piece of Hickory board.  Instead, I came back with a large piece of Sapele.  It truly is a beautiful board.  Having never worked with Sapele,  decided to make a basic pyramid bow.  I'm shooting for a bow which pulls 45-50lbs at 28 inches.  Here's my layout so far:  68in tip to tip with a 10 inch stiff riser.  The limb at the end of the fades will be about three inches.  I based this design off of what I would normally think for a red oak board bow and then beefed it up a little bit.  I did some research comparing red oak and sapele.  The latter has a slightly lower "elastic modulus" (so says wood-database.com) and slightly higher crushing strength.  Also my grain is slightly less than perfect.  I'm kinda kicking myself for giving in to the smooth talking lumberyard employee    "People make boats out of this!  It'll be fine!"
Anyway. Let's see how it goes!  If this thing survives, it will be a beautiful bow.  If not.... I guess it's my own fault.  
 

 

What do you guys think so far?  Does this sound doable to you?

[Pat B]

I'm not familiar with sapele. It looks sorta like a mahogany. Where is it from?

[Bow_Buster]

It appears to be from Tropical Africa.  It smells kind of like cedar, so maybe it's in the same family?
I'm definitely willing to give this a try. We'll see what happens  :D .

I forgot to state the planned width at the tips is 1/2inch.

[KenH]

Sapele is from the Congo, and is used or flooring, musical instruments and other 'high class' applications such as wood trim inside Cadillacs.  It is in the same family as Mahogany, but more highly figured.

[Pat B]

Thanks Ken.

[Robertfishes]

I have used figured Sapele veneer in glass bows. I did use Sapele similar to yours for a bow riser once.