Blue gums and Black wattle as bow woods?

[Afgos]

Good day gents a quick question are Blue gum ( Eucalyptus saligna ) and Black wattle ( Acacia mearnsii ) any good as bow woods? Either as self bows or laminates? Just curious as we have tons of the stuff growing here. Thanks. Afgos.

[Afgos]

I've done some more digging and it seems both are good. Two follow up questions though: How long do you need to season these woods? And how do you prevent them cracking? I read that you need to seal it but they didn't say with what. Thanks to all who answer all my questions.

[Pat B]

If you expose the back you need to seal it and the ends. You can use shellac, carpenters glue, wax, anything that will prevent the moisture from leaving the wood in those areas. Leave the belly side unsealed so the moisture has a place to escape from.
 Ideally you want to give wood at least a year to dry out, longer is better but with some woods you can speed dry them in a month or slightly more. It depends on the wood.
 You can reduce the staves to almost bow shape and they will dry faster.
 I'm not familiar with either of these woods but with some woods you use the wood right under the bark as the back but some woods you take off the sapwood and use only the heartwood for the bow. What you do want is a pristine back.
 I believe you are coming up to spring now in South Africa. If you can wait until the growing season starts when the bark slips you should be able to just peel the bark off giving you the best possible pristine, unviolated back and I'd suggest you treat these woods like "whitewoods" and use the wood under the bark as your back. After you have built a few bows or unless someone more familiar with these woods as bow wood tells you otherwise.

[fujimo]

when i saw the title, i knew it was a safa
where are you from.
 i am originally from Weenen

tos of other awesome bow wood too.
 white stinkwood
mulberry( very good)
acacia Nialotica
acacia tortillus
Dichrostachys cinerea, is really good, if you can find them big enough
and of course all the fruit and nut trees- of varying qualities- i better warn my mates with pecan nut orchards 

[Afgos]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Fujimo I'm just outside Hillcrest.

[fujimo]

Pat is spot on about  the procurement and dying of the wood.
 the white stinkwood you treat like other whitewoods, slip the bark, and thats the back- mulberry you might treat like osage i believe- but others may have more experience with it, the nut trees you treat like hickory for the most part, tortillus and cinerea, like white woods, slip the bark and thats the back.
the old saying is wood dries at about an inch of radius per year in the round- all things being equal, if they are split they will dry a lot quicker- its best to split them as soon as possible- slip the bark, seal the backs and ends, that way they will dry quicker, and prevent checking on the back.
seasoning and drying are two different things!!
the longer a dry piece of wood is allowed to sit in a stable environment, the better it will season.
the lignins need to harden and cure.

there are some specialty shops that will sell "exotic" woods like hickory etc- and you could build some board bows while your wood is drying.
i might come out hunting again next year, maybe i could bring a stave or two of good wood from here?
just stay in touch with me. my brother lives in Durban, and the outlaws are in Howick!

what do you do there?

[Afgos]

Thanks fujimo. In season I hunt with hawks and I research about hunting and fishing. The older the better.

[fujimo]

do you know Alan Howell, from the Berg Parks board.

good  luck with the bow research and building.
sounds like Alan would be a good guy to chat to!

[Afgos]

My dad knows him. I've not met him yet.