Paduak as riser material

[Susquehannariverarcher]

I have some pretty nice eastern red cedar im going to use on the limbs. I was thinking about using some Paduak for riser material. I was curious if this is strong enough for a riser for a mid 50lb forward handle or if it'll need an I beam or something.

[Crooked Stic]

I would I beam it. Or use Bloodgood is about the same color and much stronger but can be very oily

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Thanks stic. I'll look into that. I'm also open to any other riser woods that would look nice. . Does something like hard maple work as an I beam? I don't have a way to cut things like g10 yet. I'm also scared with my current skill to mess a riser up with something so expensive in it!

[kennym]

Bubinga is not as red but way stouter than padauk...

[jrstegner]

Granadillo looks really nice with ERC as does Bubinga.

[Burnsie]

I bet the there is a laminated product (Dymondwood...etc) that would fit the bill and would obviously be plenty strong.
The color choices with these type of woods has really improved over the years.
Great northern Bows offers Dymondwood in their risers and one of the colors they list is actually called "Paduak".

[jess stuart]

I would use any of those suggested before using Paduak.  It is fairly soft and dents easily very open pores hard to get level.  Bubinga is al.ost bomb proof in my experience.

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Awesome thanks everyone!

[onetone]

Bubinga is a good match with cedar color wise, both new a new aged. Padauk can stain adjacent lighter woods when sanding or finishing. I really like how easy it is to mill and hand-shape, but I don’t use it anymore, mostly because of the staining issue.

[Kirkll]

Paduke has a very brittle nature to it, and can really put some snap in your limbs using it as core wood in limbs. I used to mix it with Zebra wood for building hot rod bows, and used it many times for wedges and accent strips too. I wouldn't hesitate to use the paduke for an I-beam or a footing either, but if used as a main riser material you would have to be very careful to cap any end grain run out exposed or it will split easily. The shape of your riser will determine where it could be used...

But like the others have said here. There are much better choices on Red color riser wood. Bubinga, and Bloodwood are seriously dense, and by far a better riser wood choice.

BTW.... be careful using that eastern red cedar for core wood in your limbs. I dont think id use it for anything but veneer stock myself. It has very little strength properties in tension, and has terrible compression properties. I tried using it as a light weight core stock for some carbon limbs years ago and it failed miserably... Beware of using thick lams towards the belly side of the limbs. It just wont hold up well... I had glass limbs fail on some prototype limbs using it for core stock too.    .02 cents worth.

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Kirk

Yeah I guess I wasn't clear. I'm gonna make veneers and use bamboo for the core material.

And I'm not going to use paduak after all the information and most likely use bubinga.

[Kirkll]

 

Make sure that cedar is freshly sanded before lay up. It has a way of oxidizing pretty quickly after being exposed to the air, and... believe it or not its an oily wood.   good luck.   

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Thanks for the tip!