Source for Acacia wood?????

[snag]

I am looking for a source for Acacia wood to make a bow out of it.  Anyone know of a good source for exotic woods? I have tried a few online retailers without any success yet. Thanks

[ozy clint]

what acacia? there's 1000's of species.

[snag]

Really? Didn't know that. I found out from a guy today that Myrtlewood, Blackwood and Myall are types of Acacia. What are some others?

[cacciatore]

Black Locoust is the most used kind of Acacia for bows and I think if you ask for that you can find it very easy

[snag]

Thanks Cacciatore. I will check that out to see how it looks.

[stump man]

From Wikipedia,
Acacia  
Species
About 1,300; see List of Acacia species
 
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in 1773. The plants tend to be thorny and pod-bearing. The name derives from ακις (akis) which is Greek for a sharp point, due to the thorns in the type-species Acacia nilotica ("Nile Acacia") from Egypt. [1]

Acacias are also known as thorntrees or wattles, including the yellow-fever acacia and umbrella acacias.

There are roughly 1300 species of Acacia worldwide, about 960 of them native to Australia, with the remainder spread around the tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas.
Some Acacia species are valuable as timber, such as Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood) from Australia, which attains a great size; its wood is used for furniture, and takes a high polish; and Acacia omalophylla (Myall Wood, also Australian), which yields a fragrant timber used for ornaments. Acacia seyal is thought to be the ****tah-tree of the Bible, which supplied ****tim-wood. According to the Book of Exodus, this was used in the construction of the Ark of the Covenant. Acacia koa from the Hawaiian Islands and Acacia heterophylla from Réunion island are both excellent timber trees.

[snag]

I knew one type was used in the making of the Ark of the Covenant...that is why I became interested in it.  Thanks Stump.

[blacktailchaser]

come on david dont you have one stick in lakeveiw.

[Tree man]

Black Locust is not an acacia-it is Robinia psuedoacacia. Acacia like (being a thorny ,heavy wooded legume)but not an acacia. The desert southwest has catclaw acacia and other shrubby true acacias but you will look long for a suitable bow stave and longer still for a piece to mill a lam bow riser out of.

[snag]

Not looking at SW. It seems Australia, Africa, and parts of middle East have hard Acacia.

Doug, thanks for the info.

[Tree man]

Right-those are the regions with species that grow to millable log sizes.

[chrisg]

Acacia ? I have two enormous trees outside my house, I planted em both! Acacia karoo and acacia siberiana. The Karoo is the most widespread and populous local tree species in SA and the Siberiana is the paper bark acacia - nothing to do with Russia at all!  local Acacias in Southern Africa all have thorns. The type genus nilotica is common here and is interesting,  it has a fragrant seed pod that smells like litchis when broken esp when fresh,dry pods when boiled  produce a nice dark brown ink used by early settlers. Cause hiccups the wood is nice dark brown and grainy. Impala and kudu browse it but ellies dont, they dig up the roots. The one used most for bows is the genus karoo, also dark brown. Some acacias are heavy, all are prone to splitting, but can be seasoned by leaving in running water for a month or more. Rich in tannin, so their bark is useful for curing leather
 The wood takes a good polish. Karoo makes good fire wood. Some stink when burned, SA has 54 different indigenous species. Iconic SA bushveld tree. My favorite is knoppiesdoring or Acacia nigrescens, a magnificent tree. Most acacias yield a good fibre that can be used for string thread or tough rope. Nigrescens gives a rope tough enough to haul out military trucks stuck in mud or sand!! Elephant love the fibrous bark of Acacia robusta, if you suck it, it gets a sweet  flavour it makes one of the best threads which is most easily obtained from elephant dung! Seriously, you can get really nice lumps of fibre from jumbo dung! Enjoy!
chrisg

[snag]

Chris,you seem to know a lot about this type of wood..at least the types that grow around you. Do you know if there is any Acacia Seyal in your area?