Walnut as a limb core?

[rainman]

The thread by Kennym in Bowyers bench is very good.  If people can used Coco Bolo veneers they can't say Walnut is to oily.  Their is a failure of the glue up in preparation.  I have never had Walnut fail in A Bamboo backed glue up or Coco Bolo for that matter and have made several bows of each.

Merry Christmas

[Curveman]

Well, I'm not a bowyer but those I respect most tell me it's an excellent core wood. The glue is as much a common denominator as the walnut in those bow failures. It's akin to having a scotch and soda, a vodka and soda, and a gin and soda and concluding that it was the soda that made me drunk!    

[kennym]

Not sure why walnut would fail ,,as said before,each board you cut lams from is different.

Bocote and cocobolo are very greasy,just try to get finish to stick to a riser made from them. I've made a bow with bocote lams,just wirebrushed and blew the lams off,it is still shooting in AK as far as I know.

The 3 bow failures I've had were

maple core(bad glue joint,loss of clamp pressure)

red elm(bad glue joint,glue starvation,epon-versamid,Binghams said red elm soaks that glue in and can starve)

red elm (super long draw,shorter bow??)

Sixby noted walnut burns easily,but purpleheart seems worse to me,and I go from 50 grit on most woods to 36 on bocote and coco to prevent belt clogging.

The test bow I'm workin on now may shed some lite tho with p-lams and tip wedges,it may work the mid limb harder...???

All just my observations,yer mileage may vary!

Merry Christmas guys!!

Bamboo as a limb core is a better choice--you can still have the veneers for the walnut look.

[CDR]

Good info guys, but I am getting scared, I was thinking of going with the black walnut on my next bow, but after reading some of these threads makes me wonder.

[wingnut]

It depends on the design of the bow.  Some bowyers swear by walnut as one of the best and others swear at it.

I tried it once and had the walnut come apart right down the middle of the lam.

Mike

[JV Rooster]

Thanks everyone for there input. going with a bamboo core. Now I just got to figure witch bowyer to use. I havent bought a custom bow in about 11 or 12 years.