Cedar lams. question.

[Sixby]

I agree with siwash and add that old growth doug fir verticle grain is even better yet and is a super tough wood that is extremely light. Its sure hard to beat verticle grain clear rock maple though; Seriously , it is light in weight and will last forever and you can combine it with carbon and beautiful veneers to build one awsome performing and great looking bow;
I honestly do not see any real legitimate reason to use cedar as a core.
As veneers. That is a different story; It is downright beautiful and stunning with the right riser woods.

God bless you all, Steve

[David Yukon]

So if dog fir work, sitka spruce should work as good?!?!?

[Sixby]

Old Growth, Douglas or red fir. verticle cut clear.

I don'tknow about spruce but certainly its a possibility if it is clear, strong and no pitch or heavy resins. I know Douglas fir works because I know of a bow with thousands of shots through it that is very high performance and the cores are douglas fir.

[emt137]

So I guess all the old bowyers that have been building bows with cedar limbs longer than many of us have been alive don't actually know how to make a bow correctly.  I would also wager the required heat to make a cedar limbed bow delaminate would make any laminated bow come apart; no matter who made it.

Everybody has their own preferences.  Longbow, recurve, heavy, light, long, short.

[Gordon Jabben]

I'm with you emt.  I bought a 75# Johnson cedar bow when I was young and pretty much indestructable.  I hate to guess how many thousands of arrows went through that bow.  I shot my only limit of rabbits with that bow.  It's alive and well but I sure can't pull that weight anymore.

[Alan Coe]

Originally posted by Gordon Jabben:
I'm with you emt.  I bought a 75# Johnson cedar bow when I was young and pretty much indestructable.  I hate to guess how many thousands of arrows went through that bow. .

x 2 from my point of view. My Dave Johnson is rock solid! Indestructible.

But, if you watched the video link I posted above.....Dave does cull through a lot of Red Cedar to find the lams he likes.

Alan

[Overspined]

Always fun to hear a guy tell an ~80 yr old master of his craft that his materials are off. He's been building bows for a couple of years from what I hear...

[Sixby]

Some folks cannot read. If you go back and read the posts instead of jumping to conclusions I said that they work in longbows where there are less stress than in high performance bows with short working limbs. You guys crack me up sometimes; Do you walk around with chips on your shoulders looking for a problem? In this case there is not one; No one is running down an 80 year old master bowyer.
By the way I am 66 and I have built a couple of bows myself.  
this thread went from a discussion of bow laminations of cedar to me being accused of running down Dave Johnson whom I greatly admire. Its rediculous that we cannot have a decent discussion without this kind of umbrage.

God bless you all, Steve