Wood Choices - One piece takedown riser

[ibehiking]

What are good choices for wood for a solid (no laminations) riser for a takedown? Are there any woods to stay away from?

Are there any disadvantages to making a solid riser for a takedown?

Thanks in advance for any input.

[bjansen]

I think the only disadvantage is the potential weakness of the individual piece of wood.  Laminating makes stronger risers, but its not always necessary. I would go with one of the harder, hardwoods.  I would stay away from Walnut.  

Bocote might be a good candidate. Also you can always go with actionwood or dymondwood...its not one piece of wood but its a solid piece (i.e. no cutting and glueing on your end).

You can also add some overlays to the front and that will strengthen it a bit.

[jess stuart]

I have made quite a few solid risers.  Had good luck with maple, shedua, bubinga, imbuya, purpleheart etc.  The only one I ever had fail was made of zebrawood.  I did always cap the back of the riser with fiberglass which does add quite a bit of strength.  The relatively low rate of failure is likely due to the fiberglass cap.  In fact I am convinced of it and always use a cap on the back of all of my risers.

[Apex Predator]

Use a heavy, dense, strong hardwood.  Some times the pretty swirly grain stuff will break, because the growth rings are all over the place.  I would use osage, bubinga, or granadillo.  All are pretty, strong, and available.  They also represent three different color schemes to choose from.

Personally, I would stay away from the middle weights like walnut, maple, and zebra.  It all really depends on the design (degree of centerstot), and draw weight.