Iron wood

[Stump73]

I have a piece of iron wood that is 2"x2"x62". Has anyone tried to build a bow from it or can you being that it to hard and dense? If not probably make a good walking stick then. Thanks Mike

[don s]

are you refering to hop horn beam? there are a few threads now with this wood. yes it is a good choice for a bow.
              don

[scrub-buster]

It is great bow making wood.

[Stump73]

Its dark brown with tight grains and is heavy. its been sitting around at work for 7 or 8 eight years now, so it should be good and dry by now. How hard is it to work down?
Thanks Mike

[scrub-buster]

My scrapers that I use on osage didn't work to well.  I ended up using the belt sander for all of the tillering.  I just used a fine grit belt towards the end.  It worked great.  Files and rasps worked on the handle.

[Stump73]

I'm new at this . Do I need to make the back and belly follow the growth rings?

[scrub-buster]

I just scraped the bark off and used that as the back.  Taper the belly just like any other selfbow.  My stave was also 8 or 9 years old.  Good luck.

[Pat B]

"Ironwood" is a "common" name for many very hard woods and depending on your location it could be any of a number of woods. Botanical names are the same all over the world. If you ask someone from China or Norway what ironwood is they might give you 100 different woods. If you ask them about Ostrya virginians, whether is is a local wood for them or not, they will know you are talking about American Hophornbeam.
  Botanical names sure make it easier to determine exactly what wood you are talking about thus making it easier to determine whether it is infact good bow wood or not and if it is, what style bow would be appropriate to build with it.

[Stump73]

Mine is 2"x2"x62" square piece of iron wood and the grain on the ends run diagonally ,but straight down the length of the wood. There's no bark on the outside so i didn't know how to go about working down. THANKS MIKE

[Pat B]

Shed, yours is a board? If so just lay it out like any other board bow.  
   Basically you will draw a center line across the bow then out 2" on either side for your handle and another 1 1/2" to 2" out from either side of the handle for the fades. This will give you a symmetrical layout. Now draw a center line the length of the stave and put a mark every 6" out from handle to tip on each limb. You measure the width you want at each of these marks and connect the dots for your limb profile.
 Check out George Tsoukalas' site for all the info you'll need to do this.

[Knawbone]

Shed, Sounds like what you might have there is also called mussel wood because the tree trunk looks like rippling mussels. Just a thought,caus like Pat said there are several trees/woods called ironwood.

[vanillabear?]

[don s]

yeah. ipe is aka ironwood. like pat b said. more than one wood is refered to as ironwood.
                                       don

[Stump73]

[Stump73]

I dont how to put a pic on here

[D]

Shed,  I see your from Owensboro,  You don't know them Hayden boys do ya.  Sorry I keep up with motorcycle racing a lot haha.  But I'm the one that was told Ipe was called ironwood.  By reading on this site Hophornbeam is the only "ironwood" that grows in my area. (as far as I know that is)