Selfbow wood type advice?

[Dogbyte]

Originally posted by frank bullitt:
Rabies, Pignut hickory seems to be best, we have butternut here also that would probably be good, too.

Personally though, I would try to hunt up some osage, or black locust for your first, MHE!

Being in Arkansas, you should have no problem finding it. Check with local tree trimmers, sawmills and farmers. Try listing in the classifieds, too!

If you have rock elm, give it a go. Have seen some fine bows from elm! A good read for white wood bows, is The Bent Stick, by Paul Comstock. Cherokee Bows and Arrows, by Al Herrin, is also good on hedge bows. And Gary Davis's dvd , Rattlestick, a Selfbow Tutorial.

Oh, and awhole lot of good advice and experience here, too!    

oh I can show you lots of Block Locust, and at least two Osage, but they are on WMA's. I have plenty of Pignut Hickory on land that i can cut. Elm less common, but i know its there because we always talk about the sq's we kill out of them in the fall with dogs. But no Osage so far on land that im allowed to cut.

[Dogbyte]

Originally posted by SEMO_HUNTER:
If you have a garage you can store your staves in the rafters. That's where I put mine and they do just fine up there. Bugs don't bother them and they aren't under foot to trip over. I've also got some stored over in our barn and I built a nice rack to lay them on, but I have to go check on em every so often to make sure the bugs haven't been working on them. So far so good.

If you have to store them outdoors just make sure they don't make contact with the ground and it might be a good idea to spray them ever so often with a pesticide. Ground contact is how termites get to them because termites don't like sunlight so they will tunnel toward any wood, if they can't tunnel they will build one out of dirt so they aren't exposed while traveling to and from the groceries.

You could lay some card board down and put them under a bed, in the closet, attic, basement, or even under the sofa. Inside is always better than outside, throw some furniture out if you need to make room inside your house I'm sure the misses won't mind.      

I took another look at the storage shed yesterday, and i think i came up with a plan. i can build another row of shelves, and that will allow me to store some wood inside out of the way. I'd have all the room in the world if it wasnt for the "misses" and all her clothes she's got stored away, taking up all those nice long flat shelves i made...i could store wood in there for days if it wasnt for that!

[Dogbyte]

got me some more shelves built... got a whole shelf to myself for staves...filled it with about 8 hickory staves saturday, some full length, and some shorter for the kids! Its off limits to baby clothes, kids toys, holiday yard ornaments and rubber maid tubs full of Christmas decor! haha.

[KellyG]

Now get one or two cut down to look like a bow and seal the back and store it under your bed for few months and you will be finishing a bow before you know it.

[Dogbyte]

is there a preferred depth for which ring will be the back? does it matter with hickory? there is a nice wide ring close to the surface on these staves, maybe last years spring growth.

[va]

Dogbyte - you just bit off a mouthful.

From my poor boy perspective, the sooner you make shavings the better.  Pick any stave of any wood, preferably one that is a little messy.  Start working it according to the wise counsel you will find on the site and TBB any volume.

Hands on learning with a steady diet of info from those who have gone before will make it FUN and rewarding.

If the 'messy' stave breaks or takes too much set or is otherwise disappointing you can give it to a kid or burn it or whatever BUT you will have started the learning process.

Welcome aboard the Healthy Addiction bus.

va

[rainman]

Both Osage and Bloodwood are in the Mulberry family.  I would choosed Osage, Pignut Hickory and Rock Elm in that order.  Rock Elm will be the hardest to split.  You should be able to pull the bark off of the Hickory you have and get rid of the Cambium and the first ring will be your back.

[Dogbyte]

Originally posted by rainman:
Both Osage and Bloodwood are in the Mulberry family.  I would choosed Osage, Pignut Hickory and Rock Elm in that order.  Rock Elm will be the hardest to split.  You should be able to pull the bark off of the Hickory you have and get rid of the Cambium and the first ring will be your back.

even if on some of the splits, the first ring is really really thin? looks like on the other side of the tree, the rings were wider.

[Dogbyte]

Originally posted by va:
Dogbyte - you just bit off a mouthful.

From my poor boy perspective, the sooner you make shavings the better.  Pick any stave of any wood, preferably one that is a little messy.  Start working it according to the wise counsel you will find on the site and TBB any volume.

Hands on learning with a steady diet of info from those who have gone before will make it FUN and rewarding.

If the 'messy' stave breaks or takes too much set or is otherwise disappointing you can give it to a kid or burn it or whatever BUT you will have started the learning process.

Welcome aboard the Healthy Addiction bus.

va

me and a buddy is going to take off the bark tonite. We fell the tree saturday, so its still really green, although i hacked around with a hatchet a little, and the bark sure seems more tight than it was when we cut it... im sure there is a learning curve on this.

but just gonna sharpen my draw knife and my hatchet, and see what happens.

[George Tsoukalas]

I never used rock elm but the others will make you fine bows. For my first I should have reached for hickory.    Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/