Bow Wood and Common Names

[allpowerfulguru]

I have been going through all the old threads and have read folks type about "ironwood", "hornbeam", and "hop-hornbeam" as a good bow wood. Now my confusion is are they referring to Eastern hop-hornbeam (Ostraya virginiana) or American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana).
Another confusion on the same subject is "hackberry". Hackberrys (Celtis occidentalis) are not native to most of Texas, but Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata) is very common. Both of which look very similar.
Being from East Texas, I guess my question is which of these are good bow woods, are they all good bow woods, or am I just arguing semantics?

[Osagetree]

Pat B should know this answer.  

[okie64]

There are quite a few woods with the nickname ironwood but the most common is eastern hophornbeam. Another name for sugarberry is southern hackberry. The wood and tree are nearly identical to hackberry. Only difference is sugarberry leaf margins are smooth and hackberry leaf margins are toothed. Pretty sure either one will make a good bow.

[George Tsoukalas]

Heres the list of ironwoods. I think for our purposes both hop hornbeam and hornbeam are called ironwood. Jawge
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

[Pat B]

Hophornbeam is excellent bow wood. I'm working on a HHB bow now. Hornbeam is a good bow wood but I have never built one. I always called hackberry sugar berry and didn't realize they were different. I have heard that Hackberry makes a good bow so I imagine that sugarberry would also. Jimmy Blackmon(Ranger B) killed 4 or 5 deer a few years ago with his "Hackberry Hammer" and still hunts with it.
   Common names are just that. Each location has its own common names so identifying by common name is unreliable. Botanical names are the same anywhere in the world and that should be how we ID trees and not by common name. It doesn't take much research to find the botanical name of plants. Most good ID books will have the botanical names as well as a common name.

[allpowerfulguru]

So for bow wood purposes, sounds like they all merit a try. The reason I ask is that, barring hackberry, I can find the other three in my area with ease. I didn't want to waste my time with woods that would not produce decent results (assuming I can produce a bow from them). Thanks for the clarification!

Pat B sounds like you are the resident dendrologist. Are you self taught or scholastically trained?

[Pat B]

Mostly self tought with some Community College landscape and hort courses. I've always loved trees especially but also other plants, especially native and indiginous plants. Since I've gotten into traditional and primitive archery new doors have opened.
  Most woods will make a bow if you design the bow for the charactoristics of the wood.

[Osagetree]

Told ya Pat would know!  

[allpowerfulguru]

I picked up a Forestry degree from SFA here in Texas, and in doing so found that my favorite thing about being in the woods is identifying plants. Like you, I love native trees and can't wait to improve my skills enough to try to coax a bow from as many natives as possible. I have my eye on a few species that I have not seen a bow made from yet... The only problem now is time, just ain't enough of it.

[KellyG]

Well The good new about not enough time is you can cut them now and seal them up and let the season so when you do get time, You have a good stave waiting.
I kick myself for not making time to look a few hedge rows that were cut just before I left They would have had about 18months of drying time.

[allpowerfulguru]

Thats a good point. And there is always more hedge somewhere when you get back. Keep your head down and thank you for what you do.