Riser Woods?

[D.A. Davis]

For you experienced bowyers, what is the criteria for making a good wood for use in risers?  I know some woods are too soft, or brittle.  Others may just be too heavy.  How do you know what not to use in a riser?

[bornofmud]

Actually, heavy is a good thing, reduces handshock. Pretty much any hardwood will work in a riser.  Just align the grain so it runs back to belly. Some are better than others, but none will fail if designed right! If you're going purely for strength, something with straight tight grain is going to be best.

[LittleBen]

x2

any reasonable hardwood is more than adequate unless you're trying to make some super skinny riser.

I think one guy made one from ERC, which is not strong by any measure of the word, it was just a little bulkier than usual.

alot of the common riser woods are ridiculously heavy and hard ... cocobolo is the perfect example ... that stuff is like a rock.

Wenge (hard and stiff but a little prone to cracking I think) doesn't seem to have interlocked grain at all.

maple .... obviously

hickory, oak, locust, osage, all the rosewoods liek kingwood, tulipwood, brazilian, etc ... shedua (personal favorite), redheart, ebony of all varities, purpleheart, ipe

basically anything other than softwoods and polar and I wouldn;t worry too much. When in doubt add phenolic I-beam!

[Bowjunkie]

As noted, any good sound piece of hardwood can work. I've used a lot of different woods for risers in both longbows and recurves and never had one fail for any reason.

I try to use woods with a specific gravity over 50-60.. but prefer higher. I like them quartersawn front to back for strength which is hidden under the lams, with the flatsawn showing off the grain on the sides.

There are so many options... you can get any look you wish. Which one I choose depends on what I plan to use under the clear glass.

[jsweka]

I agree with the heavier is better notion.  In the hill style longbows I build, I can notice a difference in the amount of thump upon release between woods.

[Swissbow]

I can't think of a wood being to heavy to use in a riser. Helps reduce handshock.
__________
Andy

[bigbob2]

X 2

[LittleBen]

x3

although I recently bought a 5/4 kingwood board and it's possibly the hardest heaviest wood I've ever seen. teh 1 bd ft I bought must weight over 5lbs ... kinda like ipe in weight. Also recently got my first cocobolo riser blocks and they also are ridiculously hard. They all sound more like metal than wood when you tap them.

I have this 2x4x8' ipe board I still need to rip into belly lams and if you hit it with your knuckle (not too hard) it rings incredibly clear ... suprised no one is making guitar necks from this stuff ...

[Bowjunkie]

They don't seem so heavy to me. I guess it depends on what you're used to and what tools ya use.

I love kingwood, probably my favorite riser wood. I also recently bought some gordeous kingwood veneers that are gonna look sweet under clear glass.

[LittleBen]

Jeff, I own essentially no power tools so cutting cocobolo by hand will remind you exactly how hard it is. I once ripped a set of ipe lams with a hand saw and I will never forget that or do it again. To say it sucked is an understatement.

Anyway, I think cocobolo kingwood and ipe are all around 1.0sg ... so I don't know if it gets much heavier unless you go to g-10 or something.

I also love kingwood, looking forward to seeing some of those veneers on a bow.

The board I have is 5/4 x 4 x 3' so I think I'm going to rip 1.5" off the side of the board, then rip that into hopefully 4 1.5" x .200 x 36" slats that I wanna try as belly slats. The rest will be turned into risers, hopefully 3 risers with I-beams.

[Gator1]

Guys

Any source for king wood?

That would be fairly dry?.

Thank you

[typical2]

I'd call Mike at  www.rosewoodarchery.com

Great guy to work with.

[typical2]

Or  www.tradmaterials.com

[Gator1]

Thank you guys, I'm considering buying a riser block and sending it to my bowyer...  

Not sure if it makes sense or not.

[critter69]

Iam a new be, and I had a couple risers fail. Then I started making them with two 1/8" phynalic lambs in the riser and have not had one of those fail. I just find a wood I realy like and use it.