Yellowheart is pretty awesome, but keep in mind it does have it's limits. I glued up a r/d tri-lam recently with a yellowheart belly and was going for a 65-70 lb bow and it fretted badly across the entire limb, on both limbs. Granted it was a highly stressed design at a higher weight, I don't think ipe or osage would have done that.
BUT, put it in the right design and it is a great wood. I love the color and I can get it for the same price as red oak from the box stores.
Let me know if you can't find it at a good price and you want to try it John. I can probably pick you up a board or 2.
That's what made me think of it. There's a lumber store not too far from me that has it in stock and I've purchased some nice pieces for not very much money. It's good to know it could have problems in higher stress bows. I've not had issues using it, but I haven't made a high weight high stress bow with yellowheart yet.
One more thing I thought of: there were old mass produced wood bows made of laminated hickory strips (the Pearson "Old Hickory" comes to mind). If hard maple and white oak are close to hickory, it might be fun trying that route.
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Topic: Hard maple for belly wood? (Read 3380 times)
