Padauk core tapered laminations

[chefrvitale]

Hi guys, I just built a beautiful Zebra wood one piece (thank you Kenny M for the great looking Zebra). I fully intended to hunt with it this year but my uncle fell in love with it so I gave him an early Christmas present.
Now I'm looking to build myself something, I'm looking at some wood in my shop and was wondering if anyone has tried using padauk as a core? I think visually it would be very interesting but would it perform well?........ I've given away every bow I've built and end up hunting with my Tomahawk. Told myself this year would be different

[kennym]

I think Kirk has used some padauk in bows, maybe he will stop in on this...

[Sam Harper]

I have not tried it, but I think it would look pretty cool.

[Kirkll]

Paduke makes a very high performance core. i've used it in .060 thickness with Zebra wood and got some of the best performance on both glass and carbon backed long bows than any other core stock... Just keep in mind something... Its a brittle wood, so keep your paduke lams in the center and do not exceed .080. I used it under Zebra veneers that were .030 thick and had great success with it.

I don't think i'd use it on recurve limbs with a shorter working limb unless it was just one thin center lam.   Wenge is very similar to Paduke in properties too.    Good luck.

[chefrvitale]

Thanks again Kirk!