Actionboo-vs-bamboo-vs-yew. Interesting.

[vermonster13]

Yew is a great wood but can make for short lived bowyers if they aren't real careful working with it.

[JohnV]

What is interesting is that people want to jump to conclusions without anything other than "it sure seems faster" to go by.  To come to any real conclusions you would have to make several sets of limbs with each material in identical bow designs and draw weights and then shoot identical arrows through a chronograph.

[Rick Wiltshire]

TTT - I found this to be some interesting reading so I thought I would bring it up again.

[Bert Frelink]

Here we go again,
"I do not have a chrono so this test is by no means conclusive"
Excactly!!!!!
Design is the key, like O.L says.
Just my 0.02 c.
Regards, Bert

[Hatrick]

It was good to re-read O.L.'s post on this one as I believe he basically says it all.

"the law of averages means you arbitrarily build some very good ones and some very bad ones selecting laminations at random."

How many of you have shot 2 bows built with exactly the same design and same materials but one shot better than the other. This is why it's best to shoot the bow you're buying first.

One of my best shooting longbows has walnut lams. I also believe that maple actionwood which is never talked about anymore is underrated. It seems to me that maple was a standard bearer for years in older bows that still shoot well today.

Another O.L. quote to ponder.

"95% of a bows performance has everything to do with design and nothing to do with materials."

[Jerry Jeffer]

This  has been a great thought provoking thread. Thank you Ghost Dog for starting it. I have recently ordered a custom 70" bow that will have Yew limbs. I think I'll be very happy regardless .

[Kevin L.]

Hmmm.. maybe that's why my Wallace Mountain is so quick, for the light weight. It has 2 lams of yew for cores and then bamboo on the back and belly.

My next bow will probably be yew, I had a Hill Halfbreed that I foolishly traded, maybe I'll get a Redman next.

[KentuckyTJ]

I have a Blacktail recurve. Norm Johnson's bows come standard with Bamboo cores. He will make any kind of cores you desire but he told me the Bamboo is the way to go.

What would be neat is to see what kind of cores the top bowyers use and recommend.

Blacktails = Bamboo

[Rick Wiltshire]

With guys on board with both materials, it seems as though limbs of all bamboo, or all yew, or any combination of the two would be of equal performance?

[Swamp Pygmy]

Do any laminations seem to be more quiet than the others in glass lam bows?

[Rob DiStefano]

After a coupla hundred I totally lost count of all the stickbows I've either owned or shot over the decades.  IMO, no question for me that Tonkin cane has unparalleled smoothness of draw than any other natural limb material.  And I'll take the superior shootability of cane over any added arra speed of yew any day.  IMHO & YMMV.    

[Jacko]

I have a late 70's to early 80's 55# Bob Wilson Hill Longbow with Yew Laminations that is an unashamed exact copy of that era's Howard Hill Bows and its a pig of a bow to shoot. Another mate has a Hill bow yew lams same as we can see tiller thats sweet as to shoot

I wonder if this differance with Bamboo / Yew and hardwood laminations is due to the design characteristics of the bows being better suited to certain limb core materials or perhaps the quality of the yew .

 

regards Jacko

[EASTERNARCHER]

You guys started to scare me when I first read this thread...My Mojo Stik originally was ordered with Osage cores...I figured that would build a good bow. Nearly everyone responding to my announcement suggested(SUGGESTED) that Boo core would be the better choice. JD and I made the switch after some talk....He was indifferent about any signifigant performance difference, but wanted to try boo core in another 60"'er. to get some input so to speak.

I'm sure either would have been fine. So Boo it will be this time anyhow. I likely wouldn't see the diff. anyways!

[DEATHMASTER]

I have a mojo stick that has osage core and yew on the back and belly. That equals the best of both worlds.
DEATHMASTER

[WidowEater]

in theory i suppose deathmaster but is interesting you bring that up because i was going to ask the bowyers out there what the performance depneds on.  Is it the core material and only that or is it the combination of the core and veneers?  Or is it the fiberglass in a laminated bow?  Whichever it is is there some magic combination that would give the best performance as long as no one were to care about looks.

I bet no one would care about looks if there was a significant performance gain.  As long as it was still quiet at least.

[SHOOTO8S]

Interesting thread, considering of the documented highest performing bows out there, none use yew cores?

[Danny Rowan]

Bill Howland of Brackenbury bows custom makes all of his cores. He will tell you that walnut is an outstanding core as well as wenge and hickory. He vertically laminates his cores I have one with a combo of walnut and wenge and it is smooth as butter, my other has bamboo, cannot really tell a difference in them. Both are very smooth to my 29" draw and very fast.

Danny

[James Wrenn]

The biggest advantange from action boo and other lamintated cores for a bowyer is consistancy.It is easier to build bows and hit weight because the material is more consistant piece to piece than a lot of woods.That is one of the reasons action-wood has always been popular.Also one of the reasons maple has always been used so much in the past.When you go throwing a bunch of different exotic woods with different weights and varieing a bunch in stiffness into the mix it usually means a lot of sanding at times on the glass.Bottom line is pick whatever you want if you like the looks but the design of the bow and care the bowyer takes in tillering the bow is going to be the real reason a bow is smooth,shoots fast ect.There is no magic wood out there.The person building the bow has to supply that.    jmho

[Hatrick]

Very well stated, James.

[EASTERNARCHER]

Here-Here JAmes...well said! Accordingly, I've heard that boo is popular because it provides a smoother draw, also heard that as stated previously that most of the work is done by the glass anyway.