Wax Wood for bow material

[Brian Gillispie]

Hello all,


     I was wondering if anyone has ever used chinese Waxwood for bow material.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_wood

I have used this wood for martial arts weapons and also walking sticks.  the grain is very tight and flexable.  the wood is white with a white tigerstriping that is wonderfully subtle.

The wood bends easy and returns to its original shape easily.  when shapeing this wood it reminds me of hickory in the sense that its very easy to accidently dig into the wood.  Its best to use very sharp tools and go in small shavings when reducing this wood.

It comes as cut saplings.  You can get pieces as long as 85 inches.  There is usually a taper on these staves.  On the thick end the Stave is usually about 1.5 inches to 2 inches in diameter.  The tapered end is usually about an inch in diameter if not a little smaller.  I was thinking in all that stave there could be a bow offering to come out.

Let me know what you all think about the suitablity of this wood as a bow wood.  What properties are there in some of the other popular bow woods like hickory osage and others that make them exceptional materials for traditional bows.

Brian Gillispie

[2fletch]

Brian, almost any wood will make a shootable bow. I have made them of hickory, oak, cedar, ash, osage, hop hornbeam, locust, yew, and dogwood.

A good bow wood for self bows has to have good tensile strength on the back of the bow as well as good compression strength on the belly. Osage and locust have both of these qualities. Hickory has these qualities also, but the moisture content has to be low in order for it to perform really well.

How expensive are the staves? There are few guys around here who would be interested in something new to try. Someone said yesterday that he needed to build another bow.

If you get close to Mebane, NC bring some by. I'd like to see it. We might even be able to do some trading.

Don Ward, Eagle's Flight Archery

[Brian Gillispie]

Hey 2fletch,


     I just ordered an 85 inch stave off of **** for $20.00,  Shipping was another $19.00 but thats **** I guess.  

I think the moisture content of the wax wood is pretty low, but I dont have much experence judging such things.

Short of making the bow,  how do you tell if a wood has tensile strength on the back of the bow And compression strength on the belly?

The walking sticks I have finished out with this wood is very hard and finishes out like glass with the use of some 0000 steel wool.  I havent seen many self bows that had been sanded and polished.  Is there a bad side effect from taking sand paper or steel wool to a bows surface?  Does it Damage the bow?\\

Mebane Isnt to awfully to far away,  I will send up a flag when the stave shows in the mail.

Brian Gillispie