What makes the best limb core wood?

[longbow fanatic 1]

What wood do you think makes the best limb core wood and why? Bamboo? Red Elm? Maple?

[Bjorn]

In my experience they are very much the same although others will disagree. Personally I leave the decision to the bowyer as there are other aspects to consider like how well does it adhere to carbon in a lay up.

[Pointer]

I'm sure some bowyers can chime in with something more definitive but I've always been partial to bamboo or maple. Bamboo because it's light and quick and maple for its durability and strength.

[habujohn]

I like and have shot with Bamboo for years but for the past five it has been carbon limb cores.  The carbon cores are not only quick but they have a different feel than the bamboo.  This feel is at the end as the shot is snappy with no limb vibration.

[Bear Heart]

Ask your bowyer.  My primary bow has black walnut cores for both sets of limbs and I have been nothing but happy.

[damascusdave]

I just received my first bow with red elm cores and I have bows with bamboo, maple and yew...I believe that limb design and execution is more important than core material...I agree with simply letting the bowyer choose their preferred material

DDave

[nineworlds9]

DDave pretty much nailed it.

Though I will say I'm pretty sure the different core woods have very slight variations in draw feel and shot feel.  So far my favorite bows have always been boo, boo and carbon, or different types of maple.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Wow! That's the first time that I've ever heard that limb design beats limb core material. Talk about epiphany!

[nineworlds9]

Well think of the factors involved.  Lam thickness, tapers, deflex/reflex ratio vs just material type.  And it could be said that the wood is just something for the chosen fiber material, be it glass or carbon, to adhere to.  I think mass is definitely a factor when it comes to core wood.  Boo is obviously lighter..yew, maple, osage, etc heavier.  Perhaps the wood type might affect the harmonics of the limb?  Much like a wood choice would affect the tone of an instrument?  Bowyers are the ones to chime in on this subject.

[Sixby]

Actually limb design and core are both importasnt. In fact the entire component and design determine which is the absolute best core for that particular design. Generically I go with actionboo or clear vertical grain maple. As to the best probably actionboo or action eastern maple with clear vertical maple being as good if it is graded tight.
I happen to love good claro walnut and have built some of the smoothest bows with it. Also yew is great and adds a great color in the right situations.
I would be willing to bet that clear , vertical grain Doug Fir would be a top if not the top core material. It could also make a great actionwood.

God bless, Steve

[ishoot4thrills]

Personally, I like bamboo.

But, bamboo isn't wood so it doesn't really fit with the question. Bamboo is a grass.

[fujimo]

check out kennym on the bowyers bench he built 4 o5 bows same design same draw weight, and tested them all- force draw curves chrono and personal observation. very good thread- some real, and definitive answers there.
cheers
wayne

[Joe2Crow]

hey longbow fanatic, I see that you own a NM Shelton.  Steve Turay is a great guy to have this conversation with.  When I asked him the same basic question, his response was that there is really little difference because the glass does most of the work anyway.

[beaunaro]

Bill Dunn just built me a beautiful zipper SXT recurve.

When I commented on how it was noticeably faster than any other recurve or longbow that I have, I said..."it must be that layer of carbon fibre".

He remarked that it had something to do with it, but that it is mostly design that makes the difference.

Can't wait to shoot it with you again this Summer.

I'll be home mid May and we must get out to some 3Ds again.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Originally posted by Joe2Crow:
hey longbow fanatic, I see that you own a NM Shelton.  Steve Turay is a great guy to have this conversation with.  When I asked him the same basic question, his response was that there is really little difference because the glass does most of the work anyway.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Originally posted by beaunaro:
Bill Dunn just built me a beautiful zipper SXT recurve.

When I commented on how it was noticeably faster than any other recurve or longbow that I have, I said..."it must be that layer of carbon fibre".

He remarked that it had something to do with it, but that it is mostly design that makes the difference.

Can't wait to shoot it with you again this Summer.

Sounds great, Irv! I can't wait to see that Zipper!    

I'll be home mid May and we must get out to some 3Ds again.

[fujimo]

ok... so just copied the results from Kenny's thread with the test bows that he built specifically for the experiment- so these are real results- comparing apples with apples!!
no assumptions or guesses!


here is a link to the thread- long- but tons of good info in there about power lams etc!!

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001491;p=11

"OK, here goes!

Shot with mechanical release on Hooter Shooter

These bows were made as close as possible to each other with


64" length
.355 total stack
.003" per inch total taper
4 wood lams
2 pcs black glass
18" riser
10 strand D97 endless string
brass nockset

Here is the data,I used the same arrow for all bows(sorry,limited time with hootershooterbefore sending one bow to charity auction!)

The arrow weighed 437 grains

All bows chronoed at 28" draw length

Actionboo bow
48 #
181.1 fps

Maple bow
49#
182.1 fps

Red elm bow
49.8#
183.0 fps

Walnut bow
46.5#
181.1 fps [TYPO !!! Shoulda been 180.8!!]

[knothead]

--------------------------------------------------

Now for some fun info...

62" walnut bow same specs just 2" shorter
51.6#
187.8 fps

My hunting bow with string puffs 62" bow
52.9# @28"
186.5 fps
w/o string puffs same bow
192.1

29" draw-56.8# (7.69 gpp) w/o puffs
200.8 fps

30" draw -59.4# (7.36gpp) w/o puffs
209.5 fps

---------------------------------------------
Draw force All are 64" except noted,all gain even 2.5 out to 32 except 62" at bottom

A-boo
48@28
57.7@32

Maple
49@28
58.5@32

Red elm
49.8@28
59.1@32

Walnut
46.5@28
56.3@32

62" walnut
51.6@28
53.9@29
57@30
59.6@31
63.2@32

Gaining avg of around 2.5#per inch except the 62" bow is gaining faster after 29"

This data was collected to the best of our ability,YER MILEAGE MAY VARY  [Cool]

[ November 16, 2009, 10:01 PM: Message edited by: kennym ]

--------------------
Stay sharp, Kenny."

[fujimo]

what i see is the results are so close that i doubt anybody could "feel" the difference in speed- but could maybe feel smoothness of draw etc

what would be interesting to see, is some blindfold tests, repeatedly, and in different orders,and with different "drawers" and see if one particular bow proves itself consistently as the best, to see if one particular core material does give a smoother draw or not!!??

based on these results i am going to say that design makes the biggest difference!!   :D

[tracker12]

I think to really compare you need to build the bows all in the same design with the different cores.  And even then one bowman might like the feel of one over the other.

[fujimo]

yup thats exactly what kenny  did ...
see above in my post- all the bows are off the same form- different cores only - everything else exactly the same- all made by the same bowyer- same caul pressures , same amt. glue etc etc etc

and they were all shot out of a shooting machine with a mechanical release- cant get fairer than that!!!!
check out the thread- tons of info in there!