Maple cores vs Bamboo cores

[longbow fanatic 1]

I was shooting my Stewart LS longbow with Birdseye Maples cores and my Stewart Slammer with boo cores today. To my eye, the maple cores were a touch faster and harder hitting than the boo cores. I can say this without equivocation; the maple cores fling an arrow just as hard as boo. My gaps are the same between both bows, at least at the distances I shoot. The boo is smoother, but I really like the speed of the maple too. What are your experiences with maple cores?

[monkeyball]

I had a Slammer 64" 40#@28"  Hardrock Maple cores with Tulip wood veneers. That bow was a shooter,cast was exceptional. Don't underestimate Maple as a limb core!


                                                       Good Shooting,
                                                                       Craig

[The Whittler]

Maple does not take a back seat to any core wood.

[ron w]

Maple has been around as a core material for a long long time. Always performed well. Bamboo always seems a bit smoother to me. If I was going maple I would just go a bit longer in length.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Leon suggested these cores because I didn't want to pay an upgrade fee for boo. Boy am I glad I listened to him. Plus they're pretty too!

[nineworlds9]

My experience is same as yours longbow',

My Lil Slammer with boo cores is smoother, my Slammer Special with maple cores is a little quicker and meaner.  Both super bows.  Just slightly different flavors.

It depends on the bow design, bows that are more core dependent will show more differences.

[olddogrib]

I thought in maple, Birdseye was a veneer wood and hardrock a core wood?

[Tim]

I've always preferred the feel and quietness of maple over bamboo.  I don't think the performance either way would even be worth discussing.  

The first bamboo cored longbow I owned was a Robertson Purist back in the late 80's. I've probably owned half dozen others since than with the most recent being an ACS with upgraded boo cores.  I found all of them to have a bit more hand shock and noise when compared to the same bow with maple cores.  To me it's an upgrade option that's just not worth the price.

[nineworlds9]

Originally posted by olddogrib:
I thought in maple, Birdseye was a veneer wood and hardrock a core wood?

Birdseye maple can most definitely be used as a core wood!  It is gorgeous.  I had a pair of limbs for my 3pc slammer with AAAA Birdseye maple and they were awesome and the edges of the lams had such cool character with all the eyes staring out.  My Slammer Special has 'regular' Birdseye cores and it has a similar effect, just less eyes than the AAAA grade.  

Leon loves the smoothness of bamboo but his favorite core is simple hard rock maple.  

Maple or boo, both great just different flavors.

[Ulysseys]

I honestly never noticed a difference...doesn't mean there isn't one but for me it doesn't matter

[ScouterMike]

I think the bow design makes a difference in how the core wood affects performance. In flatter limbed bows like recurves or the slammers for example the core wood has less of an affect than it does on deep cored limbs on ASLs which rely less on the glass.

Bamboo being lighter really shines on an ASL style bow. I have a ASL with maple limbs and like an osage limb ASL I had it thumps a little more than a bamboo limb bow. Arrow speed difference is minimal though.

[DaveT1963]

I trust my bowyer - in my JD Berry Bows I prefer Bamboo.  Have a couple recurves that have maple.

[Ron Vought]

Bamboo and Yew is my favorite core wood in the LS Slammer. Hard hitting and smooth. I had two maple core LS Slammers and they also shot nice but there is something about bamboo and Yew working together as a core.

Ron

[Orion]

On the bows I have, I give the speed edge to boo, though it's not great.  Likewise, boo yields less hand shock on the bows that I shoot, probably because it's physically lighter than maple, but again the difference is minor.  If I have a bow built, I go with boo lams, but I certainly won't turn down a good bow with maple lams. They're both good.  So is red elm, and yew, and walnut, and locust, etc.

[Rob DiStefano]

imho, limb cores aren't that big an issue if any issue at all, because they're typically sandwiched with glass or carbon or both.

for me and with respects to a longbow of hill style or mild r/d style, what matters most is the overall design - limb build and geometry and fade outs and tillering, and the riser length and grip shape.  most of the other criteria is aesthetic appeal, which surely has its rightful place, too.

however i do have a soft spot for real bamboo/cane cores.  action-boo would be a close second.  bamboo/cane is one helluva tough material (actually, as most of you already know, it's grass), and for whatever reason that i just can't prove, it do seem "smoother" on the draw and more "stable" on the release than most other core materials, but i can't technically prove that.

 

In the 70s and early 80s the Hill Mountain man with maple cores when it was tillered the same as the Tembo shot a slower arrow. My brother had one about the same poundage as one my Tembos. The dimensions were similar, but the arrow speed was a bit less. Louis Armbruster was making hardwood longbows that were different layups that were equal to anything on the market. It seemed no matter what different materials that he used, they all shot about the same when the poundage was the same, other than the ironwood bow that he would let me shoot, but would not sell to me. But it does show that hardwood lams can equal bamboo in a Hill style longbow, as long as each is layed up and tillered to match its core. In bows like the Stotler, I doubt that I could tell much difference because of the width of the limb and the fact that the glass is doing most of the work. Of the Stotlers that I have owned or shot with maple or bamboo they were all great shooting bows. On any bow one could always split the difference and go for an elm core, perhaps the best of both worlds.

[LBR]

Depends on the bow.  I like maple cores on most of the recurves I've shot.  For longbows, yew is my favorite limb wood.

I do have an Eric Krewson BBO that is as sweet as honey though.

I believe bow design plays a big part as well.

[7 Lakes]

Hard Rock (Sugar) Maple and Bamboo Actionwood are two of the best limb materials the archery world has known since the advent of fiberglass backing. Besides being a engineering marvel they are inexpensive.  7 Lakes offers both as a No/Charge custom option on your bow.  I know todays trend is for expensive limbwoods or veneers but know that those custom beauties cannot shoot better than the industry standards.

[damascusdave]

My opinion is that I do not the have the physical sensitivity to tell the difference...I have a number of bows with each type of core

DDave