Seven sacred woods of the Cherokee

[hedgeapple]

My motto has always been, "Anything worth doing is worth over doing."  I have yet to finish my first bow and my wife says I'm obsessed.  I am 1/16 Cherokee.  A couple weeks ago I thought up this crazy ideal.  The Cherokee recognize 7 clans each clan has there own wood, thus 7 sacred woods--ash, beech, maple, locust, oak birch and hickory.  My crazy idea is to build a bow of each of these woods and give it to my 7 closest friends.

My question can you build a bow with beech and birch?

[FlintWalker]

Do a search in "bows" for each of those woods.  I'm sure you'll come up with something. Either where someone has tried it with, or without success.

[adb]

Beech... I'm not sure, but birch... yes, definately.

[JackCrafty]

After you've made enough bows, you can pretty much make a bow out of anything.  So, yep, you can make bows from beech, birch, basswood, bamboo, butternut, and even balsa....well maybe not balsa.  But you get the idea.

[Lost Arra]

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/21533?page=1

[El Destructo]

Birch is good Bow wood....and makes a nice D Bow Style Bow too....I have never gotten my hands on any Beech....but they say if it has fruit or nuts....it'll make a Bow....so there you go....

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[hedgeapple]

Thanks everyone.  I guess I'll start gathering wood.  I saw a nice beech at my parents farm yesterday.  I know there's some good hickories and oaks on the farm also.

Another question which is the best oak wood, white oak or red oak?

[DanaM]

I have a beech stave I need to try, finding one with out twist is somewhat of a challenge and with its smooth bark its
tough to tell if its twisted until ya split it. All the woods you mentioned will make a bow with the proper design for each wood.

[Pat B]

I think white oak makes the best bow but lots of folks(me included) have made excellent bows from red oak.  I would go with the oaks or hickories before beech but that is just me. I have never made a beech bow although I have a stave in my wood pile. These are all whitewoods so if you can wait a few months, until the leaves come out, you will have an easier time removing the bark and cambium layer.   

[dragonman]

Thats a noble plan, Hedgeapple,  I hope that you fulfill it.  Over here the ancient Druids and Celtic people considered oak and yew as sacred trees

[Hickoryswitch]

I'm workin on a beech right now. I gotta alot of straightening to do on it. So far it seems pretty good it's hard and has good strength. I htink someone said it was tension weak though.

[majsnuff]

I think one can make a bow from any wood. It is just a matter of design and perserverance.