Wild rose bow diameter

[servicebeary]

I recently made it back from a hike along the columbia river with a 1 1/4" piece of wild rose.  Just wondering from those who have used rose if it's wide enough to get 30ish pounds out of?  oh, and how wide were your bows?  thanks, -nick

[nickf]

should be more than enough for a 30pounder. I'd take a shot and go for 50, but I don't know anything about wild rose. Got some info about the s/g?

Nick

[George Tsoukalas]

Funny you should ask. Wild rose makes great arrows. I've been wondering if it would make a bow. Let us know. Jawge

[Pat B]

I've never made a bow with rose either but I don't know why not. Like Nick said, with 1 1/4" you should be able to make a 50# bow so a 30# bow would be less stress on the wood.
   I know that rose shoots for arrows will check if not handled properly and especially now that the juices are up. You may try reducing the belly side down a bit but leave the bark on the back until it has had time to dry a bit. Be sure to seal the ends but leave the belly side unsealed so the moisture can escape. You should also clamp or wrap it to a form to insure it will not twist while drying.
  Good luck and keep us posted!

[wolfsire]

Share a pic and a weight?

I'm pretty sure you can make some kind of bow out of it, even if very low weight and/or short.  I don't know, but I think roses have a fairly low specifc gravity.  I do know that they have a fair good sized pith and the bark takes up a lot of space, and they shirk a lot when drying, so that 1 1/4" might be a lot less mass available to take the strain.

This is just a thought that may not be worth anything, but it jumped into my head so I'll share it.  A backwards bow, belly nicely toasted and burnished to maximize compressive straigth, with a strong cable backing filling up the pith hole, and sillk under that.

[david w.]

someone posted a nice wild rose bow a while back but I can't remember who?