hawthorn?

[cornbread]

I'm in mich and have what I believe is a type of hawthorn.I've made a few bows from hickory,osage,and red oak,but have never cut my own wood. I cut a little bit of this wood I think is hawthorn and it had cream colored sap wood and dark brownish-orange heartwood.I wood like to make a long narrow longbow with a stiff handle section.Do I use the heartwood,or sap wood? .Should I cut now it now or wait till spring when the sap is up so I can peel the bark off ?  Can I rough tiller the bow while green then let it dry? Thanks

[NTProf]

I have not worked with Hawthorne. But I just started making sapling bows, and I have had extremely good luck debarking and floor tillering the stave while green and then setting it aside to dry. It seems that it takes care of a lot of the problems with checking and serious warping. It also dried much more quickly. I just went from a fresh cut sapling to a shootable bow in 4 weeks! But my experience with saplings is limited to a few bows of only 3 or 4 different kinds of wood, so someone else will have to tell you what to do with hawthorne.

[PatM]

Are you sure it's Hawthonr?. Most Hawthorn I've seen is just white and similar to ironwood. Are you sure it's not Buckthorn? The two tend to share the same growing locations.

[Gordon]

We have a lot of hawthorne around here and I have never seen any with a darkish heartwood. Hawthorne is fine bow wood, just watch out for the lateral pin knots on the belly - they will crack if you are not careful.

[Hojo]

Hawthorn is highly rated as a bow wood.  Do a search for hawthorn with user names of RyanO or Marc.  They've each posted bows of it in the past year or two.  

Personally, I wouldn't try chasing a heartwood ring on it.  Just strip the bark off and go with the outer layer of sapwood as the back.  Seal it up with some shellac after taking the bark off.  I would go ahead and floor tiller it before putting it up to dry.  

I've have a Hawthorn stave from Michigan right now that has dark heartwood.  There are many different varieties of it, so that might be the difference.  Does the wood smell a little like oak to you?  

[cornbread]

It may be buckthorn I can't seem to find a lot of info on telling the difference,if it is buckthorn is it worth trying out.While cutting some dead trees they landed on a small tree-bush in a hedgerow that I believe is hawthorn so I had to cut it off at the bottom to free up the dead tree.It was then that I noticed the sap wood,heartwood on the stump.A couple of days later I cut on a straight log but it leaning have over and appeared to be dead,it was white all the way through.Can heatwood change color if has been dead awhile? I did'nt smell the wood but will try next time.Should it smell like oak or does it have a different smell? I have spotted a few more that seem to grow very straight up could it be I have two  different speicies of hawthorn? I also have some hickory,elm ,ash , trees that I would like to cut for staves but think I should wait till spring so I can juct peel the bark off. Is their any advantage to cutting wood in the winter? Thanks for the replies, It is greatly apperciated.

[Gordon]

I don't know anything about buckthorn, but hawthorn we have around here has lots of very sharp thorns.

[El Destructo]

Gordon Buckthorn is loaded with thorns also...and when you scrape off the Bark...the Sapwood is Yellow and the Heartwood is an Orangy Color.... Buckthorns Specific Gravity is 1.31....it's one of them Woods that will sink in Water even when Dry...It works fairly easy for such a Dense Wood...but I have had nothing but trouble with it splitting on Me...but that could be the Dry Climate here too...

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[PatM]

I've never heard that buckthorn has that kind of density. The native Cascara Buckthorn is only mid density.

[cornbread]

The tree I cut had about half sapwood and half heartwood,I think I will cut a straight one down next time and check to see if it is the same.I would guess the heartwood would be stronger than the sapwood,and the rings seem wavy under the bark.I will probably have to decrown the back because of the tight rings,so I guess there would be no reason to wait till spring for the sap to run.

[El Destructo]

I've never heard that buckthorn has that kind of density. The native Cascara Buckthorn is only mid density.

Buckthorn Rhamnaceae is the one that I am referring to.....

[Lombard]

Cornbread, that is some interesting looking wood. Looking forward to your posting of a completed bow.