coconut wood

[dragonman]

I just got hold of a 1"thick plank of coconut wood. Does anyone  have any experience of it? Appears to be very hard and I know the trees can take a lot of bending in storms before they break, so  thought it must be worth a try.

[Lombard]

Awesome, you might well be breaking new ground with that coconut plank. As they say, just do it. I for one will be looking forward to the photos.

If your plank is wide enough, you might have enough wood to try, a self bow (depending on grain), and perhaps a couple different backed bows. Sure sounds intriguing to me.

[jthompson1995]

Some tribes in the tropics have been using palm wood like coconut for bows for a while. I have seen and held a reproduction and it seems pretty robust. The one I saw was similar in dimensions to an ELB, long and fairly deep in section, pretty round in cross section.

I have not made a bow from this wood but I have worked it and turned it on my lathe so these are just some of my observations based on that experience.

Be careful when cutting the board as the hard fibers may separate from the softer "filler" wood and they can be quite sharp. The density of the hard fibers may vary across the board, similar to bamboo. The more dense areas will be better for a bow. I would also suggest making nocks by wrapping twine or sinew around the nock end as the fibers can pull apart fairly easily so cut in nocks may not be the best.

[AncientArcher76]

Well the only thing about it I know is what u said I believe it is in the palm tree family and also it does take a beating as far as high winds!  They nearly bend right over to the ground and then stand right back up!  Can we see a picture of the wood!  I also bet that u might be on to the next best thing in bow building!  You better pattend ur idea !!!

Russ

[Del the cat]

Funny, I thoughtof coconuts, I wonder if coconut shell would make a nice tip overlay, I know they carve it for ornamental purposes.
Del

[hillbilly61]

 Del.. That's something that makes ya go hmmmmm

[mullet]

 I've shot a very fast bow a friend made from Black Palm.

[knightd]

I have also shot and made bows from the palm family and they work very well..

[Parnell]

I've heard of black palm in reading some things but was figuring it doesn't really grow here in S. Florida.  Does it?  What species of palm would work?  Sorry, don't mean to hijack but I'm super curious...

[dragonman]

Yes, I get a good feeling about it too, paid about $55  for it and should make 3-4 bows. It is quite unsual  stuff , doesnt look like normal wood grain, but it is so roughly cut wouldnt be worth posting a pic. , I need to plane a surface and photo it' then  you'll get more idea what it looks like, Russ. I'll do it in the next few days. Judging by the weight it must be nearly as dense as the densest tropical trees. I heard the wood its hardest  on the outside of the tree and softest in the centre , but I've got no way to know where this plank came from in the tree. I'll just have to experiment.

[zenmonkeyman]

Maybe if you float the plank in a swimming pool one side will float higher than the other.  If it's too different from side to side you might have to watch for prop twist.

[mullet]

 Steve, the friend I was talking about that has the palm bow is Claude.