Hello,
Here is some information on carrotwood. I'm attaching pictures of a bow that I made. Unfortunately, after a succesful pike of 3 inches the bow exploded after I shot it and I put it on the tiller tree to get an estimate of weight. It went to about 43-44 lbs. and wham!
So here is the story. I finished it about 2 weeks ago. Shot it probably about 200 times or so. it was 60 inches ntn and 40#. At the handle it was 1 3/8" wide and went to thin tips under a half inch. I piked it so it would be 58" ntn. There was some character in the center of the D and it was bending a bit too much in the handle, I guess. That's where it shattered after piking.
I don't much mind because at least I got to have some fun with it and I learned a good deal about the wood before it blew on me. I'll say this: the wood seems quite elastic. I didn't heat treat the wood and it didn't take much set, probably about .5 - to an inch. It is a lightweight wood. I think that this wood would do quite well with sinew backing, but I don't have any experience with that so it's just on my educated guessing. The bow shot well out to 20 yards and had actually been my preferred shooter, but hey, it was also the newest and one I was experimenting with. I really like the colors in this wood, brown/grey/orange streaks. I'd be very curious to shoot a shorter sinew backed D. I've got one more stave of this stuff that's seasoned and am considering doing a sinew project. But we'll see...
Here are pictures. Please feel free to ask any questions.
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