Warbow woods?

[Eastman]

Hey fellow archers.

I've made a few flatbows and elb's and im looking to make my first Warbow.

I'm looking to make my first one about 80# @31''.  Then a 90+ pounder tri-lam for my second attempt.
Wich of the following woods would you guys recommend? wich would work together nicely in a tri-lam?  And wich dimensions?

Rosewood,white oak,maple(exact species unknown),blackwood,syringa,white stinkwood,honey locust and sometimes ash.   i then also have hickory and bamboo backings available to me.

Thanks a lot
Eastman   

[adb]

I've made quite a few tri-lams, some as heavy as 110#.
I've used ash, maple, and hickory as backing woods.
I've used bloodwood, purpleheart, osage, wenge, jatoba, and bamboo as mid-lams.
I've used osage, yew, bloodwood, yellowheart, and ipe as belly woods.

They've all been 74-80" NTN, with narrow profile stacked belly profiles, and mostly tillered full compass.
I'm sure there are a few other combos, but these have all worked relatively well for me.

[fishfinder401]

what abd sounds similar to what i would say, except i don't have his experience with trilams

[Eastman]

thanks adb,

 if im using bamboo backed white oak, shooting for about 80# @ 31'' draw length, how wide and long should i make the bow?

thanks

[adb]

I don't know about oak, I've never used it. I also don't use bamboo anymore. Any heavy bows I make, regardless of weight, are minimum 72" NTN.

[Ian.]

Oak isn't worth spending time over, all my early bows were white oak because it was cheap and easy to work but after 30 arrows the bow will all crysled and have massive set.

Bamboo is a really good backing what other woods can you get?

[Eastman]

since i live in South Africa i dont have easy access to osage and tropical woods like ipe or purpleheart.

 well, i guess the only other really dense woods i have available are rosewood,blackwood,balow ( wich is very dense and theyre sold as thick floor boards)  and ''Rhodesia Kiaat'' (im not sure about its name in english, but its also a wood known for its high density)

 what about heat treated white oak?? i think ill give that a try, albeit just for experimental purposes.

[Ian.]

Afraid I haven't heard of the woods you have mentioned, give them a go one of them must be good.

[adb]

Try white oak as a backing material. Make it a 1/4" thick parallel lam. It's suppossed to be nearly as good as hickory. One of the dense hardwoods you mentioned should be compression strong enough for decent belly wood.
A while back (maybe about a year or so ago) there was a guy in S. Africa who was making heavy weight warbows. I can't remember his forum name, but try doing a search under bows  or this forum.

[CraigMBeckett]

Oak isn't worth spending time over, all my early bows were white oak because it was cheap and easy to work but after 30 arrows the bow will all crysled and have massive set.

Bamboo is a really good backing what other woods can you get?

Surprised to hear you say that Ian.
I will say I have not found any decent white Oak yet so have not used it so have no personal experience with it but have heard and read of plenty of others that have and they report the opposite and say its a good belly wood. One such Bowyer that springs to mind is Alanesq or if you prefer his real name Alan Blackham who I believe uses/use an American Ash backed, American White Oak bellied bow of something like 150LB weight.

Just checked his site the weight of the Ash/Oak bow was 160LB.

http://www.alanesq.com/bsb.htm

Craig.

[Ian.]

Me and Alan started bow making at the same time we happened to use the same combination and compared results, and he did have some success with it but he had the same approach to me its good to train with, its good for bow making practice but it doesn't last very long. His 160lb made from ash/oak looked like a nice bow but after time some large crysles developed, that's when he made the move to Ipe. The 160lb also wasn't made in the normal way, it was a self bow that was made into a laminate.

If you want a bow that will last I would unless you find an exceptional piece not bother with oak.

[Eastman]

 thank you guys for all the info,


i  think im gonna use rosewood with a bamboo back. rosewood is about the densest wood i have available. ( SG 0.8 - 0.9 )
      does this layout sound ok?

 about 72'' long,  1,5'' wide for center 20'', tapering in a straight line to the nocks.  ( 80# @31'')

[Ian.]

That sounds like a good combination, I have no experience with rosewood personally but if the bow is 72" you will need much less than 1.5" wide,  last time I made a bow of about that weight I started with 1.25/1" in the centre and that bow was 77" long.

[CraigMBeckett]

Me and Alan started bow making at the same time we happened to use the same combination and compared results, and he did have some success with it but he had the same approach to me its good to train with, its good for bow making practice but it doesn't last very long. His 160lb made from ash/oak looked like a nice bow but after time some large crysles developed, that's when he made the move to Ipe. The 160lb also wasn't made in the normal way, it was a self bow that was made into a laminate.

If you want a bow that will last I would unless you find an exceptional piece not bother with oak.

Ian,

Thanks for the info, must admit to being surprised that Alan has not clarified his use of woods.

Craig.

[Ian.]

I agree, I hope at some point he gets back into bowmaking.