kentucky coffee tree wood?

[BowEd]

Hello self bow makers.I was wondering whether anyone has worked kentucky coffe tree wood for bows.The good and bad qualities of it in tension and compression,elasticity etc.I acquired it from an Amish sawmill of which the owner I'm confident knows the wood species.It was grown in southern Iowa.I'm in the process of checking the density of it in a float test and will report my findings.Just roughing it out it seems to have an elm or hickory type of quality to it.Interlocking grain etc.I'm sure it's not as dense as osage orange.The stave only had about a half inch of sapwood of 4 to 5 rings the heartwood  being a light chocolate brown.The early wood between the late wood is a darker brown.Any experienced knowledge of this wood would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[BowEd]

The Amish said it is mostly a furniture wood and the TTB 4 book says it's about .60 density.

[cracker]

I've used it before it make a good bow.Ronnie

[Pat B]

Tim Ott built a very nice bow using KY Coffee tree. Do a search!

[BowEd]

Thanks.I just met him at Mo Jam a few days ago.I'm going to do a bend test here too.Seems like some pretty nice bow wood so far.

[TRACY]

Makes a good hunting bow, just keep some length to it. Good wood!

Tracy

[BowEd]

That'a what Tim Ott told me too.I've got 66 and 1/4 inches to work with.Two inches wide.Dried it into a reflex of 2 inches which I'm sure I'll lose with tillering.The early wood turning purple from a heat gun kind of different.Doing a density and bending test says this tree is about .70 SG and needs to be at least 1 and 3/4 inches wide.Guess I'll start long and wide enough and work my way down.Liked to get at least 55 pounds out of it at 28 inches.It's an interlocking type grain like elm and compression weak like elm too.Coarse looking early wood.I really think it's a little stronger wood than elm though.Kind of between elm and hickory.I'll find out soon taking wood off.Got a couple of remedies for the belly I've used..Heat treating or gluing on of a horn belly.I'm sure I'll learn something from it.

[BowEd]

Ok I finally got around to this Coffee tree stave.Had to make a BBO first.I thought I would try to only make it 1 and 5/8ths inch wide to midlimb then to 1 and 3/8ths inch wide 8 inches from tip then eiffel tower it to 1/2 inch to the tip.Thinking I would put about 60 to 70 thousands or about 1/16th inch thick horn on it to strengthen it up a bit.Started with it at 66 inches reduced that to 63 inches t/t.Thinking I wanted to use it in my blind.Tillered it to about 42 pounds at 28 inch draw first then took my reflex deflex form I got copied from a friend of mine who copied it from Dean Torges form and glued the horn on the belly with smooth on into a mild reflex deflex giving it about 3 and 1/2 inches of reflex.I wrapped the horn on with inner tube strips.The horn was 18 inches long and I glued it clear up the fades to the handle close to the width of the bow.I like old Dean Torges bulbous type handle.It came out of the form with 1 and 1/2 inch reflex.Still in tiller.Mainly all I had to do then was shoot it in and finish it.Put about 100 arrows through it.Put some horn over lays on the tips and some on the belly of the handle.It gained about 9 pounds from the horn so it pulls about 51 pounds at 28 inches.After shooting it has about 1/2 inch reflex left when unstrug and returns to 7/8 inch in 2 hours. Shoots average for speed.500 grain arrow at 152 f/s.I'm happy and found out myself about this wood.It turns purple when heated and does have a nice over all kind of purpleish pink type of hue to it.Shoots very smooth with good early tension with very little hand shock.It was exactly like Tim Ott said and the TTB 4 book on bow wood Tim Baker wrote as far as density although I thought this stave was closer to .70 density.Thanks Tim and Tim.One of these days I'll get a digtal camera for pictures sorry because it is a nice enough looking bow.Well it's getting to winter and time to make some hickory bows [dry air and all].I'll try the same horn remedy with that wood too.

[BowEd]

I forgot to mention that the first time the bow was tillered I basically tillered it in the brace and did'nt pull it past 18 or 20 inches of draw.If I do a good job of floor tillering it usually will be very close to tiller before a string is ever put on it.

[BowEd]

I updated my string on this bow to 9 strands of fast flight and it now shoots a 500 grain arrow 158 foot a second average

[BowEd]

Not much comment on this but it's interesting to me.I put 28 strands of 7 ply linen on the back now which ended up being a little less than 1/32 of an inch thick.Put it back in the form.Came out in tiller again and now have a 58 to 59 pound bow.It now shoots that 500 grain arrow 165 to 170 foot a sec. with a 28 inch draw.I think I'll quit adding pounds now LOL and put some snake skins on and call it good.I was able to do some side tillering on it to reduce mass but still weighs 19.75 ounces.Which is close enough for me at my stage of bow making.To me this Koffe wood is a lot like elm or hickory maybe closer to hickory in density.Like some fellas have told me this is good bow wood.Pulls nice and smooth throughout the draw with very little hand shock on this mollie design.I'd like to get a deer with each one of my self bows.Does anyone have the problem I'm getting here of more bows than deer shot.LOL.Thanks for listening.

[coaster500]

Any pictures of this bow? I'd like to see it

I've only built two bows and used Coffee Tree for the second one... I got lucky and it's a shooter

[BowEd]

Yea I know and I would but only have a 35 mm. camera and am slow about getting modern here with a digital camera.That's great your bow come out good.Mine is 63 t to t.Horn overlays on tips with horn on the belly. and handle.Once I get the snake skins on I think I'll give it a few coats of poly.It's been braced for 3 hours at a time and shot probably 200 arrows.It unbraces with about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch string follow and is back flat in 2 hours.I'm obbsessive about staying away from string follow and this one fills my bill good enough.I'm sure it will follow more once it goes through a couple of hunting seasons or even one season.Got some shag ang pig nut hickory staves here drying by the wood stove here I'm looking forward to.It's a bit more dense than the coffee wood and I get a kick out of the cambium back on this stuff after bark removal.Looks like a person just walks over to a tree and just plucks the bow right out of the trunk.LOL.Have fun shooting your bows.I know it took and still is taking a lot of practice and tweaking to shoot consistently accurate with these bows.

[TRACY]

Would love to pics Ed. Just got done reading posts and it sounds like you did some research and homework. Got a few staves of it left and might just put the knife to one after deer season.

Thanks
Tracy

[BowEd]

Yes I know the pics would seem to help with what I'm talking about here.I still just got this 35 mm. camera here and I don't go through as much film as I used to taking pictures of my coon hounds at night.Plus the developers of 35 mm. film are getting fewer and fewer and only doing it once aweek now at least here.A digital camera has to be purchased soon.Have to learn how to run and transfer that stuff too to the computer.LOL.I'm 57 and only owned a computer about 5 years.Kind of set in my ways but am willing to try I guess.Got deer shot pictures too I'm not getting on here.Do you have coffee tree staves or hickory?I went through a bit of work on that coffee tree bow with the horn and linen and all.I've only made about 30 bows so far.Mostly hedge.It is fun to try other woods.The white woods are a little more touchy than hedge.With wood removal during tillering etc.It's hard to beat old hedge.Closest thing in my area would be this hickory I think.How's deer season going?