Fruit trees, etc. for bow wood

[lesken2011]

Down here in the southeast a lot of trees are blooming. Some trees are really easy to spot like dogwood trees, fruit trees, etc. I am curious...we have a lot of Bradford Pears, which don't really produce any fruit. Does anyone know what kind of bow wood they are? My neighborhood is full of them. The landscapers just came through pruning and limbs are stacked everywhere. Also some river birches...I think.


Also, I went by my lumber store, today and carried Tim Baker's list of good bow woods to see which they carry. They carry many of them (yippie....look out board bows...more practice) When I got down to osage on the list, they said they used to carry a lot of osage, but couldn't sell it very quickly....must have been marketing to the wrong crowd. My question is this. At the bottom of the list was sweet gum. They didn't have any, but had something called sap gum. It was really pretty. Anyone know anything about it?

[oldhippy]

   Lesken, Never have tried branford pear but I have heard it doesn't make for good bow wood. Supposed to be too brittle and weak.

[HoBow]

Bradford pears are the same wood as normal pear trees, they have just been modified so they do not produce fruit.  The wood will be fine to use.  Most people think the wood is brittle because the trees tend to split.  The only reason they split is because the limbs often criss cross and grow parallel to the ground putting stress on the main trunk, not because the wood is deficient.  If you keep them trimmed up, they will not split.     

[Sparrow]

I was trimming plums today.Got some fabulous 3 to 4 inch limbs that were growing staight up,trying to find the sun.There will be some good bows come from that wood.  '  Frank

[Pat B]

Bradford pear is a true pear. The woiod should be good for bows. The structure of the tree is weak but the wood is not.

[lesken2011]

Thanks, guys. I'll upload some pics later. Any comments on the river birch?