cotton wood???

[Justin Snyder]

makes decent arrows if you wanna put in the work.probably better arrows than bows.

ditto.

Dont waste your time making bows with it. It may work, but you will still have a garbage bow that nobody will enjoy shooting. Time is usually the most expensive part of a bow so why not invest in good wood before you waste valuable time.

[sound maker]

randman: haven't been able though I have had some friend looking for some good deals since they get around.
   
   Yes I will not be making any bows from it since the fountain of knowledge here says its explode when it breaks and that's not going to end well . I'll just go for a walk and "pick up" some wood from around where I won't get in trouble.(have a park behind my house so if some of the trees there drop branches in my yard its all fair!! )  I will go with the arrow comment there though but for that do I just get the wood cut and debarked followed by splitting it to dry faster? that would mean I would have them dry  in a few weeks and ready to shot vs months if left  whole?

[randman]

Yeah with the Hazel that's around here (with a stave that's 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" dia.) you can debark it, rough it to bow shape and get it close to to floor tiller and let it sit for a couple of months inside and she's ready to work further. Another good wood that's plentiful and easy to get and work with around here (nobody cares how much you take and it gives up it's moisture REAL fast) is scotchbroom. It makes some great shortys and sometimes you can find some long staves. Find one of those forests of broom that are around (I usually take my folding Japanese pruning saw), fight your way into the middle (that's where you'll find the tall stuff) and look for ones that don't have too many branches and knots sticking out of the surface that's going to be the back (although I've found that a few small knots and holes don't bother it at all). Let it sit in the round with the bark on for a month or so (specially in the summer). then rough it to bow shape get it to floor tiller and let it set for another month and it's ready to go (debark it then). Don't debark it too early or it'll crack and check all over the back surface (because it dries REAL fast) and will also dry into a crazy amount of reflex that's harder to deal with. With debarking at the right time, you can control the amount of reflex you will get and you will swear the stuff has sinew built into it. I've gotten 35 and 40 lb. bows from 1" dia. staves. Fatter ones will get you lots more weight.

[sound maker]

randman: is this scotchbroom??? got a bunch of it near me at a empty lot,
and could I debarked it and just put some glue on the back???

[randman]

Yep that's it. Looks like you got a little forest of it right out your back door. Glue would probably work on the debarked back. Or some spray shellac if you have access to it (shellac would give it a nice color). Acrylic or latex paint would probably work to seal it too. You would have to paint it anyway for it to look nice in the end because glue would prevent it from taking a good stain color. Debarking is much easier green for sure.

[randman]

Here's some pics of a couple scotchbrooms shorties. The one on the left is sinew backed and the one on the right is about 35lbs at 24" (1" dia.) and I could probably pull it to 26. Both were heat treated on the belly (broom really likes it).

[sound maker]

how are their lengths??