Crab apple stave

[Peter-t123]

Hi, I've just taken a branch off a crab apple tree in my garden and would like to make a heavy bow out of it. I've never heard of this wood being used before, and was wondering if anyone has used it and can give me any idea if its any good and what profile i should go with on it. its got some massive reflex in the middle of the handle which im going to take down with steam, also this is the first time ive used stave wood and there are a few things about it im worried about. there are a couple of knots on the back where there where twigs growing out of the wood, how do i go about dealing with these? there are also some knots that have been cut through along the side of the stave that im not sure about, cheers for any help, pictures below:

[Outbackbob48]

Ryan O'Sullivan has made afew out of hawthorn which i believe is about  the same as crabapple. shot a real nice buck with it. Hope this helps . Later Bob

[adb]

Hawthorn and apple are not the same tree, or even close. We have both in our backyard.
If that's your first stave bow, you've given yourself a real challenge! It's small diameter, and very twisty. You have a lot of work ahead!
I made one bow out of apple, and it turned out reasonably. I cut some staves green, and had a bit of trouble getting them to dry without twisting and warping, and keeping them from checking badly. I made the bow >45#. I don't think apple is up to a narrow profile, heavy draw weight type of bow. I think it would take massive set. The bow I made is a  flatbow, and as I mentioned, it turned out pretty decent. IMHO, apple is not ideal warbow material.

[MrWarSpoon]

Take it down to a nice, single growth ring on the back and smooth out the knots without compromising the ring itself... leave them in there and keep some character in the wood

[DarkSoul]

This stave is a challenge in its own. It will be difficult to even get a light weight bow out of it, let alone a warbow! I think it's too ambituous to aim for a heavy bow with this stave. Considering this will be your first stave bow, it would be much smarter to stick to a 40-50 pound bow. But even that will be a nice challenge, with those knots and already violated profile.

Seal the ends and rough out the stave close to the pith. Then set it aside to dry for a month or two.

Crab apple is in the rose family, as is hawthorne. Although they are not closely related, they are certainly related to family level. Which is not related enough to make predictions about the wood characteristics, though.

[Peter-t123]

Hi guys, i wanted to get an idea what this wood was like, so i used a second, slighter and more twisted branch to experiment with. I couldn't be bothered to wait months for it to dry so i quickly brought the mc down low with heat, there was some checking which i filled with glue... i let it dry for 2 days before tillering it out to 32 inches, i pulled it to 32 a few times when a splinter annoyingly raised on the back, ive glued it back down and am going to do a silk wrapping on that part of the limb... the bow took some set (around 1.5 inches?) which i attribute mainly to the moisture still being a bit high while tillering, no fretting has appeared on the belly so far. the weight is low, about 75lb which i believe will raise slightly as the wood completely dries out, (i will also be heat treating the belly to see how it affects the weight, and will probably heat treat the second one too) and i ended up taking quite a lot of wood off to try and get a reasonable shape, as i said this is my first stave so im a novice when it comes to working around twists and curves, my plan for the second stave is to take it down to near final dimensions, before coating it and letting it dry out slowly and properly, i will try and keep as much reflex as possible and hopefully make a flightbow between 100-110 lb for the ewbs welsh class competition, pics below:

[Del the cat]

Blimey, that's impressive for anyone never mind a 'novice'... are you teasing us?
If you can make that, I dunno why you are askin' us!
How long is that 75 pounder?
Mind the nock looks like the taper is a bit sharp and the limb need blending in, but I can see you havn't finished it.
That's a side nock by the look of it, right?
Del
(Is that a bagage scale from Poundland you have on there?  )

[Peter-t123]

Hi del, this is indeed my first stave, the bow is 73" ntn, not particularly long at all, and yes it is a side nock, i felt a bow like this had to have them well spotted, that is a poundland scale, i do have a proper one that goes up to 220lb, but this bow wasnt heavy enough for me to bother getting it out, peter

[Ian.]

You did a nice job Peter, the fact it wasn't seasoned doesn't make me think it'll be setting any record alight, but it's a good omen for the next bow. 

[Peter-t123]

cheers br0, im going to dry the other one out slowly and properly and try and get a flight bow out of it... with this one im gonna do the silk binding and shoot it slightly just for the sake of calling it finished, then it will probably be put somewhere and never used again

[Ian.]

Well it worked, why don't you put a finish on it any leave it until the next shoot in a warm but not over dry area, then when it comes to be shot it will have the best possible chance.

[Peter-t123]

i will definitely bring this one along to godington and shoot it in the flight out of curiosity, but i suspect it will be rubbish, the (hopefully) second bow is the one i will be more interested in. im starting some of these laminates tomorrow which is what ill be concentrating on for a while, last time i was at the timber merchants they had a nice 7 foot bit of purpleheart, unfortunately when i went there today they said they had sold it to a man 'for longbows' (looks like theres someone else making them near me then?) but they had a 4 foot bit of straight grained pau amorello which ive bought to make spliced cores, should be okay?

[Ian.]

I'll be honest I did give him a call and asked about the Lemonwood and Yew but his prices are a little high for me.

[Yeomanbowman]

Really interesting bow, Peter.  I love the static recurve in one end with the string that even touches the limb like an Asiatic one.  Like Del says, I'd be careful about that scale.  If it breaks at full-draw the bow will dry loose, which would be a mighty shame for such a characterful bow.
Please keep posting them!

[Peter-t123]

hi, i asked him today about the lemonwood and doing a rough calculation in my head it was around £25 per belly which seems too high for me too, i only had this scale on the string once for this pic as i couldnt be bothered to go and get my proper one out, but i usually use a proper metal 220lb scale, cheers for the warning though, and hopefully i will have some more bows up soon