River birch?

[beetlebailey1977]

Anybody make any bows from this and can give me some info......I have the chance to cut some and just wanted to find out if there is anything special to know or how to treat it once I cut it.  Does it make a good bow?

Thanks folks.

[Newindian]

I don't have any experience with it but I do know you can get a good bow out of it.

[dbb]

I have built a few bows from birch,and broken more i think.I know your (us ) yellow birch is the best in the family.
I think they all share that they are from not so god to poor in compression and is decent in tension,so any build with that in mind should work.

[tronman]

This is from Tim Baker from Paleoplanet
 
"River birch is about .56 specific gravity. It's one of the lighter birches, So for example if making a 65" bow with 6" of net stiff handle area, a 50lb bow at 28" should be almost 2" wide out to mid limb. If fairly highly crowned go narrower and longer. If making a D-bow, 74" long and 1 3/8" wide from midlimb to midlimb should be safe if tillered well. "Tim


Eric

[beetlebailey1977]

Ok folks I am going to cut some and see what I can get.  Thanks for the input.

[paulsemp]

mine got hit in a storm one month ago and i cut  it down and got some staves out of it. I will let you know what I get