privet question

[bubby]

I cut some privet the other day and was wondering if I should leave it whole or split it or reduce it close to floor tiller and clamp it to a caul, no experience with this wood so any advice would help, it's about 2" on one end 3" the other and about 6'2" long, not shure if it will check bad if I reduce it, thank's, Bub

[okie64]

Ive cut a little but of privet bubby but my experience with it is limited, in other words Im not a privet expert by any means. The pieces that I cut and took the bark off split overnight all the way to the center. The other ones I cut and split them in half after kerfing with a skilsaw and removed the bark and sealed the back with shellac and they turned out fine. Its probably worth mentioning that the pieces that I had that split were cut and peeled in the middle of summertime when it was pretty warm. I still got a little bendy handle bow out of it. Its pretty nice wood to work with just not real pretty stuff, not much grain to it.

[bubby]

thank's okie, how long did you let it sit before working it, my neighbor has privet and with all the birds I now have some, if I gotta cut and it will make a bow, well you know

[okie64]

Yes I know exactly what you mean. The woods around my house are being taken over by privet so I figured as long as Im going to be out there cuttin it down I may as well try to get a bow out of it. Kinda cool in a way though, its one of those species that you can go cut down and not feel guilty about it ( not that Ive ever felt guilty about cutting any tree down) . If I remember right the little bow that I built was only about 30 days off the stump. I probably rushed it a little and it did take a couple inches of set, still shoots good though. I plan on tryin it out again one of these days. Ive got a few pieces that were cut in winter and the bark is glued down so I thought about tryin one of those with the bark on. Not sure if it would work or not, I dont see what it would hurt to try it though, not like theres a shortage of it.

[bubby]

yeah there's no shortage of it here either

[CherokeeKC]

Privet makes good arrows also!  I have been eyeing a couple pieces of privet to cut for bows.  I think I will get them this week.

[danny f]

i cut some a month ago and split it and left the bark on. i put it under the bed  where it is warm. (dont tell the missus).  and started working on it the other day and i would say it is dry. its a nice wood to work with. i steamed some recurves in one went perfect the other split slightly, it seems a pretty  tough wood and i think it will make a decent bow. i will post pics when i get it finished.