Black walnut

[warpath]

I found a nice black walnut board at my local lumber yard. Never really worked with black locust except for making handle risers. I cut a pair of barrel tapered laminations already. Has anyone ever done this before? What would you recommend that I back it with? I have hickory, maple, and bamboo backing strips so which one should I use? I think that bamboo would overpower it. The barrel tapers are 72" long, 1 7/8 wide, and taper from 1/8" at the tips to 3/8" at the center. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!! 

  G

[bubby]

is it walnut or locust?

[warpath]

it's walnut

[Thesquirrelslinger]

uh... I have never tried a walnut bow, but it is a whitewood. I have worked with walnut, but I used small logs from a relative's tree, plus I made arrows. Bamboo is incredibly strong in tension, I do not think that walnut will be strong enough in compression to safely take that compression. Try making your backing strip very thin, and level.
The hickory would probably work better.

[bubby]

back it with maple or white oak, I built one with a birch backer and turned out a good shooter, i'd go 2" wide at the fades and straight taper to 1/2" tips, you can reduce the tips when the bow is mostly done, 66" ttt for a 28" draw with a 4" grip and 2" fades, I assume with the barrel tapers you want a tri lam, maple walnut maple

[blackhawk]

That's not thick enough to make a hunting weight bow with just a simple wood backing...you'll have to glue another piece of wood with it....honestly your taper is not good for a belly....at only 1/8" at the tips you won't have enough meat out in the outer limbs once tillered and I'd bet it would fret....I'd thin it down more thru the center and use it as a core in a tri-lam....were you going to glue the pair together and a wood backing over that? With what you have maple would be best suited as a backing

[warpath]

Blackhawk- What if I use the walnut as a core with an osage belly and either maple or hickory backing?  Thinking of walnut as a handleriser also to set off the osage color wise.

  G

[DarkSoul]

I agree with blackhawk here. At 1/8" at the tips, it is simply too thin to make a good belly. At 3/8" at the center, it is simply too thick to work as a core. You should have worked out your dimensions better. You could, however, use one barrel tapered and one uniform 1/4" walnut lam to glue up a maple/walnut/walnut bow. I would recommend you to use maple as a backing, or even ash. Walnut is just not strong enough for a bamboo or hickory backing.
By the way, I disagree with squirrelslinger that walnut is a whitewood. It is not, in my opinion. Although the definition of 'whitewood' is very vague, I personally believe it is always a non-heartwood forming tree.

[warpath]

Darksoul-  What do you mean by "You should have worked out your dimensions better"? I've use these dimensions with other species and never had a problem with even bend or handle delamination. I've never used walnut outside of handle risers before so using it as a working lamination is all new to me. I did take your advice though and cut another lamination at 1/4" at the tips and 3/8" at the core. I figured a 1/8" taper from the core out wouldn't be as severe as my previouse lamination. What do you think?

 G

[DarkSoul]

Before you cut your board to laminations, you should make a plan. What laminations do you need? What lam do you want to make? How big should such a lam be, given the desired bow design? A walnut core for a kids trilam should have different dimensions than a walnut core for a warbow trilam. I always cut my laminations while knowing exactly what the lam is destined for. With the dimensions you've given, I just can't quite figure out what your intention was. Is it a core? A belly? For what kind of drawweight? Just because you've made a bow with similar finished dimensions, that doesn't mean it is safe to cut the lam directly to those dimensions as well.
A lam tapering from 3/8" at the handle to 1/4" at the tips sounds like a very decent belly lam for a trilam. It'll give you little room for tillering though (you'll quickly scrape through the walnut). Just add a 1/8" core and a 1/8" backing strip, and you're done!

[warpath]

Darksoul- I understand what you mean now. I really had no plan when cutting the lamination. Since it's a new bow wood to me I was just going to experiment and see what happened with different dimensions. Never really thought of it as a belly wood since I was going to do a tri-lam. I sometimes like to experiment since I feel it's the best way to learn. Yet I wasn't sure what to back it with. I knew that bamboo was out and I have hickory and maple backing strips. Never thought of using oak or ash but those are also possibilities. I'm going to try both laminations I've already cut and let you guys know what the results were. Thanks guys!! 

  G