can you make a sinew backed bow from arborvitae ? (

[rockrush69]

I just worked my ass off cutting down what i thought was a juniper tree its about six inches in diametor and around 15 ft tall .... it has nice darker heartwood with lighter sapwood . I thought it was juniper and found. It to be an arborvitae it was very hard hard wood to cut down and the owner of the tree said it has not grown much i. 15 years so it is a slow growing tree . Still green and very heavy ... i need to know if i should " stave it up " or throw it in the burn pile . Please someone help .

[mikekeswick]

Short answer is I wouldn't bother..I don't think it's dense enough but it does have its uses.

[TacticalFate]

nope, Arborvitae has an SG of .34, which is around the density of most pines, much too low for a bow. It's possible, but it would have to be either ridiculously long/wide. It would work, but you'd have to make it the dimensions of a pine bow.

[PEARL DRUMS]

What is yew's SG? How about ERC?

[Joec123able]

Yea what in world does SG matter stop using SG to determine a good bow wood cedars SG is less than that I believe

[wood_bandit99]

Yew and Erc are in the .60-.70 range

[Dances with squirrels]

I don't know if arborvitae is different than ornamantal arborvitae, but I made a bow out of the latter, it smelled like cedar, it was tillered to 28" on the tree and pulled there dozens of times. A few days later I strung it up and pulled it to full draw by hand and it exploded violently at full draw... all that was left in my hand was the handle and about 8" of limb to either side of it. The rest exploded into many small pieces. That was the only bow ive had blow up as i was drawing it. I never messed with arborvitae again.

[Josh B]

Yew and Erc are in the .60-.70 range

Yew is in that range.  ERC is in the .40 to .50 range.  But SG alone is no measure of a bow wood. There a lot of other properties needed that are far more important.  Arborvitae is also known as white cedar.  Its very soft and brittle according to what I've read.  I have never messed with it so I cant really offer any firsthand knowledge born of experience with the wood.   Just a guess, but I would think it would be better suited for arrows.  Josh

[The Gopher]

whether or not it can be made into a bow could be debated for some time, i'm sure someone here could do it, we've seen the Poplar bow.

I say if you're up for the challenge go for it and let us know, there are just a lot better options, a red oak board is probably better than this.

[Bryce]

Yea what in world does SG matter stop using SG to determine a good bow wood cedars SG is less than that I believe

+1000

Those are averaged densities. Each individual wood even in the same species is different.

[simson]

I have made a bow from this wood and I have two or three staves waiting for working into bows.
In German it is called Thuja. I made a long (about70") and wide (2") flat bow. I was really surprised about thecast of this bow, it shot like the devil. Of course because of the very light weight wood.
Someday I shot it and after 30-40 arrows the bow exploded with loud bang into 4 pieces. I had great luck, one of the pieces flew ½" away of my right eye.
But I will definitely make another one from this wood, the cast was too good.
Btw. you need lot of wood - my bow looked a bit like a 2/4" slat. I mean it is at least twice as thick and wide like a same weight osage bow.
Be careful about twisted propeller - I wouldn't use that.
Hope this helps.

[rockrush69]

These bows that exploded ... were they sinew backed ? Also . This wood has very dark heart wood and white sapwood . And was very hard to chop through . But seemed to break easy . I figured like juniper i could sinew back it annd it wohld work . But i have herd to much negative about this wood . . . So its off to the burn pile

[mikekeswick]

Yea what in world does SG matter stop using SG to determine a good bow wood cedars SG is less than that I believe

Well density is related to a wood ability in take compression. Yew can be very dense.....don't know too much about erc

[mikekeswick]

I wouldn't say there are many other properties...I would say there are a few! I completely agree that density by itself is far from the be all and end all but....it does help....generally   
I've made a few bows from lignum vitae on the other end of the scale.....it is sluggish and likes to take set unless perfectly tillered....and it's very expensive   
May I suggest that elasticisty is top of the list of good properties for bow wood???   

[PEARL DRUMS]

Ill second that Mike. Elasticity is paramount in my mind.