beech for bows

[Hickoryswitch]

Its been a couple years since I've built a bow but am wanting to try beech. Was wondering if anyone has tried it and their thoughts on it. Any info yall can give me would me much appreciated.

[munkinstein]

You can use blue-beech, Carpinus caroliniana, which isn't really a beech but a member of the birch family.  It's a very dense wood, and makes great bows.  As for American Beech, makes good bows too , if you can find some that are nice and straight.

[raylbird]

I have made several bows with Beech and they all came out fine. I have to admit though that I at first thought it was American Hornbeam because of some pictures of it on the Internet. I have a lot of Beech around me and it is only about 25 feet tall, where I grew up in Indiana I was used to seeing it 75 feet and taller. My best Beech bow is 55 pounds at 28 inches, only about an inch of set after shooting and probably my fastest bow to date although I have not chronographed it. As a bow wood I put it up there with Hickory, Elm and Chestnut Oak which are abundant where I live in Georgia.

[Crogacht]

You had me excited there for a moment I have a few black beech staves drying at the moment... sadly our woods are not even in the same family, hehe... thought you may have been from around this parts... but no luck

[Marc St Louis]

I made several Beech bows many years ago.  I would not rate it alongside Elm but it is certainly as good as White Ash

[Hickoryswitch]

Thanks guys for the info. I found a good straight piece yesterday which is kind hard to do around here unless its a four foot around tree. I have it down to rough bow dimensions and was wondering about how long it would take to dry. I have it in the house so Im hoping not too long since I used up all my dry wood before i stopped making bows. Any idea how long it will take?

[raylbird]

My experience with Beech this time of year is reduce to bow dimensions then clamp to a form for two weeks in the house with a fan running and it is ready to floor tiller. I like to let it dry a couple more weeks before final tiller to be sure but have not had trouble with Beech taking set and have not tried heat treating it.

[Marc St Louis]

One thing I remember, take the bark off as soon as possible.  If the bark dries on the stave then it becomes extremely difficult to remove.  I still have several Beech staves with the bark on, yuk