Best Board Bow Wood?

[bubby]

Sweeney check out a cabinet shop ask where they get their wood, they use a hard wood supplier

[H Rhodes]

I have made a boatload of board bows with different woods and for a selfbow it has to be hard maple, it's fast, takes little set and it makes a better backer than hickory as far as i'm concerned

That fires me up!  I am finally getting my hands on some hard maple from a friend up north.   What I find around here isn't so good.   I am looking forward to giving maple a try.

[bow101]

I wish I could find some good quality maple, the stuff I got takes lots of set. Maybe it just isn't dried all the way or something. I would look for some hickory, if you can find straight grain. I think it has a lot going for it as a board bow, like being cheap and good quality bow wood. Red oak is still fun, works, and is everywhere basically? Definitely not the best wood though.

I have spoted some good Maple at home Depot,  usually wider ones I noticed like the 5" boards.  One side will have super grain 1/4 sawn about half the width.  No biggy just rip it. Use the left overs for handles or whatever.

[toomanyknots]

Tmk it sounds like you are getting soft maple, there is a big differance

It was labeled as hard maple at the lumber yard? It didn't look or feel like any soft maple I have worked. Ironically, I have in fact made some good bows from soft maple in the form of silver maple sapling bows,  . It seems I got everything backwards at the moment... lol

[DavidV]

Toomany- what was that maple like? The silver maple I cut down had really thick earlywood and the rings were 1/2" to 3/4" thick. On the other hand I have a red maple sapling that seems pretty dense, about the same as white oak and it looks really promising.

[toomanyknots]

Toomany- what was that maple like? The silver maple I cut down had really thick earlywood and the rings were 1/2" to 3/4" thick. On the other hand I have a red maple sapling that seems pretty dense, about the same as white oak and it looks really promising.

Just like that.  I made english longbows out of em, might of helped spread the stress. They were very fast and light in the hand. They all slightly chrysaled at the knots (which there were a lot of) but it never showed in the tiller or set, they actually took little set, under an inch.

[VicNova]

I really like maple for board wood.

[vinemaplebows]

Rock maple is the best as far as maple goes IMO, But softer maples can, and do make decent backings. Softer maples make lighter decent core material in lam bows.

VMB

[toomanyknots]

Rock maple is the best as far as maple goes IMO, But softer maples can, and do make decent backings. Softer maples make lighter decent core material in lam bows.

VMB

I was wanting to try a softer maple as a core in an elb, I have so far only used hard maple for cores, but I thought the softer maples which are lighter would be nice if they worked. You think the softer maples would work ok in a trilaminate english longbow?

[vinemaplebows]

Yes.