Walnut for a bow?

[nclonghunter]

A friend asked me if I wanted some black walnut he is going to cut down. I am going in the morning to look at it and possible cut it. It may be American walnut, but not sure. Should the putter sap wood be used for a bow, just removing the bark or go to the heart wood?
Any suggestions is appreciated and I will seal the wood after cutting.

[Pat B]

Just remove the bark and build your bow with what is under it. . I don't know where you live but it might be a bit early for the bark to slip.

[Josh B]

Yep...you can do like Pat says or you can use all heartwood or my personal favorite, leave one ring of sapwood and the rest of the bow will be all heartwood.  Fair warning though, chasing a ring on walnut is not fun.  Especially chasing a ring on the sapwood.  Oddly enough, I'm working on an all heartwood belly split walnut stave right now.  Josh

[nclonghunter]

Thanks guys, I hope it is a good tree. Hesaid it was about 18" at the base. I'll post some pictures if I cut it.

[Pat B]

The sapwood will probably be 2" to 3" thick in a log that size.

[Josh B]

You should be able to get some good belly splits off the quarters on that size.  But don't try to actually split them off.  It doesn't like to follow a growth ring when it splits off.  Saw the belly stave off with your chainsaw before you split the quarters into eighths.  Josh

[blackhawk]

IMO walnut is a "borderline" self bow/belly wood,and i wouldnt classify it as a "true" bow wood....my favorite use for it is in cores in a tri lam,or overlays n underlays etc...sure it can work sometimes,but if there's much better stuff available then why? And in my case I have a bazillion others at my disposal better than walnut...if its the best ya got available then I suppose go for it. Its pretty wood,but kinda soft and weak for what we need

[adb]

I'm with chickenhawk. Why bother... but if it's all you got, by all means.

I've had really bad luck with it chrysalling, even with good tiller, so I just walk past it now.

[nclonghunter]

I assumed AGAIN that someone knew what they were talking about. Went to my friends house and discovered the WALNUT tree is actually a HICKORY tree...lol
He said, well it has those green balls that fall on my car. Turns out it is a pipe straight hickory and I will be getting several 6 foot sections for bow wood.
I am also a wood hoarder......

And Thanks for all the walnut info, I think it turned out better being hickory.

[DarkSoul]

Hickories are in the same family as walnut, so I can understand the confusion. Pecan nuts are pretty similar to walnuts, so it makes sense.
I'd take a hickory over a walnut any day! Good for you!

[adb]

Yah... you're good to go with hickory!

[BrokenArrow]

Black Walnut is too brittle and I almost lost an eye to it when it shattered in my hand at full draw. Never again!

[Josh B]

Black Walnut is too brittle and I almost lost an eye to it when it shattered in my hand at full draw. Never again!

Not that losing an eye is in anyway a laughing matter,  I still got a good chuckle out of your post.  If I condemned every species of wood that I blew up, I would of run out of bow wood candidates a long time ago.  Come to think of it, I still blow em up on a regular basis!   Lol!  Breaking them is an invaluable learning tool IMHO.  Josh

[Joec123able]

Black Walnut is too brittle and I almost lost an eye to it when it shattered in my hand at full draw. Never again!

It is not too brittle it's a decent bow wood despite what people are saying here. It's not that best but I had some ok experience with it. Good luck with the hickory