Here's my latest creation. It's a Cornelian cherry a.k.a. European cornel (
Cornus mas) stickbow. It is closely related to the wood that North Americans call 'dogwood'. This wood species is supposedly highly sought after by Eastern European archers back in the days, because it is really good bow wood. Rated similar to yew. The specific gravity is one of the highest of any European wood species, and it sinks in water. I've yet to test this, though. The plant doesn't grow very big and is often more like a bush. Straight branches that are long enough for a full sized bow are rare. Five years ago I came across an old Cornelian cherry hedgerow that was planted maybe two decades ago. It was very densely planted, and some shoots were remarkably straight. Most of these plants don't grow higher than six feet, yet these specimens were sometimes up to 12 feet! You can see more about how this bow started in
this old thread.The wood was slowly dried (bark on!) for about four years, before I started with this bow. It was then dried another year in a semi-floor tillered state. Although the stave didn't have many visible branches coming from the surface, there were a lot of surprises hiding inside. A lot of knots were to be dealt with! Since this stave was less than 2" across and loaded with knots, the only option was to make a narrow, longbow-ish stickbow. It was impossible to make this a wide limbed flatbow, or to get rid of the character, so I'd better make that a feature! This stave just wanted to become a character loaded bow, that looks to be coming straight from the forest. I wanted to preserve the natural look of this wood and add nothing to the natural beauty. I just removed wood - that's it. No stain, no heat corrections, to leather handle no tip overlays. It is a true stick bow. Right after the bow was roughed out, I knew what this bow should look like. It is greatly inspired by another well known bowyer from the message boards. I don't think I have to provide you the name of the bowyer that I was inspired by
I hope I copied his style and photography in a good way. I would feel privileged if this bow pays tribute to this great bowyer.
Some stats:Cornus mas self bow - one piece
71" nock to nock
44#@28"
Width about 1 1/8" at the handle
Thickness about 3/4" at the handle
Flat oval cross section
Physical mass 20.56 oz (582.7 gram)
She is about straight, with very little set.
She has 19 (!!!) clusters of knots, about one every three to four inches.
The stave on the left in the
Cornus mas stick that was used for this bow.
Belly side facing up.
Simple self nocks. Not ultra narrow, but just sturdy enough.
The wood has a very subtle grain. You can hardly distinguish the growth rings. Very small medullary rays on the quartersawn surface. The darker color of the outer wood, near the back of the bow (bottom), is probably caused by the bark that was left on the wood as it dried.
Full draw.
This little known wood species really impressed me! With all these knots and high crown, it shows no signs of stress. No chrysals and it has hardly gained any set, which is probably caused by its high elasticity.
Jorik
