Kit bows

[Springbuck]

  I see nothing wrong with a kit bow, if you are married to the idea of ERC.  If you look hard enough, though, you can find ERC boards used for lining closets, or espceiallyI have seen 1.25" across hanger rods for closets made from ERC.  Grain could be an issue, but the rods seem to have been selected for grain, since ya gotta hand weight on them.

[Jax666]

Deer or goat are the best, thin and strong.

If I could make friends with a deer hunter. The deer skin I found online cost as much as a bow. Unless I could trade the extra for something.

[Jax666]

Cherry might not make the best sapling bow.  Not that cherry won't make a really fine bow, but you might want a wider back than most saplings will provide.  Although, with some rawhide or a pristine design and tiller you might have a screamer.  It would scare me though.  An elm, hickory, dogwood, hackberry (poor person's elm)... Something like that would make a fine sapling bow.  The board route is probably the simplest way to get a decent bow though, and is a fine way to learn tillering without too many curveballs. 

Now, about these hickory boards at Menards... We don't have a Menards around here, so I'm relegated to red oak for my board bows (although they do work fine).  There is a Menards back up in Kansas though, so I'll have to add that to my list of things to check on my next trip back up to Manhappiness.  Thanks for the tip!

If someone live close I might have a wild cherry and a couple pears that would make a stave or two.

[Slackbunny]

Hophornbeam makes a fine sapling bow. I've made a bunch of sapling and branch bows from HHB and they're hard to beat. If you live in Northeastern United States or Eastern Canada you shouldn't have much trouble finding it. It doesn't grow everywhere, but if you spend some time in the woods you'll run across a few.

[Jax666]

All I have that needs to be cut is pear, wild cherry, soft maple, mulberry, and some stuff that has really rough bark and little red berries. It is pretty hard and stingy.

[Springbuck]

  Pear is tricky. It is hard and dense, and beautiful, but the grain is weird, almost flaky.

  Any mulberry is first rate bow wood, in my book.  If you can get a branch or sapling of white mulberry at least 3" across, or a slightly bigger log or red mulberry, that is good stuff.  Red likes to be taken down to a ring, it seems, while white can be treated like good quality whitewoods.

[Jax666]

  Pear is tricky. It is hard and dense, and beautiful, but the grain is weird, almost flaky.

  Any mulberry is first rate bow wood, in my book.  If you can get a branch or sapling of white mulberry at least 3" across, or a slightly bigger log or red mulberry, that is good stuff.  Red likes to be taken down to a ring, it seems, while white can be treated like good quality whitewoods.

What is white wood? The heart wood on my mulberry looks kind of like osage. I never head of white mulberry.

[lebhuntfish]

The white wood is the sap wood section. Patrick

[Sidmand]

... and some stuff that has really rough bark and little red berries. It is pretty hard and stingy.

Look up dogwood on Google, see if that's what your talking about above.  I believe that dogwood will make a good bow if you can find a strait enough piece.

[Jax666]

The hickory at Menard's had horrible grain I found a red oak that did not look too bad,but it was warped and twisted.