Strength and related properties of woods grown in the United States

[piedmont]

Found this article while trying to figure out if sourwood is worth making into a bow. 99 pages, 10 MB PDF file! The good stuff, data on around 164 tree species, is in table form on pages 5-9. Specific gravity, bending strength, compression strength, tensile strength, etc., for both green and dry wood. Definitely worth a look.

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/810

Just hit "view/open" in the gray box

[jkekoni]

There is also newer version available:
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch04.pdf

And my copy to excel sheet:
http://www.utbl.net/~jkekoni/wood-x2.xls

Same data in other form:
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/

Tropical woods:
http://tropix.cirad.fr/america/america.html

Other wood data:
http://www.lovtrainstitutet.se/page.asp?lngID=172&lngLangID=2

Malaysian woods:
http://www.mtc.com.my/publication/library/mt100/content.html

Data in french with short english-finnish-latin-french list.
http://www.perinnejousi.fi/keskustelu/viewtopic.php?t=1293

Some data in finnish:
http://www.puuproffa.fi/arkisto/puulajit.php

[jkekoni]

... And thank you for finding a new document...

[piedmont]

... And than you for finding a new document...

You're welcome, and thanks for the other links. I had seen some of this data out there, but what impressed me about the Markwardt and Wilson paper I linked to was the extensive species list-- they tested species I haven't seen data for elsewhere, like mangrove, sourwood, HHB, etc.

[Sidewinder]

Wow thats pretty extensive research. I'm not nearly astute enough to understand it all but I was a little disturbed they left out Osage best as I could tell. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.   Danny

[piedmont]

Wow thats pretty extensive research. I'm not nearly astute enough to understand it all but I was a little disturbed they left out Osage best as I could tell. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.   Danny

Nope, it there on page 7 of the PDF, between "Oak, willow" and "Palmetto, cabbage" (which would make a TERRIBLE bow, it seems).

[jkekoni]

Osage ... but only wet data is present.

... however there is dry wood entry in the excel. It is taken from supertiller.

[jkekoni]

Here is woodbear bowcalc:
http://www.perinnejousi.fi/keskustelu/download.php?id=1284

You can use it to change the data to practical bow measurements.

... I have to find the original instructions, it is NOT very easy to use.

The most important thing is that it uses g/cm^3 as the unit instead of Mpa/Gpa or PSI.

Here are my supplemental instructions about subset of features:
http://www.perinnejousi.fi/keskustelu/viewtopic.php?p=13571#13571
(unfortunately in Finnish, I should translate it, but do not hold you breath...)

... I am not aware that anyone but the author and me are actively using it, but I may be wrong...

[Pat B]

Piedmont, A few years ago someone on PA built a sourwood bow. I think they had pretty good results but I can't remember who it was that built it.    Pat

[Badger]

Jkekoni, Woodbear sent me a bow that he made strictly by his calculations to test out. The bow had never been drawn and was tillered entirely by measurements. He wanted myself and Tim baker to test it out for him and give an opinion. The bow was red oak and came to within 5# of his projected draw weight. Tiller was right on and the bow had very good levels of performance. Dave does some tests of his own on the wood before he actually builds the bow as the specs given are pretty general and can be way off with individual specimens of wood. Steve

[Marc St Louis]

I picked up a Woods of the World cd several years ago that has data on several thousand species of trees, where they grow, what the wood looks like ad other information. Very good cd for anyone that is looking for information on wood

[richpierce]

There is also newer version available:
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch04.pdf

And my copy to excel sheet:
http://www.utbl.net/~jkekoni/wood-x2.xls

Thanks, did not see osage orange on the list nor dogwood, hop hornbeam- wonder how these would stack up.

[piedmont]

There is also newer version available:
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch04.pdf

And my copy to excel sheet:
http://www.utbl.net/~jkekoni/wood-x2.xls

Thanks, did not see osage orange on the list nor dogwood, hop hornbeam- wonder how these would stack up.

They're in the paper I linked. Only green data for Osage, but both green and dry for the other two.

[Justin Snyder]

Dave does some tests of his own on the wood before he actually builds the bow as the specs given are pretty general and can be way off with individual specimens of wood. Steve

What Steve said,  If we don't understand so we can apply some of the tests ourselves it wont make a difference.  Each specimen is different and one that should be better than another could be worse if it is a bad representation.  Each piece needs to be evaluated before a real value can be determined.  Justin