Sassafras Stave. Now what?

[Chief RID]

I cut down a sassafras sapling 3 years ago, I think, that was 4" to 3" in diameter. I painted the ends and split it in half. I removed bark from the more challenging looking half round piece because I was going to start it first. It was fall and the sap was down so a lot of the cambium layer did not come off at the time but it dried out there, in the shed, until now. Both the debarked and barked staves took some propeller twist in drying. I have a good 70 inches to work with. I need you guys to help me read this wood and decide what to do? I will send pictures later today when the light is good. I have trimmed it in width, following the grain, just to square up the sides so I have a little over 2 inches limb width to work with.

Thanks in advance. This is my second bow in 20 years and both were 20 years ago. One, a honey locus broke on the long string and the elm still shots but has cracks where it lifts from a poor job of following the grain and other stresses that this novice inflicted on the poor thing. It will hang on my wall forever anyway. Help me make a hunter out of this stave if possible. I only need 50#s and any style bow will be fine. After this one we can work on the other half round if the first one holds together.

[PEARL DRUMS]

You handicapped yourself again my friend! Honey locust is not good bow wood and sassafras is maybe worse. You will need every inch of the 70 you have to make a 50# bow stay together.

[Joec123able]

You can get a bow out of sassafras. But it is definetly not ideal wood . You're going to have to be really patient, id leave the limbs at 2 inchs wide and make it 70inchs long

[bradsmith2010]

good advice from above, ,I would like to add,, make the bow light and draw maybe 26 or so,, dont over do it,,

[ajbruggink]

From what I've heard, sassafras is weak in tension compared to other woods, maybe a rawhide backing will do the trick.

[JackCrafty]

Make a few bows out of red oak from the hardware store first.  As already stated, sassafras is weak.  You'll need practice with challenging wood (like boards of red oak) in order to make a good shooter out of sassafras.

[Chief RID]

Discouraging words . I did get out in OK light today and get some pics but after the response so far I feel I am wasting my time. Boards really are not something I want to do. I may cut a hickory and start over.

Here are some pics anyway.

[bradsmith2010]

dont get discouraged .. just over build as suggested,, it is a nice piece of wood,, ,should make a nice bow,,

[Pat B]

If it makes you feel better...Maurice Thompson, the author of The Witchery of Archery, loved sassafras as a bow wood. I believe he was making and shooting ELB style bows but I'm not sure of the draw weight he shot.
  One of my first bow woods was sassafras. That was way back when(mid 1980's).    I haven't used it since then but I do have a well seasoned, 5" diameter pole stave that need to be a bow. I'll try to add that to my winter project list. 

[Chief RID]

I knew I had seen that about sassafras somewhere. I was always thinking a bend through the handle bow. I would like to narrow the tips but keep them thick just because I like the look. I will keep scraping and see what comes out from under the residue still on the back and getting around the knots. When I get it cleaned up on the back and shaped a little I will take more pics before I start to floor tiller. I am going to try and hit a local hot dove field tomorrow if the rain allows. They shot solid from noon till about 2:30 when I left my deer stand last Saturday.

[RyanR]

I made one out of sassafras last winter. 70" long and pulls around 35 @ 27". You will want to keep it as wide as possible to keep the draw weight up. I also backed it with rawhide. The wood is so soft I mostly used 60 grit sand paper for tillering instead of a scraper. Good luck.

[blackhawk]

Make it bend in the handle to spread the stresses out the best,and dont cut off any length....if you tiller it well it should work just fine

[Chief RID]

I did a little more scraping and found some damage in some areas, caused by me probably, on the back. I am going to continue with it and then decide after I get as far as I can or detect a fatal error or flaw. I did not realize how soft the wood is. I am sure it would have been better if I had got the bark off clean. I may try the shower steaming trick on the other half round. It is the better stave anyway. I am determined to work this one out first. Hang in there with me.

[Chief RID]

I got all the cambium off that I need to and sanded with 100 grit to get some of the tool marks off the back. The scraper I am using it the Case sodbuster you see in the pic. I used 100 grit paper because I did not have 80 grit. Sorry about the pic. The light was poor this evening but you probably can tell I am ready to try to draw a bow on this thing. I will try to get as much working limb as possible but I am still thinking about some shaped ends of some type. I am not going to back this bow, even if it probably should be. I will go lighter in weight to get a shooter if I have too. The shallow gouges in the back sanded out just fine. The back looks intact. I am encouraged again.

[Chief RID]

Should I burnish the back at this point and do some more finish sanding or go ahead and start to remove wood from the belly to get a floor tiller?