will willow work?

[Hrothgar]

I think I read that Saxton Pope tested a willow bow made by one of the southwest tribes. As I recall his comment was something like 'flabby cast'; also if I recall correctly the furthest it shot was around 120 yards.

[WillS]

Ok, so I've been chatting to Mikke, and this is what he said about the willow bow that he made:

"It was an experiment that should not have perform so damn well. If he want's the willow to get as strong as possible it's good to leave the bow's width a little more than usual.
No has heat treatment on the belly. But it would definitely be good to get more lb.

The bow is 202cm and last pull was 86lb at 32½" total sett was only 6cm."

The dimensions are 36mm wide and 33mm deep in the centre, with an even taper n both width and depth towards 14mm tips.

I'd say go ahead and use willow to make a bow.  The worst that can happen is that you don't end up with a bow, and the best that can happen is you become something of an expert in a bow wood that many consider pointless.  Mikke was certainly very happy with it, and that's a guy who really, REALLY knows his obscure bow woods.

[half eye]

The Copper River bands, and the Kutchin native americans used willow. Some in the National Museum are weak based on their thin cotton stings, but others (majority) are strong enough to require raw-hide strings of robust proportions. I believe if you research that area of Native American activity there will be lots of examples......Most I believe came from the Puget Sound area and Copper River.
rich

[jayman448]

I now stand corrected. I found another uncommon wood in my area.... too bad its mountain alder. Haha

[willie]

don't overlook alder either. I recently inspected an alder bow that was reported to draw 100#+ and was only 66" long and 1.5 inches wide. (it was also showing a lot of set).
The bowyer prefers alder over birch, and birch over willow. I have an alder in the works, but it needs some more drying before I draw it and finish tillering.


wills- what kind of limb crossection was the bow Mikke made? elb? flatbow? any links?

willie

[WillS]

I can get some pics, but its a longbow more or less.

Edit: few pics of the willow bow

[jayman448]

With these would u expect a narrower thicker limb or a wider thinner limb would work best?

[paco664]

That looks like a monster bow!

What are the dimensions and draw#?

[Webradbury]

That's a nice looking bow! What species of Willow? In my area, we have weeping willow and black willow, neither of which are good bow woods from what I hear although I haven't tried.

[WillS]

I mentioned the details a few posts up, but it's 86#, 36mm x 33mm.

[Hrothgar]

Great tiller and proof that willow can make a heavy bow.

[WillS]

He's a genius, that guy.

There's also a record amongst the Mary Rose ordnance of a potential longbow (incomplete) made of willow.  Mikke is doing some more research on it now, but if it is a bow it would be around 120# as that's the minimum weight of the MR bows.

[jayman448]

Ok. So what would the imaginary specs on an american bow