Fellas,
Larry built a "stave splitter" last year using a hydrolic arm from a big dozer. The first piece we put in it was a small diameter ironwood. That poor piece of wood basically exploded, had the heart wood ripped right out, stress checks everywhere.....well it wasn't pretty. This is a small sliver from the remains.
7/8" wide, 1/2" tips, and 48-1/2" long. Thickness was an issue since the center of the bow had/has a large tear-out still remaining. The bow gave me 35# @ 26" of draw. As way to measure some sense of performance I flight shoot a 462.97 grain (30g) and got an average of 105 yards, the farthest arrow went 108yards.
Regular pics, plus close up's of the wood it self. I got to believe that ironwood is some GOOD wood for sure.
anything I didn't cover please let me know. Also none of the checks or knots are superglued no alterations at all.....just to see if it would hold together.
rich