Brigalow Bow From OZ

[GraemeK]

Hi Folks

Thought you might be interested in the bow I am currently working on
It is made from a timber called " Brigalow " which is an Acacia (or Wattle) its botanical name is "Acacia harpophylla"
It is a tree that only grows in a restricted area in northern Queensland its habitat is about 100miles long and 50miles wide and the majority has been cleared for grazing land so it has become fairly scarce and it is protected in the native forests where it still grows.
It is a dryland tree growing in areas with aprox 10 - 12" of rain per year and when mature at about 100 years of age will reach about 50' tall with a trunk less than a foot in diameter. It has been cut as a furniture timber in past years but its small size and scarcity have meant that it has not been commercially used for the last 80 years or so but it was widely used as a bow timber in the 1920 to 1950 period. It has an S.G of 1.3 for the heart wood and .9 for the sapwood.
I know of no-one who has made a bow from this wood in recent years so all I have had to go on was rumour and a few old black and white photos which showed mostly narrow deep section target bows from the 1940's

The first problem was getting the timber since it is 900km from where I live so I had to persuade my wife that a nice road trip to central Queensland to cut down a tree was a good idea. ( Proves anything is possible )
Second problem was that I found that even with a deep kerf splitting the log produced nothing but fire wood -- just will not split without destroying the log. Resorted to sawing the logs into quarters since talking the wife into a second 1800 km trip seemed like a long shot.

So having waited till the staves stopped loosing weight ( 9 months )I decided I would take one of the less perfect ones and try a sort of generic flat bow to get a feel for the timber.
Started by roughing it out 40mm wide ( about 1.5" ) and reducing the sapwood to 8mm then left it for a couple of weeks just to check that it was stable.
Then decided that at 40mm wide it would end way to thin by the time I got it down to the 50# that I wanted -- and also that the heart wood would be almost gone by that time so I have now reduced the width to 30mm. It still seems like it is 80# or so when just bent while floor tillering it but I think I will be able to make it work at this width.

Graeme

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[ricktrojanowski]

Beautiful looking bow. The contrast of the sapwood and hardwood is really pretty.  Keep us updated.  It's nice to learn about differnet types of woods from other parts of the world.

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice looking wood. I hope it works well for you. The bow is turning out well also

[Justin Snyder]

Great job GraemeK.  I am glad you found such beautiful wood to work with.  I cant wait to see the finished pics. I love the way you accentuated the fades.  Justin

[Gordon]

Oh my that is some beautiful wood. I can't wait to see the finished bow.

[Badger]

       That really is a beautiful wood, I can't wait to see the finished product. Looks great what you have done so far. Steve

[jamie]

that looks awesome

[Coo-wah-chobee]

.........GraemeK--------------luvs ta see foks using unknown woods. Will be very interestin' ta see how it comes out ...........oh yes nice bow so far...........bob

[nailbender]

  That is some beautiful wood. Really like the look you came up with for that bow. Good luck.
  Dale.

[GraemeK]

Thanks  Guys for the kind words
It is beautiful wood and it has a wonderful reputation as a bow timber. It will be interesting to see if it can live up to it.
One of the things that I was surprised by was that it is really nice to work despite being very dense .
The shape of the handle and fades was a bit of an accident really -- just sort of happened when I decided to reduce the limb width. Funny how interesting ideas are often the the result of chance rather than planing.

Below are a couple of photos of a larger log that I cut to make handles out of. The dressed timber really shows off the grain.

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[Rich Saffold]

Graeme, Great thread! especially since I'm quite sure there are a few of those trees where I live..1.3 sg..ya thats what I like seeing, and its so beautiful! I have used other acacias and they were lighter but shot well..

Your bow looks like it will really perform..I'm gonna shop for one tomorrow before the game..Thanks for the tip!

Rich-so many trees so little time

[GraemeK]

Hi Rich
If you are trying to identify the Brigalow maybe these photos will help.
They are taken at our local Botanical Gardens not where I cut the timber in Queensland

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[Sidewinder]

That wood is beautiful. I'm thouroughly facinated by woods from across the globe I have never seen. I hope you are able to fashion a bow from it that shoots well my friend.    Danny

[Loki]

Look's nice! I do like a Bow with a Sapwood back .

[GraemeK]

Hi Loki

I think the reason that the timber was tried originally was that the finished bows look a bit like Yew -- all the photos of old bows that I have seen have been in the ELB style

Graeme