Crape Myrtle Help

[TolkienFan]

Hi all, 

There was a neighborhood yard sale this morning and I found a guy who owns a landscaping company and got 2 planes that are in great shape and a belt sander for 20 bucks. Score! Then when I was walking back I saw he had some small logs under his deck and I inquired.  He said they were crape myrtle and had been under there a couple years and I got this piece. 

I sawed off the ends and was left with about 55-60 inches and I wanted to know if you guys thought its bow material?? It had a branch coming off the bottom, has two big knots and some nice bends in it.

I have never even seen the wood before, but it looks beautiful and is very dry and pretty hard.

Thanks for any help!

[Pat B]

Crepe myrtle is good bow wood. Crepe myrtle that has lain under a deck for a couple of years is not.  55" to 60" is a bit short also. Ask your  neighbor to save you some that is longer(over 60") and without knots(branches) and give it to you the day he cuts it or shortly after.

[alwayslookin]

I think it could still work as long as the wood is sound I just made a couple bows with it. Good wood took some set but that could be my fault. Shoots snappy though I left the bark on and gave it a light sanding looks sweet and is good camo.

[TolkienFan]

Thanks guys.  I appreciate both thoughts.  I am waiting for the last 3 trees I cut to season, so I think I am going to try.  If nothing else I will learn something from it.  Its either that or make more board bows...

[Limbit]

Cut off the bottom  where the branch came out, split it, splice where the knot area is being sure to leave as much wood as possible in the spliced handle and you should be able to get a bow out of it. Not a stellar one, but I think it is doable. Insects LOVE Myrtle and the wood loves to rot in the center, so don't be surprised if you find some weirdness inside the wood that makes the project hopeless.

[TolkienFan]

Limbit, I took your advice this morning. I cut it down and the wood was pristine. I was very happy, then I split it and it split very straight, no spiral, but uneven so one side is very narrow. It will be too narrow to be a bow by itself. I will have to use another wood to back it or for the belly. I'll post pics later when I get to my comp.

I want to keep the back as is bc it is really pretty and I don't want to violate it. So... I am wondering what to use on the belly?

Is bamboo good to put on the belly? I would have to either flip it around or sand it completely flat. I've heard of people having bamboo on both sides of a center wood but have no idea how they get the boo prepared for that.

I also have red and sugar maple, sourwood, and wild Cherry. What wood would be best to use as a belly?

[Limbit]

Bamboo will be fine on the belly. I do it all the time. It helps if take a heat gun and roast the belly carefully and evenly for about twenty minutes, but this isn't necessary. The other woods you mentioned would probably have compression issues (I am not sure about sour wood since I have never used it). You will need to use a pretty strong wood to hold up to the myrtle. Maybe Ipe? You could make it plenty narrow that way. White oak? Hickory? Plum would be cool as would apple/crabapple. If you can get some Green Heart that would be a good combo I imagine. Guava would probably work well with myrtle since they are very similar in both appearance and qualities.  I live in Taiwan, so I am not 100% familiar with American wood, but we have loads of crepe myrtle here and I use it frequently. I think you might be better putting maple in the core or backing and using myrtle for the belly. I could be completely off on this, I've never used a combination like that! The other guys know better I'm sure!

[Aries]

I live in Oklahoma and we have crepe mertyl growing all over the city here. I looked up its sg and it was low at around .52 I don't know any of its other qualities as bow wood but would sure be Interested to see if it had some potential

[Limbit]

That confused me as well! On paper it isn't dense, but in hand it seems denser than dense. May have something to do with wither it is a tree or bush, and of course growth conditions. If you want to know if it is usable, do a web search. It's been used repeatedly with excellent results by many bowers. Just hard to find a straight piece.

[blackhawk]

Next time don't try to split such a small diameter...either saw it in half,or chop away the other half by hatchet,draw knife etc...thats what happens a lot of times when trying to split small dia. Imho id pitch it and not put anymore time into it...if it sat out in the elements for a few years it prob isnt worth the gamble to me,especially trying to glue a belly to it...just too many unknowns to put all that work into it,especially if your turning it into a laminate..but i have butt loads of "good" properly stored wood.

[Pat B]

I agree with Chris about not trusting this piece of wood. I think I said so early on in this post.

[TolkienFan]

Chris and Pat B, I really appreciate the warning, and I would listen to you but this is the only really dry wood that I have and am itching to work on something beside boards. And after saw it and splitting it, the wood looks to be in incredible shape. Hard, dry, dense, no rot or anything.

And ya, I wouldn't have split it but I only have a hand saw. The wood is so dense and hard that it took forever to just cut the small splice in it. It would have taken me literally all day to hand saw it. I am sure I will learn a lot and am ok with it blowing up on me. I'm a newbie so I expect that.