Honey Locust Bows

[huisme]

+1 wapiti, spend it wisely.

It's also less stiff, the sapwood tends to end unevenly through the rings, and I found it easier to cause tear outs during ring chasing-- but it's beautiful stuff and it'll fling an arrow right along with oak or maple in my experience.

[lebhuntfish]

If you remove all the sapwood then you are not treating it like a white wood. The back of the bow lies just under the bark.
Now you could probably chase a ring and get the same effect but I would only do that if the natural back was damaged in some way.
Patrick

[huisme]

If you remove all the sapwood then you are not treating it like a white wood. The back of the bow lies just under the bark.
Now you could probably chase a ring and get the same effect but I would only do that if the natural back was damaged in some way.
Patrick

Is honey locust sapwood as dense/strong per mass as its heartwood?

[Bkingston216]

So is everyone in agreement? Take off sap wood? Or is it likebyew where the sap wood works better in tension than the heartwood?

[riverrat]

ive left the sapwood on the two honey locust bows i ever made. but did the same with a number of black locust bows. and a few yellow locust bows. use your judgement. its wood. itll bend. Tony

[huisme]

I think I'd still elect to take the sapwood off, if it's anything like locust you'll get more bang for your buck assuming buck is short for mass and volume efficiency.

[Onebowonder]

I've left it on and made the back out of the first sap layer right under the skin/bark.  You'll be tempted to try and get some of that pretty pink heart wood to stay in the belly of the bow, but the stuff does chrysal a bit easier than the sap wood does.  Just be happy to have some left in the handle. 

...and I should say +1 on the keep the belly flat and wide.  Honey Locust is more compression weak than it is tension strong.  On anything you want to go for heavier hunting weight on, I would suggest you consider trapping the back a bit to accommodate.  It responds well to heat treatment, but it is inclined to take some set, especially if you don't have it very well dried before you start bending it.

...and one last tip, I tend to use rasps a lot when reducing and shaping my staves.  Honey Locust gums up tools in a hurry.  You'll want to keep a card file or brass bristled brush handy to clean out your tools as you work.


OneBow

[DavidV]

So is everyone in agreement? Take off sap wood? Or is it likebyew where the sap wood works better in tension than the heartwood?

I think the majority says to leave the sapwood, a vocal minority says to use  the heartwood. I've made a few bows with it and agree that the heartwood tends to chrysall more than the sapwood. In strength and structure it is not at all comparable to black locust...

[sleek]

I have made a few bows of it. It works very.... stringy I guess? As onebow stated, it will gum up your tools. I have heat treated because if not it takes set a lot. Sapwood makes a fine bow. I have chased sapwood rings to make a sap back and heart belly. Worked fine but the back was well crowned to make it a trapped effect. I would say wide is good. About 1.5 - 1 3/4 and 62" ttt will serve most hunting applications well.