northern catalpa selfbow

[Josh B]

Gosh I wish I had seen this thread earlier!  Then I could have told you that it would won't work and I might have saved you all the time and effort of finishing a bow that would NEVER work!   

Lol!  Well...there's an old saying, "you can always tell a trucker...you just can't tell em much!"
Guy- this one didn't have any purple blush.  It would've been nice if it had.
Thanks fellas!  Josh

[Badger]

  I had no idea catalpa would work, I thought it was just good fro growing fishing worms, good job!! Now I want to try it.

[Danzn Bar]

excellent job there ............... Josh
DBar

[Arrowbuster]

Very nice bow, I love how you done the grip.

[Bryce]

Man! The way you tiller a bow is always spot on! Love it!

[BowEd]

Nice job on the catalpa.I can remember first encountering catalpa working for the tree service.Was totally surprised at how light the wood chunks were.Even green.It's grain is sure pretty.Mass weight wise should'nt it weigh close to 21.00 ounces though for it's length?Your 17.00 ounces can account for the good cast it's got.At any rate good to hear that's holding up fine.

[loefflerchuck]

Nice work Josh! I think this may be the first bow of this wood. I surly was never bold enough to try. The last wood I would use. We have by far the largest catalpa tree I have ever seen in the house I grew up in. I went back to see it after many years and it is bigger than I remember. The trunk is split about 3 feet from the ground. The bottom trunk is 8 feet across. Lots of fond childhood memories if that catalpa.

[PlanB]

I thought I had read somewhere that Kyudo Yumi sometimes used core wood of catalpa. Haven't found it again. But it looks like important Japanese ceremonial bows, and possibly earlier sapling bows also were made of catalpa. Not sure here if "catalpa" is the same or related species. Here's a catalpa bow at an online museum:

http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100707?d_lang=en&s_lang=en&word=&class=&title=&c_e=&region=&era=&cptype=&owner=&pos=985&num=7&mode=detail&century=

[Knoll]

Now THAT is a locator grip. Great project, Mr Doc!

[Josh B]

Thank you kindly fellas!
Chuck-8 ft across!?!?  Wow!  That's a monster!  Biggest ive seen in my area was about 5' across and it was a gnarly, creepy old tree that had most of the big limbs torn off from a hundred years of icestorms and tornadoes. 
PlanB- thanks for the link! I knew that they used catalpa ovata for core wood on yumi's back in the day, but that is the first catalpa selfbow of any style I've seen.  I've been kicking around the idea of trying my hand at yumi's someday.  Maybe I'll try it with catalpa.
Thanks again fellas!  Josh

[okie64]

That turned out beautifully doc! We have catalpas everywhere around here but I never figured on it for bow wood. Hope it holds up for us.

[Josh B]

I plan on putting it through its paces at the classic.  I'll be sure to let you know how she holds up.  Thanks again for the nice comments!  Josh

[crooketarrow]

  Good job but you need to open up your riser. You'll see the target a lot better at your shot). A little refineing your simi recuve handle. I build most of my bows with that same handle.

  Good job.

[Josh B]

Uhhh...thanks Crooketarrow.  If i ever take up building glass bows or shooting Olympic style, I'll keep that in mind.  As it is, I shoot instinctive with both eyes open and I cant the bow quite a bit so the sight picture is not really an issue.  The only reason I even cut a shelf closer to center is so the bow will be more tolerant of a wider range of spined arrows.  With the cant I hold the bow at, the small cut out is pretty close to center shot anyway.  As for factory cut outs, this bow has considerably more than a bear Montana longbow and people seem to get along fine with them.  I would be interested in seeing pics of your risers though.  Josh

[Carson (CMB)]

Way to brave a low mass wood and come out ginn'n 
It sure is pretty.
I have seen one reference to Catalpa as bow wood, and that was a fellow who was knowledgeable about Yumi bows, who said it was used as a single piece core wood in some Yumi bows.  Just a single slat sandwhiched between bamboo back and belly.

Sweet bow!