Hawthorn for warbows?

[FilipT]

I stumbled upon secluded place not near my house with hundreds of dogwood saplings and dozens of good hawthorn saplings. Since I never experimented with hawthorn because of their unavailability near me, I picked two saplings 6 cm wide. I plan to make warbows from them in the future.

My question is, what are your experiences with this wood? This wood is extremely hard and looks good with its dark heartwood and beige sapwood, I would like to make heavier bows in the future from it.

[stuckinthemud]

I've  got  a stack of hawthorn drying, and a sliver I cut off a branch as a tester.  My timber came from the trunk of a mature tree and does have a lot of bark inclusions but the wood is one of the best carving timbers I ever used, dense, exceptionally easy to shape, very difficult to split and is supposed to be as good in tension as it is in compression; I believe it is rated as a first class bow wood.  I am also hoping for a war-bow or two out of it.  My sliver bow is nearly at brace - I'll be posting some pics soon.  Incidentally, my timber does not have a dark heartwood. Oh, and it takes for-ever to season, don't rush it as it is very prone to checking due to being so dense, just leave it alone for a really long time - I think a longer drying time than yew, for instance - I did try forcing a small test piece and it split apart quite spectacularly!

[FilipT]

I thought about leaving it till spring next year, then debarking it and shaping it closely into bow shape then apply my fast drying technique. I think it will lost till spring lot of moisture and when I roughed it in, it won't check.

[stuckinthemud]

Just took the sliver bow to brace and it went bang - see thread in bows - no warning, so if any of the hawthorn has knots, I'd suggest leaving a good safety margin of wood around them. Strength is slightly up on hazel, I think.

[stuckinthemud]

Leave the bow shape too long as any checking will be in the ends and then you can cut away any damage and still get a good bow out of it

[FilipT]

I made 62# hazel flatbow few days ago, hawthorn of that dimensions would surely give more, it was hard as steel when my axe hit it.

[meanewood]

I made a Hawthorn bow recently and you will find a post on page 2 but I have not updated on its completion.

My bow is 191cm / 75in NTN, 35mm wide by 27mm deep and pulls 80lbs at 28in draw. It is my first Hawthorn bow and didn't want to risk taking it to 30in draw!

I have another stave seasoning which is longer and hope to get a longer and more powerful bow from it!

That stave has a darker heartwood but my first one had no discernible colour variation.

Definitely watch out for hidden knots appearing suddenly as you work the bow during tillering!

The bow is smooth to draw and has no set ( not that I am bothered about a bit of set with meanewoods).

[FilipT]

Interesting, I will try shorter and longer warbow variant from these two saplings.

[stuckinthemud]

Sorry Meanewood, page 2 of what?

[penderbender]

Warbow section. This is page 1. Cheers- Brendan

[stuckinthemud]

OH

[randman]

I've not had any luck with any of the Hawthorne I've tried (flatbows - not warbows)....every one has gone boom (6 or 7 - lost count)... Not giving up yet as I still have a few staves but I'm always leery.... On the other hand I've had very good luck with English Laurel. I don't even know how it breaks as I haven't broken one laurel stave yet....go figure.

[stuckinthemud]

Common/English laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a fantastic bow-wood, but I found its difficult to shape with heat.  Biggest problem is finding straight pieces, have found that secondary growth under canopy can yield long straight stems with few side shoots. It takes glue really well and lengths for billets are easy to come by.  Bad news about the hawthorn, I have half a dozen nice staves seasoning I had hoped to use for long bows or war bows.

[mikekeswick]

I've read good things about it but the bows I've made have not acted how I would have expected. I think it acts soft for the density and the wood has many vagaries that I'm not keen on.

[stuckinthemud]

I think you've put your finger on it Mike, hawthorn carves like butter, quite possibly the best wood for carving, even better than apple, and that's saying something.  It IS soft under a blade, and yet it is also incredibly dense, so, yes, I can see that 'soft for the density' may well be the answer.