Bow woods NM

[J19]

Hi all, I'm just getting into bow building.  I live in New Mexico and was hoping to find out what would be a good local wood to start with?  I know we have a lot of Gamble Oak and Juniper but have heard they can be difficult for a beginner.  We also have the New Mexico Locust not sure if it is similar enough to Black Locust which I've read can be good.  Figured someone on here might have some suggestions and/or advice on what I should look for to get started. 

[burtonridr]

Hi all, I'm just getting into bow building.  I live in New Mexico and was hoping to find out what would be a good local wood to start with?  I know we have a lot of Gamble Oak and Juniper but have heard they can be difficult for a beginner.  We also have the New Mexico Locust not sure if it is similar enough to Black Locust which I've read can be good.  Figured someone on here might have some suggestions and/or advice on what I should look for to get started.

What about getting a red oak board from a hardware store? Im not a fan of this route for personal reasons, I like making them from staves Ive found.... but store bought red oak is an affordable option.

My first go was juniper, it was tricky, and it broke. It can be tough to find straight juniper with straight grain, the twisting grain and knots made it tough for my first try.

I dont know if gamble oak is going to behave different than other varieties of oak, maybe someone will chime in.

What did natives use in the area?

[J19]

I have read that the natives used Juniper, Mountain Mahogany, oak, and Mesquite. Most of the Oak I know about in NM is the Gamble/Scrub Oak.  I also know that Serviceberry is good and I think Utah Serviceberry is in some areas of NM.

I think I'll start out with a board bow but would like to start looking for a natural wood to go to after that.

[burtonridr]

Sounds like you have a good start on the research, good luck 

[J19]

Thanks

[Hawkdancer]

Welcome to the "club", i.e. Site!  The scrub oak should be no worse than hickory, but finding a straight, clear length might be a challenge!  Good luck!
Hawkdancer

[hoosierf]

If you make board bow first, which is a good idea, try to use hickory. It’ll make a better bow, generally, than red oak. Now if you can source some white oak, that would be ideal.  Check George’s site. He has all the info you need.

[J19]

I have looked for some scrub oak over the past few weeks when out hiking it is difficult to find that is straight, or at least enough for me to think it might be a good one.  As for the board bow I was looking for Maple but none of the stores had any in stock so I'll check for hickory.  I have only been able to look online but once I get done with things today will swing by some places and have a look.

[loefflerchuck]

Hickory is a great bow wood in your dry climate. Local besides what is said above. New Mexican locust, chokecherry and your local mt mulberry. Gambel oak is like any other oak. It bends lot, hard to break and follows the string. Up here in Utah everything I have cut of scrub oak has very little twist but is snaky and makes cool looking bows.

[Little John]

I think that the natives had to take a hike if they wanted quality bow wood, then by the time it was crafted into a quality b ow with stone tools it had to be a prize possession.

[StickMark]

JI9,

I am in "varying humidity" southern Arizona.  Oak boards have been mixed success, meaning more break, lift a splinter really,  at various lengths than stay intact.  I think the kiln process is done out in Texas, PA, or MO, somewhere else.  When the board hits June aridity, the change  "does them in."  Gambel oak may be the best route, meaning a stave.  LChucks oak bows look like a template to follow. 

welcome, btw. 

[Limbit]

How about mountain mahogany ? You have that there. The native Americans in CO where I am from use this. Service berry, choke cherry, 4 species of juniper, Crabapple, Water Birch (if it is like yellow birch, it'll work well enough) and Siberian elm if you are desperate for wood. Siberian elm is sort of the worst elm species for a bow according to many.  Also, if you learn to splice two limbs, it will be significantly easier to find usable wood.

[sleek]

You should source some lumber hickory. In a pinch, axe handles work and make nice take down bows. Youd love it.

[Tom Dulaney]

Look for Tamarisk a.k.a salt cedar, it makes an excellent bow.

To get straight grained knotless Juniper, natives in some states found a big tree and extracted them using the methods described in this excellent PDF file:


http://pub-jschol-stg.escholarship.org/content/qt4v5249w9/qt4v5249w9.pdf

This method yields perfect Juniper staves.

Mesquite makes good bows but you will have trouble finding suitable lengths that are straight grained enough. To get around this, splice two pieces together with sinew glue. I have also done this with juniper staves taken from smaller trees than described in that PDF. You can make even smaller "staves" or billets (~5 to 11 inches) work by gluing them to handles and splicing outer limbs/siyahs on to that, reinforcing it all with sinew backing/wraps and more wood laminations. There are a lot of possibilities with combination bows and you will find that this is ultimately a more satisfying experience than searching for unicorn big perfect staves in an area that just doesn't permit their growth.

Another interesting PDF:


http://www.atarn.org/chinese/Yanghai/Scythian_bow_ATARN.pdf



Even pre-contact Eskimos managed to splice bows together so you don't even need a saw or a good knife:


http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.com/2009/08/tuktut-nogait-bow-second-glace.html

And the same techniques apply to arrows, as well. If you can find greasewood, assuming it occurs out there, it makes very tough arrows when spliced together with glue and wrapped with sinew.

(If I were you i would look for pieces of greasewood to splice in to a bow, and that might he a world's first!)

http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.com/2013/12/independence-i-driftwood-arrow-completed.html?m=1


Steam the joints and tie them tightly and let them dry for a tight fit. Don't let the process intimidate you because it's too easy.

[gifford]

Sleek - I recall seeing an article in an early Primitive Archer on making a bow from ax handles (or maybe pick handles). Z spliced and glued together. You need to mind the grain in picking the handles.


Tom - excellent reference on the Great Basin juniper stave gathering. Thanks for posting it.