Well, time to get more wood

[Ryan Jacob]

So since attempt 8 kaboomed, I’m gonna harvest some guava and tamarind in April 14-15ish from my property. Any ideas what to mess around with first? Guava is sure to make a bow but tamarind wood seems a bit stronger and more colorful. Thing is, tamarind’s a pain to work with. What’s best for a kinda experienced beginner like me, wood that’s sure to make a good bow, or a challenging wood that would make a better bow?

[ohma2]

I got some strawberry guava from Manny several years ago and it made a great bow.havent seen manny on here in quite sometime but you might find something in older posts .he made some beautifull bows out of it.

[Limbit]

Guava is a fine bow wood. Doesn't need to be the strawberry kind although that is evidently the better. Never heard of anyone using tamarind for a bow, but I'm sure someone has. If guava is growing around you, it is likely invasive, so cut away!

[Ryan Jacob]

ohma2
I know, his bows are how I found the site back in 2016, but I didn’t join until recently.
Limbit
It’s not invasive where I’m from, I live in the Philippines. Ive was actually seen an attempt at a tamarind bow before but the guy heat treate the bow oo much and his reflex was too severe which made it snap.

Well, just gotta wait 2 more weeks to get it

[Limbit]

Cool. Are you native to the Philippines? I live in Taiwan. I use the guava here quite a lot, but there isn't really that much of it. You have a lot there? Mulberry is pretty much everywhere and I'd imagine you've got that growing there also. I read up a bit on tamarind and I guess it is interlocking grain, so I'd image that due to it's density and grain, it ought to be a bow candidate, but not sure on the design. Do you have Orange Jessamine there? Murraya Paniculata is the botanical name. That is the tree the locals here prefer to use. It is incredibly dense wood. Sinks in water like a stone. It has excellent compression and good tension. Worth looking into. Another one is wooly persimmon (Diospyros eriantha). It has black bark and typically has multiple trunks coming straight out of the base trunk straight as can be. An excellent bow wood and easy to come by typically.

[Limbit]

I guess I should mention there are a few other species in the ebony family (Diospyros) all over our area of Asia. Persimmon itself being one of them. All of them are excellent wood. I'm sure you'll have a handful of local varieties if you look into it. Most of them produce some really weird looking fruit and as soon as you learn to ID them, you realise they look very different than most of the trees growing.

[Ryan Jacob]

Limbit
Yup, I’m native here. Yeah I know of orange jessamine, it’s known kamuning here. It’s sold as an ornamental plant because it’s very fragrant. I’ve eaten woolly persimmons before but I haven’t seen much of the trees growing here. I only know of the three my friend grew. I forgot to mention that black palm grows everywhere here. I’ll look further into those woods.

[Limbit]

I'd say we should do a trade since we live so close to each other and shipping wouldn't be an issue, but I am guessing we have all the same wood 

[Bob Barnes]

Rich Saffold use to make a lot of nice bows from California Black palm...