Advice for black locust bows?

[eastcreekarchery]

I got a nice log of black locust and was wondering if anyone who has experience with it has some advice for building bows w it. Thanks!

[George Tsoukalas]

Seal the ends. Split it into staves.  Remove the sapwood and chase to a heartwood ring.
The BL around here has  easy rings to chase.

If it is dry you are all set if not you'll need to seal the back pronto.

I learned on BL.

Jawge

[WhistlingBadger]

I've never built one but I can tell you BL will shoot.  I have a black locust flat bow, 72" ntn, 60# @ 28", that shoots really nicely.  Made by Curt Brisky.  The wood is light colored, so I'm pretty sure it's sapwood.  I've put hundreds of arrows through it and killed a couple critters, and it does the job.

[Pat B]

Listen to George, he's made bunches or BL bows.

[pumarchery]

I too agree with Jawge! Keeping the sapwood on seems to lead all sorts of unfavourable things, especially when drying in my experience. Plus the heartwood looks very pretty to boot, so there's enough reasons for sure to take the sapwood off.

For the ring chasing, i really recommend huisme's old thread (Skinnybow build/follow along)  on how to do that chasing to one ring with drawknife "lifting" method. That way to do it saves a bunch of time and of course tool sharpening too. Much luck building and be sure to share the results !

Ps: ventilate properly and use mask etcetera as BL is toxic to breath in, be safe

-michael

[eastcreekarchery]

Awesome. Thanks everyone for the advice. I will have some pics to show soon!

[bassman]

What Jawge said, and you may want to trap the back,and heat treat the belly to help keep from the belly fretting.