Rowan / mountain ash 27draw 55lbs 69ntn

[Mikkolaht]

Hey,

Decided to go with some native finnish bow woods.
I chopped this one down 2months ago, it was from a small sapling which had 1/32 inch thick growth rings, tight stuff.
I did not heat treat this bow at all, just a straight stick.
The bow has pretty high crown but it hasn't exploded atleast yet.

Rowan / Mounain ash selfbow:
27inch draw
55lbs draw weight
69inches / 175cm ntn
Finish: Beeswax + filtered linseedoil
String: Linen string with beeswax.









Shooting + draw video:
https://youtu.be/qTgWvVAdezI

Have a great day guys!

[Aksel]

Very nice bow! Love the contrast sap/heart wood.

[Hamish]

+1. Simply elegant.

[superdav95]

Very cool. Great looking tiller. 

[WhistlingBadger]

Great looking longbow.  That's a wood I'd like to try.  We have some mountain ash here in Wyoming, but I rarely see a piece big enough to use for anything other than a walking stick.

I love that heartwood stripe down the belly.  Nice work.

[Lehtis]

Nice!

[Kidder]

That’s a very cool bow. I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on Mountain Ash’s properties and design needs.

[RyanY]

That’s a stunning piece of wood. Nice bend too!

[Pappy]

Beautiful piece of wood, nice job on the tiller also.
 Pappy

[Mikkolaht]

Thank you everyone!

In Finland Mountain ashes grow as proper trees, about 15m are the highest I have seen. Towards northern Finland the trees tend to get smaller, I live in the south.

I haven't had that much experience with mountain ash, but from what it seems like the wood needs flat belly to avoid compression damage.
You would expect the wood to be light and spongy but actually it feels quite heavy and somewhat spongy. What I'm trying to say is that the wood is not that snappy when you shoot it.
Comparing mountain ash to maple ''Acer platanoides'' it feels the same but just softer. I have heard of stories of mountain ash and maple bows just randomly exploding without warning, but those might be just stories..

This bow was a straight stick, now it has about one inch of set, and the bow weights about 565grams.
However mountain ash still seems to be able to produce some decent bows which are worth using

Cheers,

[willie]

Thank you everyone!

In Finland Mountain ashes grow as proper trees, about 15m are the highest I have seen. Towards northern Finland the trees tend to get smaller, I live in the south.

I haven't had that much experience with mountain ash, but from what it seems like the wood needs flat belly to avoid compression damage.
You would expect the wood to be light and spongy but actually it feels quite heavy and somewhat spongy. What I'm trying to say is that the wood is not that snappy when you shoot it.
Comparing mountain ash to maple ''Acer platanoides'' it feels the same but just softer. I have heard of stories of mountain ash and maple bows just randomly exploding without warning, but those might be just stories..

This bow was a straight stick, now it has about one inch of set, and the bow weights about 565grams.
However mountain ash still seems to be able to produce some decent bows which are worth using

Cheers,

thanks for the comparisions of maple and mountian ash

I believe european mountian ash from Finland and other northern euro areas is a variety denser than the native mountian ash found in the americas. Some southern european varieties have been brought to the americas as ornamentals (especially in the western US), and are weaker still.

Norway maple ''Acer platanoides'', on the other hand is a lighter weaker wood than the native american hard maples.  Sugar Maple of course, being an exceptional bow wood.

[Aksel]

I can´t compare Rowan to Maple since I´ve only made a couple Rowan bows and that was long time ago, but I can compare 'Acer platanoides" to Elm. The Elm (ulmus Glabra) I use (Sweden) is very good. I recently tested a random sample -
.sg at .68. 

I´ve made many dozen bows from it and a few from Maple and I wouldn´t say any maple bow I´ve made is suffering from spongyness and I haven´t broken one yet.   

Minus for 'Acer platanoides" is it´s a slightly more fragile and you must be more careful with grain run off with Maple. With elm you can almost ignore following the grain if the bow is snaky. But with a straight stave I´m sure it can do anything elm can (at least at weights up to 60lbs, I haven´t made higher poundage maple bows). Maple won´t take the same abuse as elm which will just take set but never break.
Huge plus for 'Acer platanoides" is it is soooo much easier to work than Elm which is nice if you´re used to work with elm. Maple often grows straight too. And it will make, just like elm, a great sapling bow.

Here´s a bow from 'Acer platanoides" I finished today. From a 3" sapling. Still holds 1,6" of natural reflex after 200 shots. #48 at 27". 64 long. I think the Maple species 'Acer platanoides" is very much under appreciated and I would encourage anyone to try it and I think Tim Baker rated it pretty good in TBB4..

Just felt the need to put in a good word for  'Acer platanoides"   

[varangianbowyer]

I can´t compare Rowan to Maple since I´ve only made a couple Rowan bows and that was long time ago, but I can compare 'Acer platanoides" to Elm. The Elm (ulmus Glabra) I use (Sweden) is very good. I recently tested a random sample -
.sg at .68. 

I´ve made many dozen bows from it and a few from Maple and I wouldn´t say any maple bow I´ve made is suffering from spongyness and I haven´t broken one yet.   

Minus for 'Acer platanoides" is it´s a slightly more fragile and you must be more careful with grain run off with Maple. With elm you can almost ignore following the grain if the bow is snaky. But with a straight stave I´m sure it can do anything elm can (at least at weights up to 60lbs, I haven´t made higher poundage maple bows). Maple won´t take the same abuse as elm which will just take set but never break.
Huge plus for 'Acer platanoides" is it is soooo much easier to work than Elm which is nice if you´re used to work with elm. Maple often grows straight too. And it will make, just like elm, a great sapling bow.

Here´s a bow from 'Acer platanoides" I finished today. From a 3" sapling. Still holds 1,6" of natural reflex after 200 shots. #48 at 27". 64 long. I think the Maple species 'Acer platanoides" is very much under appreciated and I would encourage anyone to try it and I think Tim Baker rated it pretty good in TBB4..

Just felt the need to put in a good word for  'Acer platanoides"   

Did a Sycamore Maple mollega, and it is better bow wood than Norway Maple in my opinion. The bow is solid and more snappy, on the other hand Norway Maple seems a bit slower but it might be just because of the growing conditions.

[Badger]

      Beautiful job on that bow! Are you getting any handshock?

[Lehtis]

Great! This inspires me to screen some trees at my cottage…