A big thanks to JD Duff and others here for the inspiring posts on Crabapple as a bow wood!
Well I'm fairly new to bow making having started last winter. I have been searching for a local wood to work with and found a few references here at PA on Crabapple. My first few Crabapple staves were from the mouth of the Thorne river (Thorne Bay SE Alaska) they were really lumpy and had a lot of red heart, not very good for bows but pretty wood. As the snow melted I was able to get away from the shoreline and find Crabapple that was a much better grade for bowyering. I think that being right on the bay the saltwater had something to do with the red heart I found in my first staves
example of red heart notice how little white wood there was in this character stave (this one ticked on me):here is my more recent bow made from non red hearted Crabapple:notice the stave is deflexed
this pic shows the set it has taken
I worked in a little pistol grip on the handle
mahogany tip overlays
pics of the bows back
strung shots
Did I mention its a bear bow the bow is 63.5 long 62 3/8 ntn 70# at 26 inches I was trying for 80# @ 28 but never pulled the extra 2 inches
I hope you enjoyed the pics!
sc