Making bows from oceanspray!

[D. Tiller]

Well, I just cut down a large enough peice to make a bow out of and learned a major lesson. Find out where the pith is! This will determine where and how you cut the wood. Its prety thick but its one heck of a dense wood though it tends to be just chocked full of water. It will take some time to dry out and be ready to use. But I have been told that its best to split it through the pith and then seal the ends but not to remove the bark. This should even out the inner and outer woods speed in drying and reduce its tendency to check. Anyone heard about this?

I have a theory that many of the bows found here in Western WA where actually made of oceanspray (aka: Ironwood) and not vine maple. I also think it would be great for sinew backing to boot! It has a high crown on the back naturaly and, if I read TBIV right, this should make the sinew more efficient on the back. Is this true?

David T.

[JackCrafty]

Tiller, I'm curious to see how this wood works for a bow.

As for the efficiency of sinew on a high-crowned back, I think the sinew needs to be thickest on the highest part of the crown in order to get the most from the added weight of the sinew....but I dunno.  If the ratio of tension strength to compression strength is not higher than average, I don't think the sinew will help much.  JMO.

The way I see it, sinew is used to make a good wood better...it doesn't make a poor wood "good".

[Badger]

Ocean spray is  dense wood and very elastic, It makes great bows. hard to find a large piece suitable for bows but well worth the time it takes if you find one. Steve

[D. Tiller]

Steve, what type of dimensions should I be aiming for?

[El Destructo]

                         Never seen one before...it isnt any kin to Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood) though....is it??

[sumpitan]

No, it isn't. Oceanspray belongs to the Rose family, while hophornbeam is in the Birch posse. Oceanspray is a rarity here but several other related 'sprays and spireas exhibit extremely solid and dense, uniformly white wood that is very hard to break (also a chore to season without checking). Kyle (Pothole Primitive) from the PP forum has made some oceanspray bows and looked into the history of it's use for bows in the Northwest. For many tribes in the Basin area, oceanspray was the preferred selfbow material.

Tuukka

[burn em up chuck]

 d tiller, i for one would like to see what oceanspray looks like. would it possible for you to post some pictures? i have only one publication that shows it, and that is not a very good one. picture is based on showing amount of flowers.

                                                                                 chuck

[brian melton]

     Funny how people that are naturalists always pick the nicest looking specimen to take a picture of. most are not that pretty. they grow really slow, and on the west side of the cascades if you know what you are looking at it is everywhere. MOST IS NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR BOWS, BUT IT IS OUT THERE...Here is some pics.....http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/plants/shrubs/ocean-spray.aspx

Brian

[burn em up chuck]

brian; thank you very much. i like that site alot. lots of pictures.

                                                       chuck

[D. Tiller]

I have to get some more! The stuff here on the island gets prety big. Last one I found was arround 1 1/2" thick. Now to find some more!

[DanaM]

Tiller do a search I'm sure JD posted a oceanspray bow, if my memory serves me