Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: osage outlaw on April 30, 2010, 01:46:49 am
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I hope this is Hackberry after seeing Ranger B's awesome bow. I live in S.E. Indiana and have a lot of these trees around. I always thought they were junk.
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/SDC10079.jpg)
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/SDC10080.jpg)
If it is, do I need to chase a ring like osage, or just remove the bark and that is the back of the bow?
Thanks.
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someone else will confirm, but i think that is hackberry, the bark has that distinct warty look.
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I second hackberry.
Additionally, there is no such thing as "junk" wood. I've seen good bows made with balsa and I've even got a chinese elm piece going pretty good...when I have time to work on it....
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I didn't mean junk wood for bow making. Growing up, we didn't cut it for firewood or anything else, so it seemed like junk to me. I have only been in the bow making world for slightly over a year. I am trying to learn about and hopefully make bows from trees other than osage.
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Definitely hackberry. I spent a large part of my childhood climbing in a giant one in my back yard.
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do the branches look all crazy angles everywhere? im trying to figure out what this tree is in my backyard.. it always seemed worthless to me. seems different to me though.
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That looks like the hackberry we have in Ohio. When you cut it it will be white with some snot colored streaks through it. I plan on using some of my 3 year cured hackberry and naming it "Snotwood" for the looks, LOL.
The bark will probably be tight but you use it like hickory, take off the bark and make a bow.
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Not the Hackberry we have in S. Texas but there are 2-3 different species. Ours is "sugarberry" hack. I consider it the best, superb bow wood. Leaves are serrated on the Sugarberry. Tom
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That is as hackberry as hackberry gets. Serrated leaves that smooth off on the bottom near the leafe stem, knobby bark that forms into those wart looking shapes. Definatly hackberry. It's excellent bow wood.
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Yep, definitely.
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Best smelling wood to work with I've used, so far, just like buttered pop-corn. Definitely doesn't need to be a high poundage bow to have great cast. It's very light in the hand.
Good luck.
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My hackberry is turning wierd colors, is this normal? I sealed the ends with 2 coats of wood glue. When I went to debark the back, I couldn't find my big bottle of glue, I think it got "borrowed" by a relative. The only thing I had to seal it with was some polyurethane, so I put on a good coat of that. I did the same exact sealing job on an elm tree and it doesn't look like this. It is the two on the right.
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/SDC10106.jpg)
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/SDC10107.jpg)
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/SDC10109.jpg)
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Looks like Black Mold is setting up shop....never seen that happen before...but then I live in a Veritable Desert here...
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The black spots on the ends were there when I cut it down. The rest of it just slowly turned this color over the last few days.
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was this tree alive and leafed out when You cut it?
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I've had the same thing happen to me with hackberry. Question for ya, are these drying in a dark place? I've noticed that hackberry cured in my garage without sunlight turned colors and the couple pieces I left out in front of the garage under the overhang a couple days. Big difference in color. Here are some shots of my weird colored ones.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/kshipley85/100_0697.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/kshipley85/100_0698.jpg)
And this is what it turned into...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/kshipley85/100_0787.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/kshipley85/100_0783.jpg)
I love hackberry and would not hesitate to use what you have got, I've got tons of the stuff laying in the garage just waiting to become a bow. Love this stuff and best of luck on the bows.
Kip
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Yes, the tree was alive and healthy looking when I cut it.
Yes, it is drying in a garage with very little light. That is some cool looking natural camo on that bow.
Thanks for the help.
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Kip...that looks like the Cambium Layer dried out into that Color...seen that many times before...but Outlaws Staves look like Mold to me...JMO
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I wouldn't worry too much about it. The cambiums and fresh wood on a lot of trees turn funky colors when exposed to air sometimes. I've had sourwood and persimmon turn purple before after de-barking. And i've scraped a quarter-inch of surface mold off a stave and made a good bow out of it more than once, too.
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I like the camo effect. I may cut one and see if I can get one to turn like that. :)