Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: criverkat on December 29, 2011, 02:01:43 pm
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do you use the heartwood or sapwood to make a bow out of pignut hickory
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Any of it I can get my hands on!!
Good stuff!
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You have to be careful with pignut. Seriously, only use what's under the bark. Nothing else. If it's outside the bark, it's useless for bowmaking. ;D
I've had the pleasure of making a few bows from pignut hickory. In fact, the very second bow I ever made was pignut. Took me over 40 hours to get the bark off because the first growthring had some crazy undulations! Debarked the whole thing using a pocket knife to scrape. I love that bow. That was about 8 years ago and the leggy redhead that I gave it to still shoots it. nIt's taken no set, no splinters lifting, looks as good as the day I gave it to her. But then we have almost no humidity here and there's 69" of bow for a 27" draw - overbuilt!
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I would treat it like any other hickory or pecan hickory, first choice would be the sapwood.
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ONLY luck I have EVER had with hickory heartwood is using it in the smoker.
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Nothing is gained by ring chasing unless you damage the back while removing the bark. The sapwood is stringer than the heartwood. Jawge
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I agree with Jawgey poo. Sapwood right under the summer bark is good stuff. I have built only one all heartwood bow. It was very light, maybe 13 oz? The bow has held up well. Its 60" ttt, 50 @ 28" and has a working handle.