Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bushboy on March 20, 2013, 04:02:42 pm
-
A few years back I bought a board and it was quite pinkish in colour ,I roughed out a bow and broke it juring floor tiller!was wondering if it was the wood being on the way out when harvested ?when I logged I saw the same thing in spuce when the tree was dieing of old age! Or maybe my lack of skill.
-
Considering hickory doesnt break really and you know what time it is with a rasp in your hand, Id almost bet you got ahold of bad wood!
-
Some hickory heartwood I've seen is pinkish, but it could also be that it was infected with a mold that weakened it. And then some particular pieces I've used were just more brittle than the average for whatever reason. I tend to find an older tree to have more brittle wood than a younger tree, that based on some limited observations of course. My favorite trees are 8-12" diameter, skinny enough that each ring has seen a substantial amount of stress during the growing season. Those older trees, the outer rings tend to be thinner and I thin the latrge amount of wood in the interior may be protecting the newer wood from being strengthened by periodic stress from wind etc.