Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: tattoo dave on December 17, 2013, 10:33:32 pm
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So I've heard mention of multiple woods that are suitable for peeling the bark, and shazam, there's your bow back. I'm just curious, and wondering if we can make a short, or long I guess, list of woods that you don't need to chase a ring on. I'm kinda impatient, and not a big fan of chasing rings. To be honest, I'd rather clean the shop than chase a ring :o Thanks for the info!!
Tattoo Dave
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Any wood that's good for making bows you can just peel the bark off and make that the back that includes woods like Osage where people have this false idea that only the heart wood is good which is not true.
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I actually enjoy chasing rings btw
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Mullberry, osage and locust need a ring chased Dave.
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About any white wood is good to go for a clean back under the bark. Just cut them in the spring or early summer when the sap is flowing.
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I had an idea that it had to do with whether or not the wood is ring porous or diffuse porous. Maybe not?
Just seems like most woods that need a ring chased are ring porous.
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Not sure about mulberry and osage, but I've made several still-functional sap-backed black locust bows.
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I've made bows with just mulberry sapwood with good results and have left sapwood on the back of osage, mulberry and locust bows. These three woods are generally reduced to heartwood for bows. I guess just about all other woods would be considered whitewood as far as bow building goes. Red oak, cherry, black walnut are all considered whitewoods even though they aren't. The wood under the bark is what you would normally use.
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Had to think about this one. The wood types I will NEVER chased a ring on: hickory, hophornbeam, and juniper. I'll chase rings on everything else if I need to. I ALWAYS chase rings on osage, locust, mesquite, or any wood that has been dried with the bark on except hickory, hophornbeam, or juniper.
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So it sounds like there's only a few woods that must have a ring chased, in most people's opinion anyway. Good to know, Thanks everybody!!
Tattoo Dave
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I have always wondered about the mantra that any white wood is good to go right under the bark. The ring may be clean but as I have found with three ash bows now it is all about the ring ratio.
By this I mean the ash I cut recently looks like its first 10 years or so growth was great but after that it was shaded out. If I did just chose the ring under the bark as I did on two bows the ratio is ribbish with the consistency of crumbly cheese separating thin layers of wax paper. Both bows took shocking set at early tiller despite being long and wide, think ironing board width and barge pole long.
I chased a ring on one of the last staves down to nice thick rings with good early/late and its much happier.
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Personally, I've peeled ash, hackberry, guava, mulberry, oak, and hickory. Chasing a ring isn't really an option for me. That sounds like a big pain in the butt. I'll likely never chase a ring. Like someone else said, be sure to cut in late spring and early summer. Here in Florida you can cut much later though.
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Remove the bark as soon as you can after you cut them. It will stick tight if you let it set for a while.
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Had to think about this one. The wood types I will NEVER chased a ring on: hickory, hophornbeam, and juniper. I'll chase rings on everything else if I need to. I ALWAYS chase rings on osage, locust, mesquite, or any wood that has been dried with the bark on except hickory, hophornbeam, or juniper.
I agree with the HHB for sure. That would be a son of a gun to get right. Never worked with stave hickory, and never worked with juniper at all.