never mind don't look at this post because the question is a repeat

[tlow13]

sorry to waste your time

[Gsulfridge]

I'm sure someone has done it, but Bradford pear would have to be way down on the list of useful bow woods, if on the list at all.  Seems awful weak to me.  Having never tried it, I can only offer an uninformed opinion though.  Try it and let us know, or wait on a more suitable candidate would be my advise.

[Inuumarue]

I would use it, and that is after clearing out about 10 of em off my in-law's lot.  The wood itself is great, the biggest problems with bradford pear are the structure of the tree and the rots that can happen from trapped water and low airflow.  All poor growth structures aside it is a true fruit wood and is some lovely stuff to work with.   The 10 I cut were in such windy areas they were twisted beyond bow use so I don't have the first hand experience with it as a bow-wood, but I did get some nice wood for other projects out of it.

[TacticalFate]

Very brittle wood, great for carving though. I'd make a bow long and wide

[DarkSoul]

Please run a search. This question pops up every month or so.
https://www.google.com/#q=site:http:%2F%2Fwww.primitivearcher.com%2F+bradford

[tlow13]

Ok. I need to work on my searching skills on this forum because when I typed in pear or I got a whole bunch of posts that only had the word appear or other words that have pear in them. Sorry to be repetitive!

[Pat B]

Bradford is a true Pyrus(pear).  The wood is as strong as any pear. The structure of the tree is weak because of the steep angle the limbs leave the trunk and that makes them collapse when there is an overload of snow or wind.

[Josh B]

Tlow don't let darksoul get you down.  I honestly believe that he means well and didn't mean for that reply to sound so "snippy" for lack of a better word.   The irony of it is that even though he seems to have some sort of OCD type hang up over repeat questions, he has no compunction what so ever about posting the same answer to those questions.   Again, I do believe he means well, but very few questions asked on here are new.  If we all used the search function exclusively, we wouldn't have much to talk about.  As to your question, I can't help you on pear.  I just didn't want you getting a wrong impression of darksoul or this community.  Josh

[bushboy]

I felt the same way when I started ,cause I was so hungry for imfo and also wanted to be part of this thing.some times iy better to just try different things. And think outside the box like some guys on here(mr poplar bow) not every piece of wood is the same so if someone tells you it,s not the best keep it in mind but don't let that stop you ,cause if your like most of us,you"l have to prove it to yourself

[lebhuntfish]

I have never tried a bow out of it but I will tell you a 6in round piece about 8 feet long or so held up all deer season as a deer hanger at camp. We put it between two forks on some trees and au one time we had 6 buck's hanging from it. Of course it was a pretty fresh cut. Patrick

[mikekeswick]

If you couldn't hang a few deer off a 6 inch log I'd run from every standing tree of it I saw!!!!!

[soy]

Darn it you tricked me into looking don't be glum ask away I have a terrible time with the searches as well

[DarkSoul]

Ok. I need to work on my searching skills on this forum because when I typed in pear or I got a whole bunch of posts that only had the word appear or other words that have pear in them. Sorry to be repetitive!

I'm sorry if I sounded 'snippy'. I didn't mean anything with my post, except that a search yields soooo much information. It is in principal fine to ask the same question over and over again, but you'll find more information in the existing posts combined, than you can get in new replies in a a new topic. Everyone knows if they've answered this question before, so the people tend to summarize what they've said in the past in this new topic. While you may be able to get the consensus in this new topic (i.e. "Bradford pear is a true pear and is a good bowwood, but the structure of the tree may suggest a weak wood since branches tend to snap off in storms"), you can only find the complete and more elaborated version in older topics. Myself, I'd rather see that you revive such an old topic instead of opening a new topic.
The search function of this forum works rather lousy, so that's why I gave you the Google search link. Naturally, you can replace 'bradford' in that search query with any other word or phrase that you want to look up.

[tlow13]

Thanks guys for the input and encouragement! I realized where I was going wrong with the search stuff, I was searching when I was still in the Bow sub section, but when I went back from the home page and started searching I was able to find everything I needed and more. You are a helpful bunch and I hope to be posting pictures of my first bow by the end of this summer!!