Safety precautions working with unknown woods?

[Ryan Jacob]

How do I tiller a kind of short bow from an unknown wood in the safest way possible?

[Weylin]

Use it as a walking stick to go out and find a good bow wood to cut. 

I think the default advice for using an unknown wood is to keep it wide flat and long. Chances are it's going to be lacking in some combination of compression, tension, elasticity. Hopefully not to any dangerous degree. Tiller it slowly and carefully keeping an eye out for frets and make sure your expectations are modest. Keep the draw weight goal fairly low.

[Ryan Jacob]

I’ve been using random woods recently just for tiller practice. I can’t access my good bow woods for now since there’s a big chance for a lockdown soon, virus running around and all that. I just don’t wanna lose an eye because it went boom on the tillering tree.

[PatM]

You should be well back from the tillering tree.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I like at least an 8 foot rope. I put safety glasses on when I toss up a bow I'm unsure about. Just not worth getting hurt.

[mmattockx]

I just don’t wanna lose an eye because it went boom on the tillering tree.

That's an easy one to avoid, just wear safety glasses. It doesn't make you a wimp for using safety gear, it makes you smart.

I put safety glasses on when I toss up a bow I'm unsure about. Just not worth getting hurt.

+1, words to live by.


Mark

[meanewood]

Even if your tillering a flawless yew or Osage stave, you should wear safety glasses.

I wear them when shooting as well because loosing an eye is a big deal!

I'd say I've had 10-15 bows blow during tillering and 4-5 blow in the hand when shooting.

[bushboy]

Post a pic of the wood grain..maybe someone can identify it.

[PatM]

Even if your tillering a flawless yew or Osage stave, you should wear safety glasses.

I wear them when shooting as well because loosing an eye is a big deal!

I'd say I've had 10-15 bows blow during tillering and 4-5 blow in the hand when shooting.

What sort of wood are using to achieve that record?

[meanewood]

About -  2 Yew, 3 Hawthorn, 1 Oak, 4-5 Elm, 2 Ironbark, 2-3 Vitex, 1 Sasafrass, 2 Spotted Gum and at least 5 that I didn't know what they  were.
I'll never forget the first bow that exploded at full draw when shooting it.
It was Elm and the separated top limb left a huge welt on my forearm.
Like someone else says on this forum "If you aint breaking em, you aint making em".

[bownarra]

The quick and easy way to assess an unknown wood is to do a simple bend test or make a scaled down mini bow. You can make one in a few minutes and it will tell you what you need to know