Poplar...yeah another one lol

[makenzie71]

I've got materials coming for my horsebows...some better materials but I have to wait a little while for them to come in.

In the mean time I want to start another little project.  I'm wanting a softer wood for a core and am thinking poplar.  I want it to be really wide and thin, especially around mid- limb, tapering to pretty narrow, but thick, tips.  There'll be tempered bamboo on the belly and a strip of bamboo along the back, then the limbs above the handle will be wrapped in raw hide.

I love working with red oak but every thin limb I've made with red oak has taken a tremendous amount of set...the bamboo and hide will likely stop it on this one, but I also have concerns with the limb width.  I want it to be nearly 4" wide in the limbs...at least 3".

The bow is going to be mostly decoration and target, 60" end to end (maybe a bit shorter), and I'm hoping for 35~40lbs.

[George Tsoukalas]

Be careful with poplar, makenzie. At best, it is a marginal bow wood.  Jawge

[makenzie71]

Be careful with poplar, makenzie. At best, it is a marginal bow wood.  Jawge

  I'm expecting a marginal bow.

[George Tsoukalas]

You are capable of more than marginality. I was talking from the standpoint of safety. Sure you can make a bow from it but it does tend to explode unexpectedly. Jawge

[ken75]

it takes a hell of a set too jawge , i tried it as a core wood before i knew better. mak i would go with maple jmo