Comparison of various woods used in bow making

[Chippintuff]

Is there a thread or resource that discusses the advantages/disadvantages of each type of wood as it relates to bow making? Characteristics that would be most important to me are: how does it resist getting set to the bend when strung; how fast it responds when shot; how well it holds it's original characteristics over time; etc.

WA

[burchett.donald]

 Chippintuff,
                  As a great resource "The Traditional Bowyers Bible" Volume One is worth it's weight in gold...It goes into great detail on bow wood and design...There are many threads here on that subject also. Type in the wood you have in question into the search bar or bow design and that will point you to various threads...
                                                                                                                      Don

[mikekeswick]

Apart from the obvious few most woods (when the bow is designed correctly with correct regard to it's properties) will shoot give or take the same speed.
Most bow designs are the same too.
It's all about learning the woods properties in relation to bow making. A few simple bend tests on uniform slats of the wood you want to use will get you in the ballpark. Also testing the s.g. is pretty important.
A list of these things wouldn't be a great use to you when you pick up a piece of wood to make a bow because the tests weren't done on that particular piece. Wood can vary a lot from even neighbouring trees of the same species and even staves from the same tree can react quite differently.

[blackhawk]

Tim Bakers chapter in Traditional Bowyers Bible Vol 4 on most of the "known" bow woods is good info. But your mileage will vary from what someone else says about this and that woods,and the best way to find out is to get your hands dirty and try them out for yourself and come up with your opinion.

[ajbruggink]

Tim Bakers chapter in Traditional Bowyers Bible Vol 4 on most of the "known" bow woods is good info. But your mileage will vary from what someone else says about this and that woods,and the best way to find out is to get your hands dirty and try them out for yourself and come up with your opinion.

+1

[Springbuck]

A " +1" to Mikekeswick's answer.

Wood specie is not responsible for set, directly.  And all woods take set.  excessive set is the result of a bad wood choice/design choice.

The USFS has an old website for their Center or Wood Anatomy Research, that has descriptions, uses, and test data on a lot of woods, domestic and tropical, but you have to learn to glean info from it.  It lists things like S.G, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, crush strength, etc.. and any vagaries woods might have, like the tendency to xeparate between growth rings when flexed, or if the dust is toxic.

Eventually, I came to find it most useful for sorting out the names of tropicals, because common names often have no meaning, really.  About a zillion species are called "iron wood" because they are the hardest local tree, etc..  I did use it to find out what was related to what, and found that the locust family, worldwide has a lot of suitable woods.  I also noticed trends, such as; woods that get used for certain things like carts, sports equipment, or tool handles are often very suitable for bows.

[DavidV]

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/47641/List-of-Potenial-Bow-Wood-Species-With-Comments

Tim Baker's list of bowe woods.

[willie]

"the best way to find out is to get your hands dirty and try them out for yourself and come up with your opinion"

and the easiest way to do that is to work with staves that you harvest locally.

you have more control of the selection and drying yourself, that you would not if you bought the wood, and what you learn,  can be easier applied to the next stave. unless you live at the north pole, there is a probably a good wood nearby.

[SLIMBOB]

+1 Blackhawk. All the data you get access to is great "reading", but may have little relevance to the piece of wood you have on the bench. I'm a big proponent of reading everything you can get your hands on but, It's all pretty academic. In the end, pick up a piece of bow wood from the long list of "good" species, and get to making shavings.  You will discover that 2 staves from the same tree will often have different properties based on which side of the tree it came from. One side can be exceptional and the other side marginal. Or worse.

[Badger]

  Every bow posted here is feedback on a particular wood. No testing laboratory has done the testing that happens here everyday. I honestly don't belive there is any substitute for trial and error and feedback when we have so many testers out here doing it everyday. When the majority of us tend to agree on something it usually has some merit. Where a particular wood may seem to get mixed reviews ( black locust comes to mind) It either means that the wood varies from tree to tree or some of us are not using the right designs with it. I have never been able to make heads or tales out of the engineering tables as it applies to bows.

[bradsmith2010]

also depends on where you live,, some woods seem to be more sensitive to moisture,,, and that can play a big part in your bow design success,,

[DC]

Like Badger said!
 There are too many variables to go with a chart. Go with the Bell curve. One little problem though, I don't think enough people report their failures.

[Chippintuff]

Thanks for all the responses. I will follow up with your suggestions, starting with Tim Baker.

WA

[Eric Garza]

I'll echo sentiments offered above: that even within a particular species the quality of the wood can vary tremendously. I've cut elm in my area with lots of early wood growth that took lots of set, even with an even, deep heat treating. And I've cut elm with an exquisite early-late wood ratio that performed exceptionally with heat treating and probably would have performed well even without it. Both trees were harvested within 50 paces of each other. The difference was the microclimate in which they grew, the drainage, and perhaps something about the soil.

I'm a firm believer in getting to know the trees that grow locally, and what factors influence their capacity to lay down highly elastic wood and make great, snappy bows.