question on juniper

[sailordad]

wel have been looking for and asking everyone i know for wood for bows.it really sucks when you dant have acces to trees for culling
i read that Ishi's bow was made from juniper.
now one of the guys i work with said he has a couple really tall junipers that i could cut down
now i havent been to his place to get pics as of yet and was just wondering if anyone knows if this would be the same or similar type?
if its not does anyone know if it would be decent enough for bow wood?
i am prety sure its going to be some kind of ornamental juniper.
but was curious before i went and cut it down.

as always thank you.

                                                                                tim

[Kegan]

Pull one of the branches down, and watch how quickly it springs back to shape. If it's a snappy little thing, it'll make a snappy little bow .

[sailordad]

wow really?

never even thought of that,good idea i'll give it a try.if it ever quits friggin snowing here so i can have time to get to his place.we have had more snow by x-mas this year than we have had since '78.
we are still getting it,seems like every other day,got about 8" today again.

[Kegan]

It's an easy thing to see without having to cut anyhting. Around here, oak, hickory, and hornbeam are very fast and quick. Silver maple, pine, and cherry are more sluggish.

[juniper junkie]

where are you located? if it is a juiper tree and not a shrub, you should be in good shape. look for clear straight grain sections, usually where two stems grow alongside each other one or both will be fairly knot-free on the side that meets the other stem. or look for a branch if the tree is big enough.  you will need to overbuild juniper compared to hardwood staves. I have had best results with wide limb fairly short bows. it responds really well to heat for making recurve ends. you will need to try and get mostly heartwood for the belly as the white wood is  weak in compression. keep us posted and send pics.