Mountain Laurel ?

[brownhillboy]

Yeah, I think that's different from both kinds I was thinking of.  Pat, I've seen lots of it too thick to walk through, but never 30' high like he's talking about!

[greenstick]

The Mt. Laurel here in Indiana only gets 10'-20' high, mostly wider than tall. But it seams to be a little dry.

[Hillbilly]

I think mountain laurel or rhododendron either one would make a bow, if you could find a piece straight enough. The wood is hard and heavy. The mountain laurel we have in the East is unrelated to the stuff that Cowboy has. That's some downright pretty wood it's got, though.

[John B.]

And this is why Binomial Nomenclature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_nomenclature is so important.  If we all used the proper name Kalmia latifolia we wouldn't have this confusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmia_latifolia

[Pat B]

Thanks, John. I've been preaching that for years. Common names are just that. Go around the corner and they call it something else.   ie. muscle wood!
   

[greenstick]

Thanks John. Do you think their may be any concern in working this poisonous wood?

[ricktrojanowski]

We have a bunch of Mt. Laurel on LI.  It is all pretty shrubby, I can't recall seeing any big enough to make a bow out of.  Even if I could find some good enough, it is protected from cutting.  However it doesn't seem to be protected from the bulldozers clearing for new subdivisions. 

[greenstick]

Picked out a decent specimen to cut.[/img]
The longest piece that I could cut, 65" w/ a dia.5"[/img]

[Pat B]

That's definitely not the same as our mountain laurel.

[Bear]

Nope, sure aint no East Tennessee Smokies Mtn Laurel. Boy it'd be cool to make a bow out of laurel or rhododenron. Both woods have special meaning to me. But I've never seen any that would make a bow.

[John B.]

Over here on the North Carolina side we do things a little bit bigger.  

[Pat B]

I think that is the mother of all mountain laurels!  Definitely Boone and Crocket!

[greenstick]

The Mt Laurel split nice and the bark came off easy,but under the bark are deep grooves. The wood works great with a draw knife,and has a dark core. I got a good start on a half of the stave,the flexed half for a trial bow,but it looks like it may make a good flat bow,but only GOD knows.[/img]As time allows, I'll keep posting.

[Hillbilly]

Don't know what that is, but it ain't mountain laurel. Maybe bush honeysuckle or Eleagnus?

[greenstick]

The Indiana tree guide calls it Mountain Laurel / Kalmia Latifolia , and it matches the picture and description perfectly. What I understand there are different types of this tree. As long as it works for a self bow, it doesn't matter what they call it.