making a bow from ash

[ramrod]

     :-\I am just starting to try to make some bows for the grandkids from ash and need advice on making some  self bows from ash boards sawed five quarter. I know ash isn't the best bow wood  but it is what I've got and in a year or two the emerald ash borer is going to kill the ash tree the kids swings are in and I would like to make them something from the tree to go with the ball bats I plan on making. So I thought I would start now with the boards that I have from the tree that split in the storm a couple of years back to get experience. I would appreciate any and all advice. 

[DanaM]

White ash will make a good bow, start at 2" wide and 68" long for a 28" draw, I've made quite a few board bows with ash,
I backed them with linen and heat reflexed them, never had a problem with frets and none ever broke either.

Where ya live? We also have the Emerald ash borer starting to invade here in Michigan's UP

[Hillbilly]

What Dana said. I think white ash is a pretty good bow wood, myself.

[MaceG]

I love ash.

[islandpiper]

Sometimes if I work in the shop too late my wife will come out the back door and say, "Piper......get your ash back in the house, it's a work night you know !!"     

[deiselbrown]

    It's funny you say that piper my wife hates ash jokes. With such classics as that's a big ash tree or that is a dead ash tree. If you don't mind i think i will use that one mine are getting old.

[El Destructo]

RamRod....Your Ash Tree doesn't have to Die...unless it is already to the Point of No Return....If it has still got most of it's Canopy and You haven't had to remove large Limbs....there is a Product called Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub Insect Control....you can get this at most Greenhouses....or Home Depot...Lowes...or even Wal-Mart....it's a Systemic Insecticide....meaning that it has to be either Injected into the Soil (as I did) with a Root Feeder....or can just be applied with a Hose End Sprayer....the Insecticide has to be absorbed by the Root System and the Distributed throughout the Trees Arteries in order to kill the EAB Larvae.....It worked for Me so far on the Two Ash Tree that I have that got Borers....might be worth the shot...

As for Ash being a not so good Bow Wood....I really like it....I have used White Ash....Green Ash and Black Ask.....used Stave's and Boards....and ave never had any trouble with them either....good luck

[radius]

so which one should i buy:

6/4 plain sawn ash, giving me 1.5" widths of quarter-sawn material if i take it off the edges?

4/4 quarter sawn, going up to 2" wide?

hm...

I need some hardwood to work on while my yew seasons, and i want to try the holmegaard design on another kind of wood than yew or osage...i wonder if i can get elm at the hardwood shop?

[El Destructo]

i would go with the Quartersawn....JMO