Ash for bows?

[bhenders]

I have access to some ash logs and have split one into quarters.

What kind of bows can I make or what's the best use of this?

[Del the cat]

It's a good and versatile wood, some people make Longbows (English) of it, but I would personally say it's better suited to the wide flatter styles as It's better in tension than compression.
It does work nicely.
I have a few staves of Ash (or maybe it's Sycamore ?) lying around, one bit I'm using to back a Cherry bow, other bits will probably make flat wide bows maybe with a bit of static recurve.
Del

[denny]

I make lotsa bows from ash, Laminated and a like. I like to make elb bows from it. It is not as fast as hickory, but much better compression. It will hold up better and won't  crack like hickory. Denny

[bhenders]

Thanks guys, that's the kind of info I need.

So far I've made board bows, board bows backed with bamboo and two yumi style bows (lots of bamboo).

I've not got access to several 8 to 12 inch 8 ft long straight ash logs.  I've split a smaller 5" one and it was easy to split.  I'm going to go work on the bigger logs this weekend.  I'm going to end up with a bunch of staves.  (these trees got hit with the ash borer... no holes in the splits so far but they are cutting a lot of them down on campus and I can take what I want - I'm thinking I want a lot  ).

Thanks again

[Hillbilly]

depending on what kind of ash it is, it can be good bow wood or junk. White ash is good, most of the other ones except for European ash are pretty light and weak. I've made quite a few white ash bows that turned out well. Long, wide flatbows are the best design I've found for it.

[Lombard]

Yep, what Hillbilly said. I love working with White Ash, and have made a slew of nice bows from it. Done them from staves, quarter sawn, rift sawn, and plain sawn, some backed, most not, all with decent results.

[Jake Levi]

I am working on six white ash bows, 2 at 58" TTT, others are pony bows, 42-48" for mounted archery, all will get a sinew backing.

One of my favorite woods, THE favorite being osage orange. Ash was possibly the most common bow wood used by the northern Plains Indians.