Well, after decades of beauty my Mom's Purple leaf plum (domestic) is slowly retiring from old age and evidently a lightning strike some years back...it is an older cultivar and has produced fruit in the past that I've actually made into jelly. I trimmed her up this year and have a couple of limbs that are straight and I'm wanting to turn into bows...the one I'm currently wanting to work is 72" long and 1 1/4# wide pretty much it's whole length (68# if I cut it short to avoid a branch point near one end)...question I have is what can I expect with this width/length? I'm not looking for a 'bruiser' here, 50-55lbs would be it at 26-27" draw length...I believe I should be able to get that without an issue but am also considering either/both backing with boo and/or horn belly (have some Oryx horn in milk that's softening and should be ready by December). I would only use the horn for a short belly piece to avoid the weight in mid to outer limb but since I've never worked with Plum I'm not sure if it's tension or compression strong or moderate? If anyone knows please let me know...I've got some other branches and a larger diameter piece but I want to ensure I'm not over-taxing anything if I should get 'creative' while I play...cheers - P1.
