Hop Hornbeam Anyone?

[gmc]

Acquired this stave over the weekend at the Moontree gathering (thanks,Client ). It's a Hop Hornbeam that wants to be a bow, hopefully.

Would love to hear any comments or past experiences on using the wood.

This will be my first, actually my first anything in a couple years. 

[Bogaman]

Called Ironwood by many. Reminds me a lot of Hedge (Osage) in density and other qualities. It makes very good bows. That looks like a very good piece of wood to me, should make a great bow.

[hunterbob]

I just got one in the bow swap . And I will be getting pictures posted very soon.
I will tell you. The one I got shoots great and is real fast. I bet you got a great bow in that stave.

[bubby]

what, I thought you were giving some away , all I know about it is the hhb bow I got is one hell of a bow

[Danzn Bar]

Greg,
I'm glad you got the bug again @ Moon Tree.  Looking forward to see the bow that's in that stave.
DBar

[TRACY]

No doubt you'll whip that stave into a fine shooter Greg. I was thoroughly impressed with the black locust bendy bow you had at moontree.

Tracy

[Marc St Louis]

Just be extremely careful with the back.  The wood does not lend itself well to chasing a ring

[Pat B]

I'm working on a HHB bow now. It is tough stuff. I've made one other and it turned out great.
  How long is your stave? It looks short.

[osage outlaw]

No need to chase a ring on that stave.  I very carefully removed the cambium layer on it by soaking it with a wet rag and using a goose neck scraper to gently push it away from the wood.

Glad to see you working that stave Greg.  I'm excited to see what you make from it. 

[gmc]

Thanks guys for all the reply's.

Pat, the stave is 67 inches long and 2inches wide. Has a pretty deep roll in the grain about 55 inches into the stave. You can see it in picture #2.

Client, the back looks well care for. What did you seal it with, Shellac?

It was love at first sight with this stave. It had those puppy eyes saying, pick me, pick me, as we were walking through the line-up.

[osage outlaw]

I can't remember what I sealed that with.  It was either shellac or polyurethane. 

[H Rhodes]

I just finished my second HHb bow and I think it is good bow wood.  I think it can stand a narrower profile than the other white woods that I have tried.  It's real dense, almost osage like wood - (but not quite that good ).  That's a good looking stave and should make any kind of bow you want.  It didn't look that long in the picture - I was going to ask if it was long enough too.  Good luck with it.   

[blackhawk]

I think u should send that stave back home where it came from  ...that came from a 12" dia tree I cut right behind my house

I see a couple options with that one...either make a mid 60"'s stiff handle bow,and any kind of side or front profile(flat bow,molly,holmgaard,recurve)...or maybe cut it off at that deflex and make a short bend in the handle bow? But my first preference would be the first option....that deflex is subtle and can be easily removed and changed with heat....and in any event if making a more standard n simple designs I'd go 1 3/8"-1 1/2" wide(pending on the stats you want) ...whatever you choose get it ready to brace then temper it into shape...hhb does really well on its own,but a good tempering makes it even better and close to an osage dimension bow...

[Marc St Louis]

One of the fastest bows I ever made was a heat-treated static recurve HHB.  It was shooting low 190's with 9 GPP on a 27" draw

[gmc]

Thanks again, guys.

Howard, it does feel pretty dense in the hand. 

Blackhawk, thanks for all the options. I really hate to make a really short bow out of this stave, I may just try to find a happy medium between a little performance and longevity.  I figure if I stare at it long enough something will come to mind.  I'm not building a lot of bows these days and I imagine this one will be slow and steady.

Marc, its good know this wood has that kind of potential.  But I'm pretty sure this bow will never see anything close to that