I'm currently working on a European dogwood/cornel (
Cornus mas) longbow. In fact, it is nearly finished. I'll post some pictures when it's done.
I'm highly impressed by this bowwood. It is indeed incredibly dense and has a fine texture. I've read some posts over on PaleoPlanet where a few Eastern European bowyers have reported this as a very good bowwood. It's not easy to find a suitable stave, but it is said to be better than its cousin
Cornus sanguinea which is easier to find. This wood feels like it has a very high elasticity. I can't back that up with hard evidence, unfortunately, but it just "want to become a bow", if you know what I mean. My piece is absolutely riddled with knots, but shows no signs of cracks or chrysals. Still needs shooting in, though. This wood doesn't grow very fast or big, and you're likely to find a small diameter stave of no more than 3" across. So combined with the high density and the highly crowned back, I would suggest a narrow longbow with slightly rounded belly. I've had good luck with drying the round stave with bark still on, and no drying cracks forming. However, the bark was difficult to remove once cured, and appears to have caused a discoloration of the first few rings directly underneath the bark. No fungus I think, but just some greyish discoloration for a few rings down. The wood is diffuse porous, has interlocked grain and has a very dull grain pattern. You can hardly even see the rings. So ring chasing is impossible.
I have one more stave of this wood left. I consider it a precious rarity.
Some good food for thought can be found
here. And even more in
this thread.
