question about privet

[nsherve]

anybody ever make a selfbow out of privet? or arrows out of same? I have a lot of privet on my property, and a good bit of it is pretty large. I want to get rid of it (hard to do), thought about trying it. I cut some down this spring, and it's pretty heavy...
right now, i'm working on hickory, but if any body has good completion with the privet, what kind of bow did you make?

nate

[Pat B]

Privet makes good arrows and I imagine it would make a good bow. It will check if you remove the bark too soon.
 "Crossbow" an herbicide, will kill it, Round-up will too but not as well.

[nsherve]

you make the arrows out of the smaller saplings/ twigs? or out of the bigger trunks?

[Pat B]

Arrows from smaller shoots, about 38" at the base.

[Eric Krewson]

Arrows are made from the smaller sprouts. The privet arrows I made were extra heavy but wouldn't stay straight, like a quiver full of snakes. Troy Breeding made some really nice arrows from privet that stayed perfectly straight.

I have been eliminating the privet from my 4 acres. It is a loosing battle but I have some areas where I won by constantly pulling up the sprouts.

You can buy a product called "stump killer" at Lowe's that when sprayed full strength(8%) on a fresh cut stump will keep it from coming back, 100% of the time. The active ingredient is Triclopyr which is found in a bunch of other weed killers as well. I thinned my woods out over the last 14 years, the first cutting I didn't use stump killer and everything sprouted back. During the second cutting phase I used stump killer and nothing sprouted back. I use a 1 qt spray bottle as a little goes a long way, just misting a fresh cut privet stump will kill it.

The commercial name for the full strength(100%) stuff is Arsenal and can be found at any co-op for about $150 a gallon.

[Pat B]

Eric, privet will sprout back from the roots and will need a few spraying, at least for me.
 The only problem with trying to eliminate privet is birds love the berries and spread it that way.

[nsherve]

yea privet's a pain, but not as much as kudzu or wisteria...been bushhoggin the kudzu and some privet. wisteria is very old, some of the vines are big as my thigh. I think it ugly and smells like turd pie. it's killing a bad bit of trees, and dragging them down.
  how were the sprouts gotten ready for making arrows? 38" at base??

[Gsulfridge]

He meant 3/8" at the base of the sprout.

[bubby]

Privet makes a good bow, I've made a few and am cutting more, works pretty good with heat and dries quick if you ruff out a sapling and strap it down cause it will walk on you, okie64 has made some that he posted do a Google search

[bubby]

according to the tbb #4 privet is around .65 sg and takes low set

[Sidmand]

are we talking about the privet that grows all over gods creation here in Alabama?  You can make bows with that?  There is TONS of that crap growing around here - I thought is was only useful for dulling machete blades while surveying.

[bubby]

Sidman there's one way to find out right, cut a few and make some bows

[Sidmand]

I believe that I will just have to do that bubby, right after I finish up those backed bows in my other thread .  Guess I could cut some and let it start drying out.  Should I cut it, split it in half, peal off the bark and seal it back and ends, or just cut, split, and seal the ends with the bark on?  I can put it in the garage to keep the bugs off.

[Eric Krewson]

Pat, cut it off at the ground, spray the stump within 15 minutes of when it was cut and the plant is history, no coming back. I have cut a bunch of them in my woods. I didn't have a good luck with Round Up as I did with Triclopyr.

[bubby]

Depends on the size if it's sapling size I'd rough it out and seal it up,   big enough to spit into staves do that