Beech Bow

[Marc St Louis]

There's been a few questions over the years about whether Beech will make a bow.  I've made a few in the past, like about 20 years ago, and I still have some Beech staves from wood I cut back then.  I'm not really making bows right now as I'm spending most of my time cutting and pulling out my next Winters supply of firewood but it was 30 below the other day and it's just too bloody cold to do that so I decided to make a bow instead.  I went out to one of my stashes and noticed this Beech stave sitting there so I pulled it out.  The stave never saw the Sun but it had been outside in a shelter for all that time and this is what the back weathered to looked like.



And here is the finished bow.  I's 62" long and pulls 30# @ 25"

[wizardgoat]

Tiller looks nice. Do you know what species of beech?

[Badger]

  Mark, is that the same as blue beech? is it a heavy wood? I have always wondered about beech, my brother in law has it growing on his property.

[willie]

Marc
 I like the way you get it to bending right out of the fades. is there any reflex when unbraced?
willie

[George Tsoukalas]

Beautiful, Marc! Jawge

[PatM]

Nice one Marc
 Steve,  True Beech is not related to Blue Beech at all. It's just a superficial resemblance that gives it that  name.

[dragonman]

looks good....how does it shoot?...what does the unbraced profile look like after shooting? was wondering cos there is a lot of beech where i live, it is a strong hard wood, but rots very quick when  left ouside...never tried to make a bow but often wonder about the possibility though

[IndianGuy]

Marc that looks really good, are you going to do any finish or grip on the bow?
E

[Marc St Louis]

The wood is American Beech.  I find that it is very similar to White Ash as a bow wood

The stave started out relatively straight and has taken about 1" of set.  Too cold outside to shoot but the shots I have taken inside suggest a decent shooter

It's going to stay like this for now

[Drewster]

That's a very fine looking bow Marc.  Just curious, have you ever tried to heat treat beech?

[steve b.]

Good looking bow.

[Marc St Louis]

This is the first Beech bow I've made in over 15 years so no never tried heat-treating Beech.

The limbs are just over 1 1/4" wide. 

I have a couple more staves of American Beech and one half log that, from the ripples on the back, may actually be Blue Beech.  The rippled log is quite heavy and, after 20 years, must be well seasoned

[GB]

Love the way the back looks.  Sweet bow!

[adams89]

very nice and clean bow.

[stuckinthemud]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but am reading conflicting stories about European Beech as a bow-wood (its a related but different species to American Beech), anyone able to comment on European Beech as a bow-wood - its really common around here.