Plum ALB

[Marc St Louis]

Been awhile since I made a bow, darn Harps taking up all my time lately.  I had cut a couple Plum last Spring and one of them was a fairly straight pole about 2.5" in diameter and 6' long.  One side was dotted with branches, some of them large, but the other side was pretty clean.  I roughed out the pole to rough dimensions by taking off the branch side last year to help with the drying.  Last month I brought it into my shop and cleaned it up even more then set it by my wood stove to dry it out some more.  I started working on it last week by working it down closer to bow dimensions and doing some heat straightening, it had taken a bit of a jog sideways at the handle while drying and the limbs needed some corrections as well.  No heat-treating was done though.  Because of the small diameter of the pole, I chose an ALB design with narrow limbs; they're just under 1 1/4" wide.  Length of the bow is 67" and draw weight just under 50# @ 28", the bow is quite slim.  Here's a few pics









It started out with a a few inches of reflex, most of that from the heat-straightening I did, and it finished with 1 1/2" of reflex.  I shot it several times in my shop and it shoots quite well.  Not quite sure if I will put a shelf and leather wrap on the handle yet so I'll leave it like this for now.  The finish is Shellac and Tung Oil

[penderbender]

That looks really nice. Great job! Cheers- Brendan

[bjrogg]

Good to see you making a bow again Marc. Doesn't look like you forgot anything. Beautiful bend and very simple clean stick. I vote for leaving it the way it is.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Cool bow Marc.Bet it's a sweet shooter.Good poundage from such a narrow bow out of a white wood.Sure wish that plum grew around here.I've got a winged elm stave though.That'll have to do.

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

I wouldn't classify Plum as a white-wood Ed.  I would classify it as first string wood.  Plum is easily as good a bow-wood as Osage and in fact as good as Yew.  It may not have the resistance to moisture of those 2 though

[Whiskeyjet]

Hi Marc, newbie here with a dumb question. The back looks really flat for such a narrow limb...was the branch just kind of flat on that side? Do my eyes deceive me?

[DC]

Beautiful bow Marc. Makes me want to finish mine. I'm always impressed by how skinny you make the ends of your handles. Could you tell me how wide this one is at the top and bottom of the handle?

[selfbow joe]

Very nice looking.  Nice job

[upstatenybowyer]

Beautiful as always Marc. I completely agree about plum being right up there at the first string tier of bow woods. 

[Marc St Louis]

The back may look flat but it's not, the narrow limbs make it look flatter.  It has a different crown at different points, some place high and others flatter.

If you mean the arrow pass then it's a bit under 7/8" and 1" at the bottom

The limbs have a shallow D section

[DC]

Yes, thanks Marc

[PEARL DRUMS]

Very pretty grain and knots in that piece of wood, nice Marc.

[BowEd]

Thanks guys

I wouldn't classify Plum as a white-wood Ed.  I would classify it as first string wood.  Plum is easily as good a bow-wood as Osage and in fact as good as Yew.  It may not have the resistance to moisture of those 2 though

I see ok.

[Whiskeyjet]

Thanks Marc, really sweet bow!

[wizardgoat]

That's a beauty! All this talk about plum lately is really making me want to work some