Dogwood for bows?

[Shawn Rackley]

I have done a search and found that "straight" flowering dogwood can be a good bow wood. I live in northeast Arkansas and have been blessed with finding a few nice straight trees. I have heard about twisting and checking. I have little to no experience but I have really been interested in learning to make selfbows for a longwhile. I have been looking for good standing bow woods while out roving and hiking. So far I have found honey locusts, American elm, and some really straight dogwood. I do realize the stave would have to dry for some time. But I think it would be good to seize this opportunity and harvest these trees, if viable for a bow.
If flowering dogwood does make a good bow, how should I treat the stave? I'm assuming split it and seal the ends. But do I need to scrape the bark off and seal the back as well? Take it to one ring? I am looking for advice to the folks that have had some good or bad experiences. Also pictures would be great. In the search I did, all the pictures were removed during the great photobucket scurge.  And lastly what types of bow style would be best for this wood? Flatbow, English longbow, etc?  I plan on by time these staves are dried and ready I will have enough practice and experience with Osage and other woods to do them justice.  Thanks for any advice guys.

[High-Desert]

I’ve only used Pacific dogwood, not sure how much different it is from flowering dogwood. I really like it, but it seems a lot like Vine Maple in the sense that is is extremely strong in tension, so a smaller diameter stave works out better, since it has a steeper crown, and making it with a flatter belly to allow for more compression wood to tension wood ration. It works very nice and is one of my favorite to work, it also take stain very nicely and really makes the grain pop, even better than Vine Maple. The wood smells like a banana peel when working, or at least that’s the best way I can describe it.

[Pat B]

Yes, flowering dogwood does make a good bow.

[PatM]

The harder types of Dogwood are pretty highly  regarded..   Over the pond Cornelian Cherry is rated as a top bow wood.

[turtle]

I like  flowering dogwood for bow's. If cut in spring the bark peels fairly easy. Be sure to seal the back. I have dried winter cut dogwood with the bark on but it is a real pain scraping it off.