bitter cherry for bows

[Dante_F]

so i have a piece of bitter cherry thats about five and a half feet long and maybe 4 inches wide  so i can make it wide and even though i have been steered away from bitter cherry and not to mention im a beginner im probably going to give it a go and my question if i heavily back it do you think it will work. also could i make a similar bow from big leaf maple because my neighbors are taking down their tree.

[Deerhunter21]

It's a fruit producer so I'd go for it but if someone else says otherwise hold off until you know.
Russ

[Woodely]

I would be inclined not to use bitter cherry as its somewhat on the brittle side.

[DC]

Just as an experiment I glued a piece of maple backing to some Bitter Cherry thinking the cherry may be OK in compression. I did a small bend over my knee and it never came all the way back. It took a lot of set, no chrysals that I saw but lots of set. It was a very crude test, the samples were kind of narrow so there still may be hope for a cherry bow backed with maple or hickory. I wouldn't do it if I was a novice because you wouldn't know if it was the wood or you that failed. What I would do is harvest the wood and stand it in the corner for a few years. Then you would no the you and the wood are ready to give it a decent shot.  I've never used soft backing like rawhide or cloth so I can't comment on them. The same goes for Big Leafed Maple. I would love for it to be workable bow wood. There is so much of it and it's so straight. I haven't tried it at all.

[bassman]

I have had a few bad experiences with wild choke cherry as bow wood.I just use it for arrow wood now.

[vinemaplebows]

Brittle.

[DC]

VMB have you ever tried it with a wood backing?

[Dante_F]

ok so ill just avoid it in the future but i see no sense sense in letting a stave go to waste so ill probably give it a try anyway

[Badger]

  I make a lot of bows from home depot cherry whatever that is. I think black cherry. I usually back it with maple or red oak. I use it for both elbs and stiff handled flatbows

[Dante_F]

may as well try that too even though cherry is supposed to be temparmental

[vinemaplebows]

VMB have you ever tried it with a wood backing?

No. The wood seemed so brittle to me it wasn't worth the effort. Bigleaf maple backed and long enough makes a shooting bow, but the longevity would be in question. I backed one with hickory veneer, shot good for awhile veneer let loose, boom. If I were to try again I would want staves from larger trees with large growth rings, unbacked bow.

[Dante_F]

well it looks like we'll never know because when i stripped the bark off i found a bunch of insect larvae so that down the drain not to mention how thick the growth rings were, like almost half an inch. that was disappointing