Black Locust

[bigcountry]

I have put together one bow out of osage and it came out nice.  I want to move to another wood.  I have some nice straight black locust in my yard, that thinking of harvesting.  I know nothing of black locust but what I have read in Trad bibles and Jim Hamm's book on bows and arrows of indians. 

Does anyone know if its a good bow wood?  Is it good to cut now and put away for a year?  Does the sap wood have good tension or should it be taken off like osage?

Thanks for any info.

[DanaM]

BL is good wood, treat it like oasage but perhaps a bit wider. It has the reputation for fretting easily so take your time.
Yup remove the sapwood and chase a ring.

[Hillbilly]

It's great bow wood, treat it just like osage except make it a little wider/longer. Locust has one of the strongest compression ratings of any NA woods, but it's also so strong in tension that the belly tends to chrysal if you get a hinge or uneven tiller and pull it too far before fixing it. Seal the back after removing bark or sapwood. It makes good flatbows, and excellent Cherokee/Eastern Woodlands D-bows.

[bigcountry]

So when you say seal the back, you mean right now if I cut it down, and make into staves and remove the sapwood, put some sort of seal on it?  Is this just for bugs or drying? 

thanks for the quick replies

[Pappy]

Both,bugs and drying.I like it alot,but what the others have said is very good advice.
   Pappy

[Hillbilly]

Yep, coat the back and ends with shellac, cheap glue, or whatever. Leave the sides and belly unsealed. It's just like osage, really bad to check if it loses moisture too fast. You can rough one or two out to near-bow dimensions so they'll dry quickly, and work on them while the rest of the staves are seasoning.

[bigcountry]

Thanks, I am going to try one.  I heard if your not a good tiller'er, your going to learn to be one after this.

So I make my osage bows 1 3/4" wide from fades going up 11-12" and then pyamid out to 3/8" tips for a 55-60lb bow.  And 67" for a 29" draw.

For locust would 2" side limbs and 70" be good for a 55lb bow?  Or is this overkill?

[david w.]

i have never worked BL but it sounds a little overkill your osage bows dont have to nealry be that big. 

[bigcountry]

Well, my first osage bow, (I bought it off a friend in WA) broke at the handle and fades.  So I started trying to making them as safe as possible.  So 1" 3/4" is what I did.  It is sluggish.  Only shoots a 480gr arrow 155fps with a 56lb bow.  Maybe all that mass is the reason.

[richpierce]

1 and 3/4" wide is plenty for black locust.  I made one that weight and it is fast for the draw weight.  I really like working with it, but like osage, finding a good straight stave without too much "character" is sometimes challenging.  I am finishing another black locust D bow now, 64" long, 55# at 28" is my target, and I am getting this from a stave 1 and 5/8" wide, with gently reflexed tips.  

For every 8-10" diameter black locust log I try to get staves from, I usually get one good stave, one or maybe two OK staves, and have to make firewood of the rest.  I have zero luck getting good piggyback staves from larger black locust logs.  It always runs out on me, and I think that is a good property.  It means adhesion between growth rings is really strong.

Black locust bends with heat pretty well if you need to recurve or straighten it.  But if you are recurving, do it while the wood is still a little thick because I sometimes get a little "crushing" on the back of the bow where the recurve is.  It does not seem to affect strength but for appearances you might want to take it down another ring.

[Hillbilly]

Like Rich said, 1 3/4" is plenty wide enough, 1 5/8" would probably work fine, especially if you add a couple inches of length to it for that long draw. Locust likes length.

[Ryano]

Build it just like you did your osage bow. That will work fine. You could definitely cut down the width on your osage bows 1 1/4" is plenty wide for most osage bows especially one as long as you have there.

[Papa Matt]

Big Country, word of caution: I have worked with BL a couple times, and I have found that if it is out of a log and not a sapling (I assume yours is out of a split log?) that it does not hurt to resist the temptation and leave the sapwood on for a while as it dries, especially if you are going to move it into the house to dry. DEFINATELY seal the back and ends just like they told you. Just beware that I have had it crack on the belly before and had to hope I've left enough wood there to work out the crack and still get the weight I want out of the bow. I had mine drying in the barn where it's cool and dry for a while and it never cracked at all. But the first couple days after I moved it into the house I noticed cracks appearing in the belly. And that was with Sapwood on and the ends sealed. I've found BL will be more than happy to crack on you if it has the chance.

[bigcountry]

So it sounds like it may not be a canidate to rough in shape or take off sapwood and bandsaw  while green?  I hear folks doing that with hickory to speed up drying.

[DBernier]

Hey bigcountry, I made a BL a couple years ago and like shooting it a lot. It is 72" long, 1 1/2 inches at the fades and is a sweet shooting bow. It is 47# at 28". Photo attached.

Dick

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