Yew...Hi
Interested in your thoughts regarding pro's and con's on choice of wood for a longbow
Which is best option 1 or 2.
Option 1. lemonwood belly, purpleheart core and backed with ash
Option 2. lemonwood belly purpleheart core and backed with bamboo
Thanks
Gary
I know a few good bowyers who use hickory, but have not seen any good reason to think it is better than ash or bamboo (In fact the bending properties of ash seem slightly better according to Material Properties of Ash, Wood Class V (<5y) | Wood Data Sheets vs Material Properties of Hickory, Wood Class IV (5-10y) | Wood Data Sheets though they are for woods of different ages.....).Why back it with Bamboo ....
Surely Hickory is a much better choice?
Dusty ... I think you've hit the nail smack square on the head.Yes Hickory Is a good backing BUT trying to get hold of the quality you need for backing is getting harder and harder
Not all hickory makes good backing some sub species that are sold as Hickory are not that good
This is why some of the top bow makers are using bamboo as backing
Yes we would all love to work with Yew staves but quality ones are rare
Quality osage in the UK is like trying to find rocking horse droppings that is one of the reasons that IPE is now being used
Quality timber takes some finding so we have to find other materials to work with even GRASS
Ash backing better than Hickory..????? have you made many bows David..???I'd back Dusty's first comment on ash versus bamboo when combined with lemonwood. I even think ash would be better than hickory for the same reason (Not overpowering the belly). If true, the bow would show less stringfollow, other things being equal. Sometimes weaker, or at least less stiff, is better. David
The ILAA statesPlease note that bamboo is frowned upon by this organisation:
**** The I.L.A.A the International Longbow Archers Asoociation ****.
(Bamboo is technically a grass and not a wood), and will be banned for all forms of distance shooting. The definitions of a longbow make very interesting reading. Other parts of the website either don't work as intended and/or the spelling is very poor. Interesting nevertheless..
BW
Richard