Rowan (Mountain Ash) as a bowwood

[Robbo]

Just a quick question about using Rowan for bows.

Basically I read that you treat the timber the same as you would yew,

But does this mean thin the sapwood and use the heartwood for the belly? I've asked this before on other bowmaking forums but I've either been ignored or they havent answered the question,

Its just that i stumbled across a coppice of rowan the otherday and theres possibly 5-6 sapling bows in it, straight, no branches for 7-8 feet and no (visible) twist.

But as their at most 3" thick theres not going to be much heartwood.

Andy

 

[Toddy]

Why not look up Ash bows rather than Yew, it might be more informative.
See post 11, for instance.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22826&highlight=Ash

cheers,
Toddy

 

[redcollective]

I've been lurking on the primitive archer forum since making my first working flatbow with Woodsmoke this year:

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,1946.0.html

Some are having some success with european rowan. See link.

Rowan (or 'mountain ash') is not related to the ash.

 

[Toddy]

True enough, but the timbers have similar uses. I know of both Ash and Rowan bows and arrow shafts as well as tool handles and paddles.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Snufkin]

I've never had the chance to use rowan myself, but I would think it would be best to treat it like ash rather than yew. Try asking over on paleoplanet, I think a couple of the european members have used it.

 

[Eric_Methven]

I've made bows from both ash and rowan to good effect. The rowan does take on a set more readily though so should be unstrung immediately when not in use. I never bothered differentiating between heart and sap wood.

Eric

 

[Dunelm]

I too made an ash flat-bow with Woodsmoke this year (although I would be stretching it to call it "working") and I have also found a very thick copice of rowan that is more like a bamboo forest than what we normally associate with the tree. About 50-100 ram-rod straigh rowan sapplings growing about 20 feet high, all growing so close together you have to crawl between them.

I'm going to cut a few staves and leave them dry over the winter then have a go with them next spring. Incidently finding a nice straight length of ash is harder than it looks...