Managed to get hold of some nice bits of laburnum. The wood looks fantastic, a huge contrast between the sapwood and the heartwood.I'm thinking it may behave somewhat like walnut. Does anybody know if this wood makes a decent bow? I'm gonna give it a go anyway but if anyone out there has experience with this can you let me know.
Laburnum for bows?
- Thread starter yarrow
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Yes it is supposed to make a great bow. I have heared some people rate it up there with osage orange. I haven't had the chance to try it myself as I've never found a suitable piece. I'm not sure if you should treat it like osage and remove the sap wood. Someone over on paleoplanet would know though.yarrow said:
I have been looking for some too, as it is said to make a very good bow, but it's hard to get lengths/pieces suitable (I've certainly not succeeded). I also read that the French used it a lot (but you cannot trust everything you read 
The photos I have seen of finished bows have the same constructions as yew - heartwood as belly, sap wood as back.
Hope that helps.
Paul
The photos I have seen of finished bows have the same constructions as yew - heartwood as belly, sap wood as back.
Hope that helps.
Paul
i wish ide known laburnum was good for somthing ..........sorry guys just turned a 7 foot long 2 foot wide log in to fire wood and a few bowls o dear
wood (lol) not have thought it would make a good bow though as there is a white layer in between the growth rings that makes it very brittle well next one i take down ill post here and it will be free may take me a year or 2 but it will come im sure.
o dearwood (lol) not have thought it would make a good bow though as there is a white layer in between the growth rings that makes it very brittle well next one i take down ill post here and it will be free may take me a year or 2 but it will come im sure.
yarrow,
have a look at the traditional bowyers bibles (Jim Hamm) as a really good source of bowmaking info.(Im selling mine if youre interested) Theres a section in there on testing various types of wood so you can get an idea of its performance before your spend hours and hours making elegantly carved firewood!
I cant see why this wood wouldn't work, but wood selection is more critical for an english "self longbow" design, if thats what youre aiming for (no punn intended) ,.. let us know how you get on with it. Generally speaking, when unsure of a wood's charachteristics some amateur bowyers tend to go for the american flatbow design with wider, flatter limbs. Though if its rated up there with osage then i can imagine it could make an excelent longbow.
a good tiller (the bows curve when drawn) is vital for a decent bow, especially if youre making an unbacked selfbow, without good tiller, your bow may explade after a few shots. Which brings me on to another thing - dont pull the bow to full draw for the first 200 or so shots with the bow. wooden bows need a certain amount of breaking in first at half draw, ..they are far more likely to snap if your fully draw it without breaking it in first.
regarding design: A longer bow is less likely to snap, as is a wider one.
If when you shoot the bow and its been broken in, you find it tends to stack a bit (get stiffer on the last few inches of draw), you could try steaming / boiling the ends of the bow limbs and putting some recurve in by bending the softened wood around a form and allowing it to dry out, so that the tips of the bow limbs point more towards the target. Recurving will reduce the amount of string follow that the bow has (which reduces the speed of arrow flight), and will make the last few inches of draw smoother. Recurving may not be your only option, it may be the tiller thats the problem. If the arrow seems slow it could be that the taper of limb tips are too chunky.
A well matched set of correctly spined arrows will do much towards making a decent shot too, no matter how good the bow is, with a poorly spined set of arrows youl never be all that accurate. A good way of finding the right spinage is to buy individual shafts in a range of spines (try quicks archery). then make them up and shoot them, choose the arrow that shoots best then make up your next batch of arrows all to that spine. That is, if youre buying made shafts..
ok that my ramble over !
have a look at the traditional bowyers bibles (Jim Hamm) as a really good source of bowmaking info.(Im selling mine if youre interested) Theres a section in there on testing various types of wood so you can get an idea of its performance before your spend hours and hours making elegantly carved firewood!
I cant see why this wood wouldn't work, but wood selection is more critical for an english "self longbow" design, if thats what youre aiming for (no punn intended) ,.. let us know how you get on with it. Generally speaking, when unsure of a wood's charachteristics some amateur bowyers tend to go for the american flatbow design with wider, flatter limbs. Though if its rated up there with osage then i can imagine it could make an excelent longbow.
a good tiller (the bows curve when drawn) is vital for a decent bow, especially if youre making an unbacked selfbow, without good tiller, your bow may explade after a few shots. Which brings me on to another thing - dont pull the bow to full draw for the first 200 or so shots with the bow. wooden bows need a certain amount of breaking in first at half draw, ..they are far more likely to snap if your fully draw it without breaking it in first.
regarding design: A longer bow is less likely to snap, as is a wider one.
If when you shoot the bow and its been broken in, you find it tends to stack a bit (get stiffer on the last few inches of draw), you could try steaming / boiling the ends of the bow limbs and putting some recurve in by bending the softened wood around a form and allowing it to dry out, so that the tips of the bow limbs point more towards the target. Recurving will reduce the amount of string follow that the bow has (which reduces the speed of arrow flight), and will make the last few inches of draw smoother. Recurving may not be your only option, it may be the tiller thats the problem. If the arrow seems slow it could be that the taper of limb tips are too chunky.
A well matched set of correctly spined arrows will do much towards making a decent shot too, no matter how good the bow is, with a poorly spined set of arrows youl never be all that accurate. A good way of finding the right spinage is to buy individual shafts in a range of spines (try quicks archery). then make them up and shoot them, choose the arrow that shoots best then make up your next batch of arrows all to that spine. That is, if youre buying made shafts..
ok that my ramble over !
Thanks for all your help. As the staves are not as long as I would like 130 - 155cm I'm going for a wider limb design. I have been googleing around and it seems Laburnum is good bow wood. It also takes a real nice polish, infact I am thinking of using some of my smaller off cuts as scales for a knife handle. Im off to Sweden shortly so will have to put my bows on hold for a while, will post some pic's when I get back.
Thanks again for all your help
Thanks again for all your help
Just remembered where I saw it - Page 185 of the Robert Hardy book Longbow, A social and Military history (or something like that).
Glad I spotted this thread. I've got a Laburnum tree in my garden that will have to be removed when I get round to replacing the fence. Looks like I'd better find some more room in the garage for storing timber.
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