HICKORY

I have been told by many, many people that Hickory is possibly the best bow wood there is. It is strong and straight grained, easy to work with, and readily available. In Maryland, it's practically everywhere.

Not only will it make good self-bows, it is highly recommended as a backing for any material to make weaker woods less likely to break under stress.

Due to their extreme strength in tension the hickories are about the hardest bows to break and, unless at least moderately violated, never need backing. Hickory is used for backing other bows.  (TB)

I'm including some images here to aid with identification.

Bitternut Hickory

Mockernut Hickory

Pignut Hickory

Shagbark Hickory

Bitternut

Mockernut

Pignut

Shagbark

Specific Gravity of Hickory
Shellbark: .69
Mocerknut and Shagbark: .72
Pignut: .75


Sources:
Choosing Woods by Tim Baker (TB) Unless noted, SG figures are from Choosing Woods by Tim Baker.
All images on this page are courtesy of Dendrology at Virginia Tech, by John Seiler, used with permission.

RED OAK

Since Oak is such a broad category, I decided I should probably break it out into several distinct posts. Additionally, Red Oak is commonly available at hardware stores, making it an excellent first-time wood for a board bow.

For some amazingly detailed instructions on making a Red Oak board bow, check out poorfolkbows.com. This is the site that got me started on my first successful bow.

Southern Red Oak
SG .59

The great thing about red oak is that it's easy to find and it's cheap. It's ideal for somebody who is just starting out. Just about every Home Depot or Lowes I've been to has it. They sell it in the perfect size, too. It comes in a 72" long board they call a 1x2, which is actually 3/4 x 1-1/2. Red oak is very porous, and most of the pores are in the early growth rings, so it's important to find a piece with thick late growth rings or else it will seem brittle. Those boards will feel heavier. If you find a board with very straight grain, you don't necessarily need to back it, but it's a good idea to back any board bow. (PFB)

Click here for more info about Red Oak from VT.

Here is the end result of the first bow I made that didn't break - I broke two before this one. They broke because I thought I could just make a bow from any old piece of wood and bend it a lot. Turns out there's just a little bit more to making bows than thinning and bending wood!

Red Oak board bow, fiberglass tape backed, 45 lbs @ 30" 

It ended up being a little stiff-ended, but I'm okay with that. It's super smooth, and feels just right to me. I was blown away by how well it turned out. The key to it was picking GOOD WOOD. Read the PFB blog, try it out, you won't regret it.

The second bow I made from Red Oak was this one, a small 5 lb bow for my 5 year old son. It also turned out very well, and shoots nicely. It's fun to shoot non-arrow projectiles with it, such as chopsticks and soda straws with fletching.

Red Oak board bow, linen backed, 5 lbs @ 18"

Sources:
Choosing Woods by Tim Baker (TB) Unless noted, SG figures are from Choosing Woods by Tim Baker.
Poor Folk Bows (PFB)

Links to various tree identification sources

I'd be lost without these. Some of them are very detailed (sometimes too detailed), and others are more general, but all provide excellent data.

Key to Leaves of Virginia Trees
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forsite/idtree.htm
This one is a little simple, and does not include all the trees around, but it's easy to navigate and quick. I love it for that reason alone - most of the trees I'm looking at are going to be right here. Of course, I live in Maryland, so the region is pretty close. The result of the leaf search links to the Dendrology fact sheets at VT, which is another nice page.

OAK

California black
SG .57

Southern red
SG .59
Click here to see more about Red Oak in a later, more detailed post.

Northern red, sessil, pin, bur
SG .63

Scarlet
SG .67

White
SG .68

White oak is about as close to unbreakable as wood can be. In my bend tests it breaks after hickory. Bows I've made of white oak took large sets without much excuse. On the other hand, I haven't been able to break a bow made from this wood. One was steamed into 6 of reflex. When tillered it took 7 of set, standing at one inch of string follow at 55lb, and equaled the cast of any equal-follow bow. Of several white oak bows, from several different trees, the one that stayed straightest was fine-ringed, high-percentage early growth. Quite strange. One correspondent reported less set in his white oak bows, others report similar set. White oak is extremely strong in tension. (TB)

Swamp white, Oregon white
SG .72

Live
SG .82

Semi-ring-porous. Our heaviest oak, and the only non-ring-porous oak. (TB)

Sources:
Choosing Woods by Tim Baker (TB) Unless noted, SG figures are from Choosing Woods by Tim Baker.
Poor Folk Bows (PFB)
Virginia Tech Denrology

What's a tree blog?

This is where I keep the stuff I've learned about trees. I love making bows and have started working on gun stocks, so I decided that I need some central repository for the things I've learned about various woods and the trees they come from.

So there you go, that's a tree blog.