Ironwood Bow Question

[ike]

I have a green piece of ironwood which I hope to make into a self bow. I have taken the bark off of it. I have been given conflicting information and I need your opionions. I was told I should keep it in a cool place and cover it with cling wrap so it would not dry out to fast. Then in 6 weeks to use a saw and cut it in half. Then I could wait another 6 weeks and it would be dry enough to start to shape it and make the bow. Now I have been told that I should wait a year befor I do anything more. What is the advice of the forum? Thanks.

 

[mazo kid]

I'm not sure about bow wood, but rule of thumb for other lumber is one year per inch thickness. The ends should be painted/waxed to help prevent splitting in the drying process.

 

[RickD]

Whoa another selfbow guy..Now I dont feel so alone

 

[bingo1952]

Wood for self bows should never be sawn. It should always be split with a hammer and wedge so that the true nature of the grain is followed. I have built quite a few bows over the years but never one from Ironwood. I would expect that it is going to be a real pain to work and limb speed may also be slowed because of the density. The wood I have used is black locust, Eastern Red Cedar(one of the fastest woods out there but weak in tension, it needs to be backed), Hickory, Red Maple (the limbs need to be at least 2" wide with this wood), Birch (another wood that needs to be wide limbed),Ash, and Persimmon. I have always split my staves or billets while green but left the bark on and painted the ends with Elmers to reduce checking and splitting especially if the outer growth ring was going to be used as the bows back.

 

[Roy]

robby here on the forum made an iron wood bow.. you may want to pt him. :thumbsup:

 

[mazo kid]

Whoa another selfbow guy..Now I don't feel so alone

Yeah, me too! I have never made one from scratch, but do have one very nice custom bois d'arc snake-skin backed long bow and several older commercial bows. I agree that the Ironwood bow may be heavy and slow because of the density/hardness of the wood, but have no experience with that wood. Emery

 

[Robby]

Ike, There is a web site WWW.primativearcher.com , that deals with questions such as your on a daily basis. Like here, there are many people that are more than happy to help out with any question specifically concerning primitive archery.
Without a description of the stave, I am not sure where to start, but, I can say iron wood is a tough, rugged bow wood, that can be made into a bow that will kill deer, Try that site, you won't be disappointed.
Curious, there was a fellow over there today asking about muzzle loaders, I sent him here. Tie game!
Robby

 

[fatboy]

Robby that link doesnt work

 

[Robby]

Sorry, try, www.primitivearcher.com
Robby

 

[jmforge]

If it is real desert ironwood, it has the potential to not only be heavy, but a tad brittle and prone to having voids in any burled sections. Just out of curiosity, which American wood approaches the performance in bows of the yew longbows?

 

[RickD]

I`ve seen a couple of bows made from what they called Iron wood

 

[Robby]

Joe, I'm not sure what desert iron woos is, around here, iron wood is "Hop Hornbeam", Though I have heard of blue beech referred to as Iron wood. The only bow I have ever shot that I thought approximated Yew, was a tennessee red cedar backed with hickory, crafted in the manner of an English Long Bow. My opinion, Osage Orange is the best all around bow wood there is, ruggedly dependable, and can be fashioned in just about any configuration, from English Long Bow to flat bow, even steam bent into a recurve, an amazing bow wood. With patience and a good understanding of its characteristics, just about any wood can be made into a shootable bow, but just as a pit bull can be trained to retrieve ducks, it will never be as good as a lab, whose natural tendencies lie that way.
Robby

 

[rich pierce]

Making bows is not easy and can't be learned with a few instructions online. I suggest buying the Bowyers Bible series of books and finding someone local to guide you a bit. Otherwise it can be discouraging when that bow goes snap.

I broke my first bow, follwing a little booklet for instructions. Then I bought the Bowyer's Bible series, hung around the Primitive Archery forum, and have made 6 straight that work well.

 

[Black Hand]

Jim Hamms' book "Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans" is a fantastic, all-inclusive book that provides you with all the info you need. The Bowyers Bible series is good, but it also contains a lot of esoteric information that is only useful after you have built a few bows. It is also more expensive...

 

[rich pierce]

Yeah, you're right, those Bowyer's Bibles books have a lot of theoretical stuff, etc. Cover a lot of ground and are not "one stop shopping" by any means. But for "total immersion" into bowmaking they are good.

 

[RonT]

Uh....Ohhhh. the "Whitewood Wars" revisited.... :grin: I'm only kiddin'....don't shoot. :surrender: Ha ha.
R

 

[Bob Gular]

There are more than a couple types of "ironwood". Here in Pennsyltucky what we call ironwood is actually hopwood hornbeam, a beech relative. It's wood is very dense and , in times past, was utilized as pegs on wooden gears. As a kid I always had a handmade sapling bow of hickory, ash, or black locust. I never considered hornbeam because of it's weight and rigidity.

 

[FV Rago]

There seems to be many diff. woods called iron wood.

If it's a split debarked log like the elm and hickory downstairs, I paint the ends with shellac to prevent end splitting.

I then stick it up in the garage somewhere. If'n ya have bugs, spray it down with a light bug spray and wait a couple months for it to dry out.