other locally commercially or otherwise available timbers?

[cadet]

So I know that osage and yew are venerated among bowyers; I know that spotted gum, red oak and red ironbark can make a perfectly serviceable bow; what about some others? I know the maths is only one part of the picture, but looking here: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/bow-woods/ , and playing with the numbers on some local timbers reveals some interesting possibilities, and there's a bit of promise shown elsewhere here by white cypress... I'm wondering what might be possible with some other things I could readily enough lay my hands on as trunks I could split and season as staves, such as sugar gum, sheoak, blackwood etc... What do the brains trust think?
I guess the only way for sure is to get a saw, a froe, maul and wedges etc, and give it a crack... I s'pose anything that doesn't really work can get turned into possum chair spindles...

[greybeard]

....I guess the only way for sure is to get a saw, a froe, maul and wedges etc, and give it a crack... I s'pose anything that doesn't really work can get turned into possum chair spindles...

You got it in one.

Daryl.

[Hamish]

Sheoak would be the one I would have a go with from your list. A few Americans have tried it and liked it. They call it "Australian Pine" because of the leaves that look a bit like pine needles. A lot of it was planted in Florida and Hawaii.

[Nezwin]

I don't entirely agree with the method of assessment in that wood database article. For my own consideration, I use Mod. Rupture for suitability as a backing, Mod. Elas as an indicator of stiffness (the higher this being the higher the Mod. Rupture & Mod. Crushing of your bow need to be) and Mod. Crushing for suitability as a belly material. Plenty of other thoughts out there though but works as a rule of thumb for me.

what about some others?

Celery Top Pine seems to be okay too, although some heavier builds would prove this. I've a strong feeling it's a goodun.

Perry has had probably as much experience with native timbers as anyone else, with a lot of success it would seem. From reading the Bowyers Bibles, it strikes me that there are no 'bad' bow woods, only woods that are more forgiving than others and allow for better performance. You can use soft pine if you make the limb wide & long enough! A lot of it comes down to appropriate design for the timber you're using.

In TBB Vol. IV Tim Baker uses the following assessment criteria -

Cost/Availability
Beauty
Difficulty Harvesting
Difficulty Preparing
Difficulty Drying
Difficulty Working
Durability

Durability being perhaps the only measurable criteria on the list. Everything else comes down to preference and design.

If you're keen to get splitting some timber & seasoning, there's a heap of options - natives and naturalised species. I'd be keen to speak to some of the Pecan farmers in Northern NSW and SEQ, There'd be a few staves of good timber as they replace and remove trees, Pecan being a relative of Hickory.

Good luck! And if you do learn something new, be sure to share your results - always good to learn about new native timbers!

[yeoman]

In my early days, when I got staves from the bush, I had great success with an acacia locally known as Silver Wattle. Rarely grew bigger than 3" diameter, but that didn't matter. A fantastic peculiarity of this species is that often, the trunk would grow with a flat surface on one side. Who'd have thought it?!

I also made a pretty serviceable bow from a blackwood sapling.

Others sing the praises of Brigalow and Queensland Red Ash.

I've made a couple of ripper bows from Sydney Blue Gum.

I've done bend tests of Rose Gum and the results were promising. I still have some boards to try to turn into bows.

I'm soon to test Yellow Stringybark. Might be something worthwhile there.

I've heard a Tasmanian species (not generally commercially available) that's called 'Horizontal' works a treat. Apparently a trunk will grow vertically, fall over, then the branches will start to grow vertically and repeat the process all over again.