Blackheart Sassafras

[greybeard]

Recently I was given some milled boards of Blackheart Sassafras and not having experience with this timber as a bow wood I needed to find its mechanical properties.
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The Sassafras compares reasonably well to Pacific Yew and hopefully will support a pole bamboo back. I also have some thin strips that could be used under clear glass.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

Daryl.

[yeoman]

Hi Greybeard,

I suspect that between two bows made to the same dimensions, one from each wood, we could expect:
- Sassafras would be the higher draw weight
- But it would take more set

Would be super interesting to do a mechanical bend test to see how its working strain compares to yew.

[greybeard]

Dave,
I used the blackheart sassafras for the siyahs on Asiatic static bows and ran a batch of laminations to use under clear glass.
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Blackheart-Sassafras.jpg (33.58 KiB) Viewed 20 times

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I have a length of sassafras that has no fungus stain so I will make a short [46”] short draw North American Indian style bow and back it with an off cut strip of clear glass which is 46” x 2” .040.
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From Tasmanian Timbers,
“Finishing to a grey and golden tone, golden sassafras is particularly attractive as a veneer or as a solid timber with knots providing figure. If the tree is infected with a staining fungus it produces Blackheart sassafras. Blackheart is a timber with distinctive dark brown, black, and even green streaks running through the wood. Blackheart is highly prized for decorative work and bowl turning as no two pieces are ever the same.”