Leatherwood?

[Moss]

I have had a look on Google and i can't really seem to find any information on leather wood and bows all I can seem to find is that it's very durable and one of the best steam bending woods.

The reason for my interest is that when me and my dad went to the wood yard to buy some celery top for fixing up the boat i saw some leather wood. It has a very very nice close straight grain. I ended up buying a big slab of the stuff (it's a very pretty wood). The piece that I got seem perfect for bows its 1.5 inch thick about 10 in wide quarter saw with about 3 mill of sap wood on the edge. it has a grain run off ratio of about 1:35 so there's almost no grain run off. It's also quite a hard dense piece of wood

I was planing to try and make a few self bows and cut some lamination off of the piece of wood. Any information about this would be greatly appreciated . I'll post some pictures up of the piece when I get home. Oh and ill keep you updated as to the progress of any bows made out of the wood (as long as I don't get a pile of homework)

[Glenn]

Moss, I have never used leatherwood so it will be interesting to see how it goes in a selfbow.
There use to be a bowyer in Australia years ago that made laminated longbows out of celery top pine, I can't remember his name now...Glenn...

[perry]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it was a tasmanian bow maker that used celery top pine in some of his bows - Was it Swift Bow's or something like that . I have not heard of leatherwood so I am keen to see any results .

regards Perry

[Graeme K]

Hi Moss
There is not much information around for Leather wood as you have found out.

The best way to get a good Idea about the sort of bow it will make is to work out what its density is.
If you have a nice regular plank and you can weigh it accurately you can work it out from that -- if not you will need to cut a small regular stick -- say 10mm square and 200mm long which you then float in a tall container of water to see how much floats and how much sinks.

Graeme

[little arrows]

Here is some information from Wood in Australia - Keith R. Bootle.

Eucryphia lucida - a small hardwood of the high rainfall areas of western Tasmania. Texture very fine and even. Grain usually straight. Moderately easy to work. Turns and glues well. Good for steam bending.

have fun.

sue

[greybeard]

Vince Hamilton made some excellent longbows using celery top pine.

The custom made 60# bow I had consisted in total of 48 vertical and horizontal laminations.
Pin knots could be a problem.

Hi Little Arrows, good lead on the leather wood.

Hi Moss, you may wish to persue the following link.

http://asgap.org.au/e-luc.html

Daryl.

[Glenn]

Daryl, I think your're right it was Vince Hamilton who used the celery top pine. Moss if you already have the timber mate than I would just go ahead and make one...Glenn...

[Moss]

Yeah i already have the big chunk of leather wood... However i do have lots of celery top as well. I have tried to build about 3 bows with celery top though they always seem to break i have been using fiberglass gyp rock tape as a backing. i think i will just try and build a bow with leather wood.

Does anyone here have any ideas about the best shape for a celerytop bow or if their should be adjustments to a standard self bow design

[Graeme K]

Hi Moss
The rule is if it breaks make it wider and thinner.
Try making a pyramid bow that is at least 2" wide at the fades and tapers to about 1/2 " at the tips and 70" long-- this should end up something like 1/4 to 3/8" at mid limb of a 40# sort of bow and should work even for lighter woods.

It is always the same -- if the bow breaks because the wood is not strong enough you need to make it wider and or longer.

Have Fun
Graeme

[Moss]

Thanks for that Graeme I never new that rule about make it wider or longer. Do you think I should back it and if so what with.

[Graeme K]

Hi Moss
Backing is a technique to make the backs of bows safe that have some sort of defect or grain problem on the back and is not a way to make defect free wood work better as a bow.

If your timber has a straight defect free grain and you can use it so the grain runs more or less from the front to the back ( sort of at right angles to about 45 deg ) then you do not need to back it you just need to get the design correct -- wide enough and long enough for the strength of the wood to take the strain.

Remember that if the limb bends a lot at any particular spot then the the strain at that point is much higher than every where else and may exceed the strength of the wood -- and break! -- like the photo of the laminated bow you posted a photo of where all the bend was near the handle ( this is called a hinge ) and is probably the reason you are breaking bows.

The secret of getting bows to work is to leave enough wood in the thickness when you cut them out so they are evenly stiff to start with -- then using only a scraper and file slowly ( like over a few days ) scrape a little then test it with a long string then scrape it a little more and re test it -- each time only taking about 10 scrapes with a sharp cabinet scraper before you test it again.
I know this sounds like it will take for ever but when you are beginning it is the only way to get a result that works without screwing it up every time -- Remember making a bow that works is not an easy thing and the people you see on this forum who post bows have been doing it for a long time and make it look easier than it is -- You can definitely do it if you go slowly and take you time but if you want a bow made in a day you may never learn how to do it because you will become disheartened by your lack of success.

Graeme

[Moss]

Thanks heap for this Graeme ill probable start work on the bows tonight (one leather wood one Celery) and ill keep you upadated

[Glenn]

Moss if you have the celerytop and leatherwood you could make a leatherwood bow backed with a strip of celerytop and see how that goes, I think it would be worth trying...Glenn...

[Moss]

ok sounds good ill give it a try if the plain leather wood fails