A Word About Woods

All of my wood is prepared in my shop. I start with rough kiln dried lumber. It is then sawed into strips and then each lamination is ground to the desired thickness.  All laminations are book matched from the same board. This makes both bow limbs look as similar as possible.  The strength of a bow comes from the fiberglass. The wood gives the bow characteristics such as smoothness of draw, light weight and beauty.

Lamination Woods

Red Elm is the favorite lamination material.  It is light, glues perfectly and has excellent shear strength.

Osage is a heavier wood than elm and is the strongest wood.  It is one of the old traditional bow woods.  It is also called Boisd^.ark which means “wood of the bow”.

Bamboo is actually a grass not a wood. It is extremely light and makes a smooth drawing, very fast bow.

Amberboo is bamboo that has been laminated and then heat treated.  It is actionwood made from bamboo. It has the advantages of bamboo but is even more stable.

I will also use other woods for special orders but the above are my favorites.  Some other options are ash, maple and hickory.

I also use some exotics or fancy curly maple for a veneer for beauty but the core laminations are made from standard woods so the bow still has the desirable performance characteristics.

Riser Woods

  One-piece bows can be made from about any normal natural wood. Some standard ones are shedua, bubinga, zebrawood, purple heart, osage and hickory.

  My takedown longbow risers require more strength.  They are made mainly from Dymondwood, which is an impregnated laminate. I also use impregnated hickory or osage.