Australian wood for bows (not just Eucalytps!)

NicGeorge · PostNov 04, 2011#12011-11-04T03:31+00:00

I am a US-based Australian who has been making primitive bows for a few years. I'm intrigued by the contrast between the plethora of good bow species in the forest near my home in North Carolina and the alleged dearth of good bow wood species in Australia. Aboriginal Australians never developed bows, and modern bowyers working with Eucalyptus report a lack of success, which some people think suggests Australian tree species are simply no good for bows.

Australia has a high diversity of tree species, though, so it strikes me as unlikely that there are no good bow species at all. Some authors argue the Australian aboriginals didn't develop bows because they simply didn't need them. Furthermore, modern bowyers have only been working with a limited range of Eucalyptus species. What about other Australian species?

After looking at a post by jeb532 (http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/28706) I dug up some information from the Western Australian Forest Products Commission for species including Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Allocasuarina, Grevillia and Acacia, and ran his calculations on the data. You can see the data below compared to US species. This is far from an exhaustive list but it makes for interesting reading. Using the "merrit" value, almost all the Australian species rank poorly relative to US species. However Brown Mallet (Eucalyptus astringens) stands out as a notable exception. I doubt anyone has ever tried making a bow from this. It ranks well due to its extremely high modulus of rupture value. It is comparable to Ipe by several measures.

I am no expert so I don't know how to appropriately assess bow-making-potential based on these values in the table, and I am aware that a host of other factors will also influence the suitability of wood for bows so I'd welcome peoples thoughts on the data.

Common Name	Species	Origin	Density (kg/m^3)	Specific gravity	Modulus of elasticity (Mpa) "stiffness"	Modulus of rupture (Mpa) "bending strength"	Strain % (MOR/MOE)	Crushing Strength (Mpa)	Merrit
Ash Green		US	560	0.56	11400.0	97.0	0.85		0.94
Ash white		US	600	0.60	12000.0	103.0	0.86		0.94
Ash White		US		0.60	12000.0	103.0	0.86	66	0.94
Beefwood	Grevillea striata	Australian	965	0.97	14000.0	94.0	0.67	54	0.42
Birch Yellow		US		0.62	13900.0	114.0	0.82	64	0.97
Black Locust		US	690	0.69	14100.0	134.0	0.95		1.18
Black oak	Casuarina pauper	Australian	1290	1.29	21500.0	150.0	0.70	80	0.52
Brown mallet	Eucalyptus astringens	Australian	980	0.98	19000.0	179.0	0.94	94	1.10
Cedar Incense		US		0.37	7100.0	55.0	0.77	71	0.74
Cedar Eastern Red		US		0.47	6100.0	61.0	1.00	68	0.83
Cedar POC		US		0.43	11700.0	88.0	0.75	63	0.99
Cedar Western Red		US		0.32	7700.0	52.0	0.68	74	0.70
Cleland's blackbutt	Eucalyptus clelandii	Australian	1130	1.13	18500.0	130.0	0.70	70	0.52
Degame Lemonwood		US		0.67	15700.0	153.0	0.97	54	1.42
Elm American		US		0.50	9200.0	81.0	0.88	67	0.91
Elm slipper		US	530	0.53	10300.0	90.0	0.87		0.95
Hickory Pecan		US		0.66	11900.0	94.0	0.79	73	0.72
Hickory Mockernut		US		0.72	15300.0	132.0	0.86	60	1.01
Hickory Pignut		US		0.75	15600.0	139.0	0.89	59	1.06
Hickory Shagbark		US	720	0.72	14900.0	139.0	0.93		1.15
Hickory Shagbark		US		0.72	14900.0	139.0	0.93	55	1.15
Hickory Shellbark		US		0.69	13000.0	125.0	0.96	57	1.11
Ipe		US		0.92	21600.0	175.0	0.81	62	0.99
Jarrah	Eucalyptus marginata	Australian	820	0.82	13000.0	112.0	0.86	61	0.75
Karri	Eucalyptus diversicolor	Australian	900	0.90	19000.0	132.0	0.69	72	0.65
Karri oak	Allocasuarina decussata	Australian	840	0.84	14000.0	94.0	0.67	54	0.48
Loblolly		US	510	0.51	12300.0	88.0	0.72		0.79
Maple Big leaf		US		0.48	10000.0	74.0	0.74	72	0.73
Maple Sugar		US		0.63	12600.0	109.0	0.87	65	0.96
Marri	Corymbia calophylla	Australian	850	0.85	17000.0	125.0	0.74	66	0.69
Miniritchie	Acacia grasby	Australian	1230	1.23	21500.0	150.0	0.70	80	0.54
Mulga	Acacia aneura	Australian	1200	1.20	18500.0	130.0	0.70	70	0.49
my cedar branch		US		0.35	2400.0	38.0	1.58	58	1.10
Native willow	Callistachys lanceolata	Australian	805	0.81	12100.0	78.0	0.64	47	0.40
Oak Northern Red		US		0.63	12500.0	99.0	0.79	69	0.80
Osage		US	935	0.94	11600.0	133.3	1.15		1.05
pacific Yew		US		0.67	9231.0	104.0	1.13	56	1.12
Peppermint	Agonis flexuosa	Australian	780	0.78	12100.0	78.0	0.64	47	0.41
Plumbush	Santalum lanceolatum	Australian	875	0.88	14000.0	94.0	0.67	54	0.46
Raspberry jam	Acacia acuminata	Australian	1040	1.04	18500.0	130.0	0.70	70	0.56
Red Tingle	Eucalyptus jacksonii	Australian	770	0.77	13450.0	98.0	0.73	54	0.59
River Banksia	Banksia seminuda	Australian	560	0.56	9100.0	55.0	0.60	36	0.38
River redgum	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	Australian	900	0.90	11000.0	101.0	0.92	55	0.66
Rock oak	Allocasuarina huegeliana	Australian	895	0.90	14000.0	94.0	0.67	54	0.45
Southern gidgee	Acacia pruinocarpa	Australian	1150	1.15	18500.0	130.0	0.70	70	0.51
Spruce sitka		US		0.36	9900.0	65.0	0.66	70	0.76
Tuart	Eucalyptus gomphocephala	Australian	1030	1.03	16000.0	125.0	0.78	72	0.61
WA blackbutt	Eucalyptus patens	Australian	850	0.85	13000.0	99.0	0.76	65	0.57
WA flooded gum	Eucalyptus rudis	Australian	775	0.78	12100.0	78.0	0.64	47	0.42
WA Sheoak	Allocasuarina fraseriana	Australian	730	0.73	9356.0	98.0	1.05	41	0.90
Wandoo	Eucalyptus wandoo	Australian	1100	1.10	17000.0	142.0	0.84	82	0.69
western Juniper		US		0.44	5460.0	61.0	1.12	61	0.99
Western myall	Acacia papyrocarpa	Australian	1235	1.24	21500.0	150.0	0.70	80	0.54
Yellow Poplar		US	420	0.42	10900.0	70.0	0.64		0.69

tb bowyer · PostNov 04, 2011#22011-11-04T10:56+00:00

Well i don't have any experience with australian woods, but just looking at the data you posted it looks like there should be some woods that would work. Most of them have a high specific gravity, some are even higher than one (meaning they would sink in water). Seems like you should be able to make a bow out of one of those woods seeing as most of them are fairly dense.

NicGeorge · PostNov 04, 2011#32011-11-04T23:29+00:00

Is overly dense wood a problem, though? Will it lead to bow limbs that are overly heavy?

Kombikid · PostNov 05, 2011#42011-11-05T03:14+00:00

Hiya Nic, I live in Maryborough, Queensland, about 250k's north of Brisbane. Over the last couple of years I've made and busted many bows from local timbers. A straight Spotted Gum sapling makes a good bow if you keep the belly flat, otherwise it will chrysal. Soapwood is very good, as is Black Wattle if you're careful tillering it and remove at least the first couple of layers of sapwood as they do tend to lift splinters. Linen backing stuck on with PVC glue and varnished prevents that problem, or you can just go all heartwood.
A local bloke I know swears by She-Oak, Casuarina, Australian Pine, whatever you want to call it, Desert Oak is very good, as is Brigalow, but my current favourite is Yellow Guava. Admitted it's an introduced species, but it grows all over the place here, and with 4-6 months seasoning makes a bow that takes about two fingers set over a hundred arrows, then goes back straight within about 1/4 of an hour of unstringing it.
It's light,soft and very easy to work, remove the bark and you have the back of the bow, and it's extremely resilient and forgiving of tillering errors. Very very good bow wood. Manny in Hawaii swears by it, and he's built many gorgeous bows.
There are lots of other woods around (even some Osage Orange I believe down near Stanthorpe in the border ranges that's regarded as a pest species), but that's my 2 bob's worth.
Cheers,
Ian

JAFO · PostMar 23, 2013#52013-03-23T00:16+00:00

G'day Nic,

For a much more extensive comparison of Australian timbers vs traditional Northern Hemisphere bow-making timbers, you might want to take a look at this thread on the ozbow.net forum. Apart from a quite interesting discussion, towards the bottom of the first page, you'll find a link to a 6 page PDF document by Dennis La Varénne, titled AUSTRALIAN WOODS - COMPARATIVE TABLE OF WOOD PROPERTIES BY RATIO which compares the properties of over 80 Australian timbers to the most favoured Northern Hemisphere timbers. Many compare very favourably, and White Ash (Eucalyptus fraxinoides) in particular looks potentially far superior to Osage Orange and Degame/Lemonwood (which Brown Mallet also rates quite close to).

regards,
Garryck

Patrick St M · PostMar 23, 2013#62013-03-23T00:51+00:00

Probably worth experimenting with shrubby woods rather than woods which are cut for large timber. There is a type of "lancewood" from Australia that is known as "ironwood" and "neverbreak".

Mick777Oz · PostMar 23, 2013#72013-03-23T10:01+00:00

I made a bow from Ironbark (narrow leaf I believe) and even though it had some major grub damage it survived becoming a bow. I left a few millimetres of sapwood on it and even though I did a poor job of establishing a growth ring, and the tiller is not that great either, it is still going. It has a couple of fractures where I tried dry heat bending it, and it will probably fail eventually, so I would recommend not doing that. The funny thing is there is no sign of issues around the giant grub holes. It's tough wood. Try it.

metaxata1 · PostMar 24, 2013#82013-03-24T17:27+00:00

http://www.lms.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1689

NicGeorge · PostMar 25, 2013#92013-03-25T13:04+00:00

Hi JAFO,

Way to dredge up an old post! Thanks for the info. I haven't looked at AUSTRALIAN WOODS yet but definitely will!

Nic

village bowyer · PostMar 27, 2013#102013-03-27T02:04+00:00

If you want to make a bow with wide flat limbs then plenty of the woods mentioned will make a good bow. If you want an Australian timber that will rival yew, osage, and consistently make narrow ELB designs, they are a bit harder to get, but are around.Some of the lancewood, acacias, red ash, are good.
Eucalypts, ironbark and spotted gum are quite temperamental when it comes to chrysaling. Despite apparently excellent tiller they can chrysal. Some don't chrysal(I haven't seen too many), and the guys absolutely rave about how good the stuff is, "better than osage"(BS IMHO)
Never tried brown mallet, so many species are now protected or not considered worthwhile as commercial timber trees.The +100lb New Zealand tea tree bow in one of the guy's links is pretty impressive, I haven't seen one made from Australian tea tree.
I don't bother much with charts on technical properties anymore. They don't seem to test for what will make a good bow. Plenty of timbers have more impressive statistics than yew, osage, and degame. Try making an Elb from them and they mostly break in tension, or chrysal.
Hamish.

Guest · PostMar 27, 2013#112013-03-27T02:28+00:00

I have to say that the euclypts that I have tried have been the most disappointing potential bow woods I've ever tried. Here in California, many species have been imported, and their ability to completely fail belies their hardness and density. I believe that eucalypts were planted by Bow Devils to vex bowyers.

Guest · PostMar 27, 2013#122013-03-27T02:29+00:00

And I'll agree with you that wood property charts are better utilized in the outhouse than at the bowyer's bench.

stevil808 · PostMar 27, 2013#132013-03-27T20:46+00:00

Kombikid wrote:
Yellow Guava. Admitted it's an introduced species, but it grows all over the place here, and with 4-6 months seasoning makes a bow that takes about two fingers set over a hundred arrows, then goes back straight within about 1/4 of an hour of unstringing it.
It's light,soft and very easy to work, remove the bark and you have the back of the bow, and it's extremely resilient and forgiving of tillering errors. Very very good bow wood. Manny in Hawaii swears by it, and he's built many gorgeous bows.

That's not the same guava. the wood Manny uses is Psidium Cattleianum, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psidium_cattleianum and it's dense and hard when seasoned. yellow guava pales in comparison to strawberry guava. that was the first thing he pointed out to me when i met with him- 'don't use yellow guava, use waiawi' (strawberry guava)
i just scrape the bark with a really dull scraper or the dulled back of a reciprocating saw blade, comes right off.
i see beefwood being used a lot, we have that here in Hawaii (casuarina equisetifolia) and it's from australia i think. it checks like crazy in my experience, and it is a real bitc# to work.

BowNerdJoe · PostJun 13, 2014#142014-06-13T23:48+00:00

Depending where you live, you may find a tree in suburban drains that is called the Native/Northern Olive. Here's a link. Very flexible, light wood. Makes great bows, and from the looks of things, can be found in many parts of the world.

Cheers, Joe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olea_paniculata

jordann.womacks · PostDec 09, 2018#152018-12-09T14:27+00:00

I built this short bow out of a fallen red gum tree branch. I can't exactly confirm whether it was red gum, merely basing it on the colour of the branch. But I found simply cutting a strip that included the sapwood and heartwood with the heartwood being on the inside of the bow prevents it from snapping. The limbs are flattened and thinner towards the tips. I can easily pull a good 26 inches without it breaking which honestly surprised me, I thought a gum tree branch wouldn't be suitable. At this drawlength I'm guessing it will get about 30 ish pounds of draw weight. Not the most powerful bow I've made however from 10 metres away the accuracy and reliability of this has been remarkable. Great for training purposes or close range target shooting.

munsie · PostMar 26, 2019#162019-03-26T06:39+00:00

NicGeorge wrote: I am a US-based Australian who has been making primitive bows for a few years. I'm intrigued by the contrast between the plethora of good bow species in the forest near my home in North Carolina and the alleged dearth of good bow wood species in Australia. Aboriginal Australians never developed bows, and modern bowyers working with Eucalyptus report a lack of success, which some people think suggests Australian tree species are simply no good for bows.

Australia has a high diversity of tree species, though, so it strikes me as unlikely that there are no good bow species at all. Some authors argue the Australian aboriginals didn't develop bows because they simply didn't need them. Furthermore, modern bowyers have only been working with a limited range of Eucalyptus species. What about other Australian species?

After looking at a post by jeb532 (http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/28706) I dug up some information from the Western Australian Forest Products Commission for species including Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Allocasuarina, Grevillia and Acacia, and ran his calculations on the data. You can see the data below compared to US species. This is far from an exhaustive list but it makes for interesting reading. Using the "merrit" value, almost all the Australian species rank poorly relative to US species. However Brown Mallet (Eucalyptus astringens) stands out as a notable exception. I doubt anyone has ever tried making a bow from this. It ranks well due to its extremely high modulus of rupture value. It is comparable to Ipe by several measures.

I am no expert so I don't know how to appropriately assess bow-making-potential based on these values in the table, and I am aware that a host of other factors will also influence the suitability of wood for bows so I'd welcome peoples thoughts on the data.

Common Name Species Origin Density (kg/m^3) Specific gravity Modulus of elasticity (Mpa) "stiffness" Modulus of rupture (Mpa) "bending strength" Strain % (MOR/MOE) Crushing Strength (Mpa) Merrit

Ash Green US 560 0.56 11400.0 97.0 0.85 0.94

Ash white US 600 0.60 12000.0 103.0 0.86 0.94

Ash White US 0.60 12000.0 103.0 0.86 66 0.94

Beefwood Grevillea striata Australian 965 0.97 14000.0 94.0 0.67 54 0.42

Birch Yellow US 0.62 13900.0 114.0 0.82 64 0.97

Black Locust US 690 0.69 14100.0 134.0 0.95 1.18

Black oak Casuarina pauper Australian 1290 1.29 21500.0 150.0 0.70 80 0.52

Brown mallet Eucalyptus astringens Australian 980 0.98 19000.0 179.0 0.94 94 1.10

Cedar Incense US 0.37 7100.0 55.0 0.77 71 0.74

Cedar Eastern Red US 0.47 6100.0 61.0 1.00 68 0.83

Cedar POC US 0.43 11700.0 88.0 0.75 63 0.99

Cedar Western Red US 0.32 7700.0 52.0 0.68 74 0.70

Cleland's blackbutt Eucalyptus clelandii Australian 1130 1.13 18500.0 130.0 0.70 70 0.52

Degame Lemonwood US 0.67 15700.0 153.0 0.97 54 1.42

Elm American US 0.50 9200.0 81.0 0.88 67 0.91

Elm slipper US 530 0.53 10300.0 90.0 0.87 0.95

Hickory Pecan US 0.66 11900.0 94.0 0.79 73 0.72

Hickory Mockernut US 0.72 15300.0 132.0 0.86 60 1.01

Hickory Pignut US 0.75 15600.0 139.0 0.89 59 1.06

Hickory Shagbark US 720 0.72 14900.0 139.0 0.93 1.15

Hickory Shagbark US 0.72 14900.0 139.0 0.93 55 1.15

Hickory Shellbark US 0.69 13000.0 125.0 0.96 57 1.11

Ipe US 0.92 21600.0 175.0 0.81 62 0.99

Jarrah Eucalyptus marginata Australian 820 0.82 13000.0 112.0 0.86 61 0.75

Karri Eucalyptus diversicolor Australian 900 0.90 19000.0 132.0 0.69 72 0.65

Karri oak Allocasuarina decussata Australian 840 0.84 14000.0 94.0 0.67 54 0.48

Loblolly US 510 0.51 12300.0 88.0 0.72 0.79

Maple Big leaf US 0.48 10000.0 74.0 0.74 72 0.73

Maple Sugar US 0.63 12600.0 109.0 0.87 65 0.96

Marri Corymbia calophylla Australian 850 0.85 17000.0 125.0 0.74 66 0.69

Miniritchie Acacia grasby Australian 1230 1.23 21500.0 150.0 0.70 80 0.54

Mulga Acacia aneura Australian 1200 1.20 18500.0 130.0 0.70 70 0.49

my cedar branch US 0.35 2400.0 38.0 1.58 58 1.10

Native willow Callistachys lanceolata Australian 805 0.81 12100.0 78.0 0.64 47 0.40

Oak Northern Red US 0.63 12500.0 99.0 0.79 69 0.80

Osage US 935 0.94 11600.0 133.3 1.15 1.05

pacific Yew US 0.67 9231.0 104.0 1.13 56 1.12

Peppermint Agonis flexuosa Australian 780 0.78 12100.0 78.0 0.64 47 0.41

Plumbush Santalum lanceolatum Australian 875 0.88 14000.0 94.0 0.67 54 0.46

Raspberry jam Acacia acuminata Australian 1040 1.04 18500.0 130.0 0.70 70 0.56

Red Tingle Eucalyptus jacksonii Australian 770 0.77 13450.0 98.0 0.73 54 0.59

River Banksia Banksia seminuda Australian 560 0.56 9100.0 55.0 0.60 36 0.38

River redgum Eucalyptus camaldulensis Australian 900 0.90 11000.0 101.0 0.92 55 0.66

Rock oak Allocasuarina huegeliana Australian 895 0.90 14000.0 94.0 0.67 54 0.45

Southern gidgee Acacia pruinocarpa Australian 1150 1.15 18500.0 130.0 0.70 70 0.51

Spruce sitka US 0.36 9900.0 65.0 0.66 70 0.76

Tuart Eucalyptus gomphocephala Australian 1030 1.03 16000.0 125.0 0.78 72 0.61

WA blackbutt Eucalyptus patens Australian 850 0.85 13000.0 99.0 0.76 65 0.57

WA flooded gum Eucalyptus rudis Australian 775 0.78 12100.0 78.0 0.64 47 0.42

WA Sheoak Allocasuarina fraseriana Australian 730 0.73 9356.0 98.0 1.05 41 0.90

Wandoo Eucalyptus wandoo Australian 1100 1.10 17000.0 142.0 0.84 82 0.69

western Juniper US 0.44 5460.0 61.0 1.12 61 0.99

Western myall Acacia papyrocarpa Australian 1235 1.24 21500.0 150.0 0.70 80 0.54

Yellow Poplar US 420 0.42 10900.0 70.0 0.64 0.69

How can I get these Australian heavy woods ?

NicGeorge · PostMar 26, 2019#172019-03-26T07:15+00:00

With a saw and/or axe?

darylmessinbird · PostDec 08, 2020#182020-12-08T05:29+00:00

Hi,

This is the first time I have posted to this site.
Over the years I have made many different styles bows using various materials.
Although ironbark is not my first choice in bow woods I did make a successful bow.
I have yet to work out the best way to post images on this site so I have included the link to the Ozbow site.

Daryl.

https://ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=17237

Michael Bootz · PostDec 08, 2020#192020-12-08T11:24+00:00

Welcome to PaleoPlanet, Daryl!
Check out this tutorial on posting images:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/paleoplanet69529/how-to-post-photos-files-and-videos-t67442.html

If you have any questions or problems, let me know.

darylmessinbird · PostDec 08, 2020#202020-12-08T22:59+00:00

Not My First Choice of Bow Woods…But

Generally I would place Ironbark way down on my list of bow woods because of its physical / mechanical properties. Making a successful bow could be a bit of a challenge.

The debarked billet 8’ long and 3 ½” across the crown used for this project had been sitting in my storage rack for about five years and was harvested two to three years earlier. Whilst working the billet I was surprised that there were no drying cracks.

Because of the nature of this timber I believed that a flat bow offered the best chance of success and I went for a design similar to that of a flat bow found at Vedbaek in Denmark.

The differences in the properties of Danish elm and ironbark dictated that the limb cross section be quite a bit thinner.
The plan view of the bow is not perfectly symmetrical and some tooling marks remain. I was endeavouring to replicate a bow made with primitive tools some 6,000 years ago.

The finished bow is 70” n to n and draws 35# at 26” dlpp. This was the ball park weight that I was after as it suits the re-enactors.

Presently the brace about 5 ¼” and has a Fastflite Flemish twist string. Two coats of hand rubbed carnauba and beeswax was applied to seal the timber.

Daryl.