Trad Gang

Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Matabele on December 04, 2008, 12:04:00 PM

Title: Diamondwood or Micarta?
Post by: Matabele on December 04, 2008, 12:04:00 PM

Hi all,

Got a long term bow build project in mind, and am thinking about possible riser materials.

How heavy is Micarta compared to Diamonwood, and how do they compare in weight to common exotic wood risers like Cocobolo or Bocote?

Im thnking in terms of a 3 piece take down longbow riser.

Thanks.

Title: Re: Diamondwood or Micarta?
Post by: SoNevada Archer on December 05, 2008, 01:51:00 PM

I don't know about weight, but Micarta is VERY toxic to grind. More so than Dimaond wood. SO if you go that way be very carful!

Title: Re: Diamondwood or Micarta?
Post by: Matabele on December 06, 2008, 04:35:00 AM

Thanks for the heads up, I wasnt aware of that.

Did some searching on the net and found that Dymondwoods specific gravity is around 1.18-1.3 while Micartas is around 1.3-1.4...so not much in it in terms of weight. By comparison Bocote has a SG of around 0.63-0.84 while Cocobolo is closer to 1.0.

Title: Re: Diamondwood or Micarta?
Post by: Glenn Newell on December 08, 2008, 03:06:00 PM

You should wear a mask when working and mainly sanding timber in confined spaces. A lot of wood workers in Australia have died breathing sawdust from timber like blackwood and Queensland wallnut, these timbers are toxic and do kill people. I would be very carefull working with exotic timbers...Glenn...