Trad Gang
Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: D.A. Davis on March 01, 2009, 03:54:00 PM
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Has anybody ever used cypress in a bow? And, does anybody offer cypress for use in risers, or maybe limb veneers?
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i realy dont know for sure, but the stuff is really light and brittle, so i doubt it would work well.
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I made some arrows from the heartwood once. The stuff I had was realitivly heavy and had good spine for the diameter but, like gator said, it's a little brittle.
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I read that yellow ceder or cypress was used by the natives of the pacific northwest to make some bows. I have used it for furniture building. Its not brittle and is still a highly sought after wood for carving. It works extremely well from a woodworking perspective. Its not a real hard wood however so would have a low specific gravity. It's cousin Red Ceder (Thuja Plicata) is quite brittle however. Both are verty rot resistant. Yellow ceder is a beautiful wood in its own right and it would be interesting to see if a good bow could be made from it. It must make a fairly decent bow or the natives wouldn't have used it. There is generally lots of yew wood on the coast where yellow ceder grows so they probably would have been able to choose from the two wood species in some areas. Sorry I can't be of more help. I would also be sure to research it from the native historical angle. If I can find something further on this I'll post it.
Tom :)