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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Afgos on October 20, 2020, 01:43:40 AM
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Good day gentlemen has anyone used tibouchina urvilleana or species from the same family or Melaleuca bracteata as a bow wood? Just curious as they both grow down here. Thanks in advance.
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I think we are going to need the street names for those trees and maybe some pics of the wood.
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Pruning requirement: needed for strong structure
Breakage: susceptible to breakage
Wood specific gravity: unknow
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Tibouchina urvilleana is a species of flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae, native to Brazil. Growing to 3–6 m (10–20 ft) tall by 2–3 m (7–10 ft) wide, it is a sprawling evergreen shrub with longitudinally veined, dark green hairy leaves.
Evergreen shrub, " pine ".
No good for bows.
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Yeah that first one you listed, does not sound like a good prospect, but it looks like a pretty shrub. The second one is in the Myrtle family, which is used often in the states for risers. Don't know if anyone has made a bow or milled lams from Myrtle?
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Thanks. The first one I didn't think it would work. The second one is also known a Black Tea Tree. Thanks again.
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Roy -- remember that "evergreen" does not necessarily mean "needle trees" like North American pine or juniper or spruce or fir. In the subtropics and tropics, broadleaved evergreens are VERY common -- rosewood, ipe, and bubinga are just a couple of examples.
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:thumbsup:
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We have species of Melaleuca here in Australia, and I have not used any in a bow but the one I had some of , it was quite heavy and close grained. Not a lot of feature.
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When I was looking up the woods that Ryan was asking about, I was surprised how many hardwoods you have in Australia, Bob. Especially all the Acacia's. I picked up a chunk of domestic (US) grown Blackwood Acacia, it's really nice to work with and beautiful too!
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LOTS of good hardwood timbers down in OZ. I've had a chance to work with a few building musical instruments.