What would you rate to be the Top 5 Strongest  Riser Timbers ?

Likely IPE will top the list for strength.

i reckon our ironbark would be amongst the strongest lyonel.

Ipe is strong stuff, but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a riser made out of it.  That stuff made my bandsaw blade spark.

Black Widow's Ironwood riser is laminated Ipe.

Heavy, strong but a little brittle.

Mike

Osage has to be in there

Ebony

Lignum vitae is very strong and very hard, the used to make propeller shafts out of it. I think it was recently listed though.

How do some of the commonly used timbers used rate like Bacote, Zebra wood, Curly Maple, Wenge, Cocabola, Bubinga & others?

Wingnut, very interesting never knew Ironwood was another name for Ipe. Always learning from the GANG!

Ipe's very dense. It's Janka density rating is on the top of the list.

Darren

Denisty is only one criterion. The heavy checking of ebony ond some of the other dense woods is counterproductive to it being considered one of the strongest. In fact i not use a lot of the ebonys except for accents because of this. I would almost guarantee
Gabon ebony to check.
Eastern Hard rock maple is extremely good riser wood. Especially if you want a strong but light in physical weight bow.
Good Paradox and Claro and English Walnut are exceptional riser woods.
Ipe is super strong but Not very pretty . Tiger Wood is exceptional and possibly one of the most underused of really exceptional and strong woods.

Lyonel it has been my finding that although some of the dense woods are exceptionally stiff and strong that many of them cannot handle flex as well as some like maple and that they will over time compression crack and check and eventually may even break where a more flexible wood will notg.

There are very legitimate reasons some bowyers such as black Widow as an example add a lot of heavy phenolic and glass to their risers. I concur with their reasoning and do same.

If I were to build a bow of any wood that I really had to trust and beauty had no part in it I would probably use Ipe.

God bless you, Steve

Purpleheart and Bubinga are two of the hardest riser woods I work with.  Chad

Agrees with Chad. Purple heart and bubinga are super. I forgot bubinga for some reason but personally would use it over even IPE. Bubinga is so hard and strong it is unreal.

Tiger wood and goncalvo alves are same wood.
One is the scientific and the other the common name/
God bless you all,
Steve

Lignum vitae was used as bearings for propellor shafts, not for the shafts. The oiliness and density of the wood lent itself admirably for the task, and because it is so heavy In mass, makes for a hefty riser.

Killdeer

Probably the top three wood be the aluminae metallicus, the curly G10 phenolicallie, and the carbonicus nanofushica. All strong, but butt ugly!

I was going to add bubinga but see it already has been.Very good and nice looking bow wood.

John Morris and son used Bolivian Rosewood for their risers...Rocky Mountain Recurves.

I have heard that Lignum vitae has some natural waxes in the wood that makes it harder to get a strong glue joint. I have not worked with it myself.

I have a huge stash of Bolivian Rosewood but have not built tons of bows with it yet. It is good strong wood though and very beautiful.
God bless you all, Steve