What is the best way to make a bow out of a 3.25 inch sassafras tree? Is it possble? Should I decrown it by ripping and backing it? Thanks

Brian     :confused:          

Never worked with sassafras, Brian, so I can't be of much help.  I'll bump this one back to the top for you, and maybe someone else will chime in.

Thanks Stan

up

Not a very good wood for bows. You could make a much better bow from a carefully selected $6 red oak board from Lowe's.

Up for any more advice....

Some one on here said he read a book by two guys that said sasafrass was their favorite bow wood.  Try spliting it with a bansaw down the middle and make two bows one decrowned and backed and the other leave the same as mother nature intended ( minus the bark ). good luck and keep us posted.

the leaves are good in gumbo>>thats all I can add.
I shot one over the summer shot nice>

I think it's too small a diameter for a bow, from my experience a sasafrass bow should be made of heartwood, like an osage bow. I would get a bigger stave and chase it down to one growth ring of heartwood for the bow back. The one sasafrass bow I made with sapwood for a back snapped in tension, it looked like the sapwood just didn't stretch enough, I may be wrong but these are my observations.

I think it's too small a diameter for a bow, from my experience a sasafrass bow should be made of heartwood, like an osage bow. I would get a bigger stave and chase it down to one growth ring of heartwood for the bow back. The one sasafrass bow I made with sapwood for a back snapped in tension, it looked like the sapwood just didn't stretch enough, I may be wrong but these are my observations. I would like to try another sasafrass bow sometime, it is a relativly soft wood and easy to work when straight grained. There is a lot of sasafrass on our family farm, but straight trees are hard to find, also they don't get very big.