My dad and I had just started making our own bows back home in Virginia until I moved down to south Texas to go to graduate school. I was wondering if there are any trees down here that would make a good hunting bow. I figure it would be a pretty cool souvenir to take back. Is mesquite or Texas persimmon worth messing with, or will I have to venture north to find something else? Thanks in advance for the posts.
persimmon will do fine. mesquite works well with a good backing of sinew. how far south are you?? seen any osage around? should have some hackberry also.
The ranches we work on are near Carrizo Springs, and I live in Corpus Christi. One of the other students has a ranch near Tilden, I think. May find some different wood up that way. Mesquite and persimmon are all that's down here, though. Hard to find one big enough (or straight enough) to make a bow out of... Thanks for the info.
You might try and find some Hackberry...It will work. I made a 48" out of some last November just to see how I liked it and I'm impressed with it. I've got a nice big tree picked out to make several more but these will be closer to 66" this time.
Don't forget that pecan is in the hickory family, and works well, especially when backed.
I myself an looking for the right live oak. i read that it was the hardest oak here in TX, although it may not have the interlocking fibers like white oak that you buy.
Sence these woods don't grow straight for very long.Try billets.
Are you referring to sugar hackberry or spiny hackberry (a.k.a. granjeno)? Thanks again.
Hmm never even thought about that.....It's Sugar Hackberry or Palo Blanco is what the hands at work call it. The better ones seem to grow in a creek bottom or a brush thicket.If you do find one and after you split it you can get the bark off with a small hammer...you don't have to hit real hard just enough to loosen the bark and it'll come right off.