In your opinion what are your top 5 riser woods you like to use based on strenght and looks.
So far I have only worked with bubinga and hard maple. I'm trying to figure out what I should get next.
Thanks
Terry
One more question what wood do you the most?
T
I probably have used actionwood the most, but my top 5 favorite are:
1. Cocobolo
2. Bocote
3. Bubinga
4. Ebony
5. Osage
I like Osage the best, its strong and fairly heavy and looks great. After that:
2. hard maple
3.Hickory
4.Zebra
5.Cocobolo. Its very heavy and beautiful but expensive and can be hard to finish. I usually combine two woods with a glass accent for strength.Osage/zebra looks really good together.Osage/hickory makes a nice looking riser that is about as heavy as you can get with domestic woods. Bob
here are my preferences:
1. shedua
2. palisander
3. zebrano
4. osage
5. blacknut
greets
I like in no particular order.
Cocobolo
Bocote
Bubinga
Shedua
Imbyia
I have never carried for the action woods to much, don't dislike just prefer the others.
We shouldn't leave out the "radical" colors of padauk and purple heart for accent strips.
I've grown fond of zebra with padauk and hard rock maple accent strips.
I've used a good bit of padauk (light bows) and a lot of zebra. I'm about to start one I'm going to be real interested in, using a very dark Argentinian Mesquite. Other than those, mostly I use walnut, nice looking, straight grained and easy to get. I should note that I make only slim traditional longbows, so my risers don't take huge pieces.
I've only used 4 so far but here's my ranking:
1. Cocobolo
2. Leopardwood (Australian lacewood)
3. Tigerwood (Goncalo Alves)
4. Maple
Like Dick, I only make straight limbed slim longbows.
Macassar ebony--hard to find true Macassar, not the Asian ebony stuff.
Gaboon ebony--expensive but gives the riser good mass for absorbing vibration.
Kingwood--just love it's color and grain contrast.
Olive---the European olive, not the California stuff.
Myrtlewood--figured, tiger stripe, lots of character.
Do I have to stop here? There are just too many great woods.