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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: JSMOFFITT03 on July 18, 2011, 06:09:00 PM

Title: Maple or boo core?
Post by: JSMOFFITT03 on July 18, 2011, 06:09:00 PM
Starting the planning phases of my next bow... I had some questions on what the performance aspects of hard maple or action boo as core lams...  I noticed a lot of commercial bows use maple for cores ,  would this be sugar maple?  Any difference from eastern hard maple? Another thread showed sugar maple as having the best elasticity but didn't mention eastern hard....  The next thing I wonder is would  the lams perform better as edge grain(referring to maple as a core)

I'm sure Action boo is lighter,  how do they differ in performance?

Any preferences? Your thoughts...
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: matts2 on July 18, 2011, 07:21:00 PM
Great question.  Hope to see some answers
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: Ranger44 on July 18, 2011, 08:08:00 PM
I don't know about the core part of your question but I believe sugar maple is the same as eastern hard maple.  "Hard maple" is more of a generic term just like "soft maple."  Sugar is an example of hard and silver is an example of soft.  I think this is correct.  More answers will correct me if I am wrong.
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: kennym on July 18, 2011, 08:28:00 PM
I think ranger is correct on the maple.

Someone on the foam core thread on powwow said maple is faster than a-boo, but my test showed no difference you could tell without a chrono and shooting machine,and it would probably vary depending on boo quality and the particular maple board you selected for the lams.

Check it out...

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001491;p=6
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: dcmeckel on July 18, 2011, 08:39:00 PM
I'm with Kenny on this,I have not noticed a significant difference in the two types of cores you are refering to.I prefer Maple over Boo because Boo just feels a little "springy" whenever I dump the string.Just my thoughts.
David
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: JSMOFFITT03 on July 18, 2011, 09:02:00 PM
Thank great  info....

Kenny-  beautiful bows and great thread you posted....
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: Cambow on July 20, 2011, 12:02:00 AM
I think John at Old Master Crafters has ground more lams than anyone I know. He feels like maple or action wood performs every bit as well if not better than bamboo... But is actually more Durable and stable in the long run. I have never heard any evidence that bamboo outperforms maple... But that being said... It is a plain and simple fact that bamboo sells bows!  

Too bad it's mostly hype:)
Title: Re: Maple or boo core?
Post by: JamesV on July 22, 2011, 12:34:00 PM
Maple, Boo and walnut all make excellent cores for glass bows. I haven't found any significant difference in performance, all things being equal. The Action-Boo is easier to get for me. My personal bow has an IPE core, go figure.