I have a lot of Black Walnut and was wanting to make a longbow from it.  Can I make a solid selfbow out of Black Walnut.  If not can I use it for backing white oak or red oak?  What kind of dimensions should I look for (I am aiming for 55#'s @ 26").

Thanks

A selfbow will work.  Make it 68" NTN, 2" wide at the fades for 1/3 of the limb, tapering to 1/2" nocks.

I just made one from some BW i got this summer. I used the sap wood on this one. It turned out to be 45# @ 28" nice little shooter.

I would start out at 2" fades for most of the length then taper to 1/2" nocks to start with. 68" long would be a good start.

Good luck !

Looks like John and i where typing at the same time. See if this picture works. This is the log i got this summer.

I've made a few BW bows using the sapwood right under the bark. Use John's dimensions.

Thank you for the great replies so far.

I assumed stave but if you are using boards, make sure and choose them well.

 Board Bow iNstructions

better off to use white oak to back walnut, rather than the other way around.  1/8" to 3/16" quarter sawn backing strip.

I learnt that if you under build BW it will chrysal heavily.  But they are beautiful bows.

I will be getting the Black Walnut from a stave.

Can I see pics of some of your bows?  I too have a-LOT of black walnut treetops down around my place because the landowner harvested the wood, so I have alot of pickens!!!