Easiest and hardest

[okcaveman]

What in yalls opinions, would be the easiest, and hardest woods to work, especially for a beggining bowyer

[JamesV]

My thinking would be Hickory for the easiest wood to work with. It is very forgiving and makes a nice bow. Red cedar would be my last choice for bow wood.

[John Scifres]

Good straight osage would be the easiest.  Knarly, snaky osage would be the hardest.

[Roy from Pa]

Use Osage, it's the best....

[okie64]

Osage would be the most forgiving and easiest to get a good bow out of. Hickory would be the hardest to break but it is not nearly as forgiving in compression as osage.

[Pat B]

I have to agree with John. Good straight osage would be the easiest and knarly, snakey osage would be the hardest.
 Hickory, HHB and elm make very good bows and are pretty easy to work with if you deal with the R/H while you are making them

[DVSHUNTER]

hackberry is easy to work and easy to find.

[4est trekker]

I second what Pat (and John) said, although the thickness of the growth rings plays a part, too.  The thicker they are, the easier it is to chase the back ring.  SO, to quote the above fellas...

"Good straight osage WITH THICK RINGS would be the easiest.  Knarly, snakey osage WITH THIN RINGS would be the hardest."

[fujimo]

i personally like ipe, and have had good success with it, but ask a few other folk on this forum, an they might start a quiverin' an foamin at the mouth if you mention ipe- some good bowyers had a run of real bad luck with ipe recently. so they might just view it differently.

[Shaun]

Micky the Ferret said, "Clear straight osage makes good bows, crooked knotty osage makes good bowyers." The only reason I ever work with other woods is for experimenting and amusement.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The easieast wood to remove and work is most any of the white woods, ash, elm, hackberry, hickory. The easiest wood to make a functioning bow is osage without comparison IMO. You can break all the rules and it will hold tight MOST of the time. It will test your arms and your tools though.

[John Scifres]

Good straight yew is also very easy to work and very easy to get a bow from.

I am assuming a selfbow here.  Since that's all I can figure out how to make  

I am also assuming you don't have to go find, cut and season the wood.  Good straight osage is incredibly difficult to find.  I have cut dozens of trees and looked at thousands and I can count on one hand the number of good, straight ones  

[Kenboy]

Ipe. Ipe.

[George Tsoukalas]

Hickory is the easiest. Then I'd go to black locust to practice ring chasing. Then I'd go to a nice straight osage stave.    Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I would have to agree with 4est cause you can work with a bit of wiggle here and there by getting creative with heat, but thin rings can dupe most new bowyers. Ring chasing has always came easy for me even the ultra thin ones, but it's very tedious work. Kinda like going to the DMV, you better bring a good book and something to drink cause it's gonna be awhile!

I've also only found a small handful of what I consider "perfect" or near perfect osage staves. They all have some bow to them left/right up/down or a bit of twist. Only had one natural split stave that was board straight and even it developed a bit of twist during the tillering process that I had to take out with some gentle heating.

Bottom line, osage or hackberry would be a great choice of wood with the nod going to osage for beauty, forgiveness, and ease of use.

[okcaveman]

I am working on an Osage stave currently, just kind of wanting some ideas on what trees I should be harvesting in the future. I currently have my eye on an 6"-8" Black Walnut and a few hickories. Almost no Osage grows around here that I have access to