Bow woods

[Uganda]

does anyone know of good bow woods in east Africa   :confused:    :confused:

[Eric Krewson]

According to this article, osage orange grows in Uganda.

 http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plsept99.htm  

There is a long list of tropical woods in the article. You may recognize a few. If the specific gravity listed is above .50 you can make a bow from it. I prefer woods with a specific gravity in the .70s for my bows.

[Uganda]

Thanks. Is guava wood good.

[Eric Krewson]

There is a fellow in Hawaii that has made some mighty fine bows from guava. He used to post his guava bows a lot on the Primitive Archer site, he made dozens of them, all beautiful with plenty of snaky character. Lately he has become an air gun devotee and moved in that direction.

This link will show you some pictures of one of his guava bows.

 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,2532.0.html

[Uganda]

thanks

[Uganda]

Does anyone know if ebony is a good bow wood?

[fujimo]

we had white stinkwood in south africa- treat it like hickory- dont know if it grows that far north.
have read some articles about primitive  bow hunting in central africa- i am sure with a search for such articles- will reveal the types of wood they were using.
i know there was some osage in s.a. too

[fujimo]

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/bow-woods/

i know you will find tambootie- but it is quite toxic- so be aware!

[fujimo]

i know most of the acacias work well- the ancient Egyptians used it extensively- just got to find a reasonably straight pieces- might have to use billets

[Uganda]

Thanks. I will try to get some acacia wood.

[fujimo]

I would think acacia tortilis, or nilotica, would be my choices.
remember the pics.
I would try them both like other white woods, take off the bark, and use that as the back.

check out this site  http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5327e/x5327e07.htm

then go to this listing "AZANZA GARCKEANA"

possibly check thru them all- that was just the first one I found

[fujimo]

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=007970