does sweetgum makes a bow?

[inksoup]

i have checked the MOR and MOE values.. looks like it can make a bow... did anybody try sweetgum?

best.

[Troy D. Breeding]

Made a couple kids bows using it. Interlocking grain, plenty flexible, but really no back bone. The kids bows I made had to be 2" wide just to get any kind of weight. After being shot for a week or two the bows took a fairly strong set.

[LittleBen]

Never tried it, but looking at the information on wooddatabase, it looks like it has fairly low stiffness, low elasticity, low density, and low hardness.

None of that is really good news.

For comparison, black walnut is equally stiff, ~15-20% more elastic, 10% more dense, and 20% harder.

So if your design required 2" wide limbs for walnut, sweet gum would need like 2.3-2.4" width in order to take similar set at the same draw weight and draw length .... approximately.

Long story short, I bet it will work ... if you go very wide and long ... but there must be better choices out there.

If you do try it, you might want to consider heat tempering the belly ... although who knows if the wood is tension safe or tension weak.

[inksoup]

thanks for replies...

yes, there are better choices... but i just want to know if this can make it or not...

here, plenty of sweetgum trees, this was the main reason i asked.

well, from now on, i will not be experimental bow maker... i will follow the trads and make my bow out of proven woods...  :D

best.

[John Scifres]

You can have my neighbor's tree which sits close to my garden.  They are brutal for those of us who like to garden barefoot  

Heck, if you got 'em, you might as well try 'em.  Report back on your results.  

If you google "sweet gum bow" you will find a lot of folks who start with it but not a bunch who post finished pics  

[inksoup]

give you result definetly...