She finished up at 55lbs@25 and 52@24". 59" ntn. 1.6" wide out of fades. And it has a small slight bend in the handle. I took her out stumping today seeing how it was 64 degrees out.

Here's the back of the bow

I couldn't resist shooting the ice. I smacked it good n it bounced off back into the drink...lol

Just a gorgeous day in the woods. Belly of the bow.

64 degrees!! It was supposed to be 54 here today, never passed 40 and so foggy you couldn`t see 20 feet! I still can`t shoot outside! I`m getting antsy!

Handle section standing 30' above the north fork little beaver river on a overhanging cliff above the water. I love this spot in the hemlocks.

An ol lone fence post older than any of the trees standing here. Wonder what type of wood it is. Black locust?

Where's waldo(my lil uglies in there somewhere)

The bow looks great. I'm wondering what kind of wood your bow is? Jawge

And I've returned to the stump of the tree from where this bow came from

blackhawk , Is this bow, hop hornbeam ,or a trees that is called ironwood.For some reason it dosent look like hop hornbeam.Good looking bow no matter what wood it is.Keep your arrow stright and broadheads sharp, CAP

I really like the last picture. Never thought of that, great idea. Very nice stomping grounds and I like the looks of that selfbow over the slickest, "custom" take down you could buy. Jr

Hanging from prob the mother of the american hornbeam tree I harvested.

When I sneaked up to the 3" dia stump I went to my knees at 15 yards out n drilled it dead center. You can see my mark. Lol...stumping the stump with the same piece of wood in my hand

Thanks for coming along on my adventure everyone. P.S. If you know what tree this is then you know what my next bow will b made from.

That is WAY too cool!!!

Thanks george. And thanks chicken

Thanks cap...this is american hornbeam aka musclewood,blue beech,and also called ironwood too. Its a sister relative to eastern hophornbeam(from which you just made your last bow from). You can see many american hornbeams throughout my pics. I did that on purpose to showcase the type of gnarly wood I used.

Thanks jr...I thought it only right to take her out where I took her from for her first voyage. I actually unstrung it on the stump n then vacated the woods. And I hope it was good mojo stumping the stump from wence this bow came from. Funny thing about it was I got that rush like shooting an animal when I did it. Weird huh. But cool.

Shag bark hickory?

That was my thought also Subzero. Looks like you had a good day afield Blackhawk.

Lol...subzero. And nope. Try again.

Keep guessing guys...I knew peoples response wood be shag but its not.

All right I'll try again, how about Shellbark.

Thanks for trying again Lombard...but sorry. And It felt great to get out in the woods shooting even if it was only dinging stumps n ice.

Eastern hhb

Great braced profile there Blackhawk. I disagree that that that bow is ugly btw!

Ding ding ding...we have a winner. Good one Bob

Lol....thanks woodshavins. Maybe hideous is a better description than ugly...

Alright! Nice pictures by the way.

Very nice, it's amazing what's hidden inside of them tree!

So, where's the ugly bow?

My hat off to you Sir, Blackhawk for making a muscle wood bow.Tks for clearing up the question on the wood. So many different name for two different trees.I stay confused all the time when people are talking about Ironwood,Muscle wood and Hop hornbeam.

Forgot to include an unbraced profile photo.

Thanks cap....sorry for being a lil vague about it. And it is a lil confusing with all the different type of species nicknamed ironwood.

Very cool,good looking bow,thanks for sharing. Pappy

That sure is a nice looking bow. Nothing like taking a bow back to where it came from. Fun stuff. Thanks for sharing. LOL. If you were stumping with me here in NH you wouldn't see that stump. Jawge

Aint no ugly in that bow! Congrats on a beauty!!

I have seen, cut, split and worked with a lot of hop hornbeam, and I never saw one that looked anything like that shaggy tree in your picture...Bark usually looks more like white cedar.

ijs

Thanks pappy........thanks stalker. She really is a beauty.

Thanks george...is that an invitation. Lol. I've been meaning to go back up to NH , n I'm wanting to this summer maybe. Maybe ill stop on bye n drop off some of that orange stuff if ya need it. And I'd love to stumping with ya,it be a cherished memory I'd never forget.

Hey Jim .....I assure you its HHB. I'm in western PA n on rare occasions the bark will lift in spots like severe knots,trunk splitting,and sometimes when the tree is not healthy looking. Such asthe case with this one. And I knew it wood throw most folks off.

Hey Chris, You did good brother. I like the way your bow turned out. I'm gonna do some looking around down here in Louisiana and see if we have any native ironwoods in this area. Thanks for sharing. Charlie

Thanks whitetail..hope u can find some. Not sure if it grows that far south

Closeup of grain on belly at the fade

Has anyone ever heard that wood called Water Beech? Is it extremely heavy for the size of the piece and has what looks like rippled muscles running the length of it with grey smooth bark? If so, someone gave me some. That same person also gave me some Red Elm, Black Locust, Sassafrass, Hickory, and a couple others I can't remember right now. I varnished the ends of all of them and put them up in the garage to dry. I'll have to get out there soon and spray them to make sure the bugs don't get to them this spring. If spring ever gets here ;~).

Nomo..sounds like u got some american hornbeam. Good luck...lol. And sounds like u got a good assortment to start making bows. Maybe start with hickory or elm first n save that musclewood for later.

Yeah, it looks just like the piece laying on the ground right behind the mother tree in the above pic. About 3.5" in diameter, but only about 5.5' long. Nice and straight.

Nice job on that and thanks for taking us along to visit the bow's home area

Jim, it is American beech otherwise known as blue beech or muscle wood. Jawge

Distinctive sinuey trunk lends the common name Musclewood or Muscle-tree. It's also known as American Hornbeam, Blue-beech, and Ironwood along with various other common names, a few of which attest to the very strong, hard wood formed by this tree.

Nomo...that piece on the ground was the top to the tree I cut. N your save maybe straight but it prob isn't nice under the bark...lol

Thanks Gaur...hope ur enjoying ur new bow

Good stuff cap....and altho one of its nicknames is blue beech it isn't actually in the beech family but a kin in the birch family

I really like this wood n if anyone tries it I recommend tempering it. It made a huge difference and even tho any piece you use will have character in it I think I liked it better than hickory. But maybe I just really enjoyed working character wood. Anyways good stuff in my book. I had my doubts with it n half expected it to make it shoot due to what seems like an unsafe back from all the muscles. But this stuff is tough n can take al ot of abuse

Capsmith is right, it is musclewood or as some call it blue beech, ironwood in some parts of the country, (but not so much here in WV), or the text book name of American Hophorn Beam. Capsmith, you are good at tree identification as a lot of bow people and woodsman are, proved by this post.

It is a beautiful bow that's for sure.

Here's a close up of the stave before it was worked down n debarked

I have built many american hornbeam bows over the last couple of years. I have sinew backed it with siyahs ,made selfbows from 52 inches to 58 inches,and just plain experimented with it.some of the wood was twisted ,and knotty, just plain ugly .with a form and plenty of heat treating this wood makes a very good bow.Its not osage or yew ,but i rate it with black locust, elm, hickory ,but better.I read somewhere, that it will stretch as good as yew.Thats what got me interested in trying this wood.It never chrysaled on me ,and if you put some 4 to 5 inches of back set in it before you final tiller for me it ended up from 1 inch backset to even. works great for making horse bows ,and i think it is a grossly over looked bow wood. if you find some go for it. I think you will be happy.If it finished right the belly on the bow will look it is bone.Thank you for reading and i hope this helps.

Sorry folks but I can't see the photo's how do you open an embedded photo.

I can't open them either. MP

the thread is 6 years old and the photos probably don't exist any more... I looked for them too.

I have to pay more attention to the dates, I just assume they are all recent at the top of the page.

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