which is best for limb core of these three bamboo,red elm or osage. also dose limb core material have any effect on speed...thx

According to Howard Hill whom I believe to be a pretty reliable authority..bamboo..however, now in the day of fiberglass lams on the back and belly....Im not sure it matters as much as it once did. I really thought the yew in my HH redman was as snappy as the bamboo.......

Bamboo has a nice smooth feel when you draw the string back and Red Elm is just as good.

Osage will give you a little more hand shock, this was from Dick Robertson in one of his brochures.

But to be honest I don't believe many could tell the difference. The best bet would be to try them if you get the chance.

Glass back and belly really makes the the core less important.Elm is very tough as is Osage and both add color.Bamboo is lighter and my favorite.

Good old maple, and boo but I really like my boo and carbon core bow.

Tuff choice they all have great qualities.I like maple and boo red elm and boo too.

My best shooting self bows have been split bamboo with yew being a close second. It's harder to distinguish the differences in glassed bows, but my fastest and smoothest Hill and Hill style bows have generally been bamboo cored. This Miller split bamboo shoots as well if not better than many of my glassed bows .

In a modern laminated bow, that is backed and faced with glass or carbon therefore compression and tension qualities in the core aren't so important. What is important in a core material is elasticity, weight, and strength. Osage is excellent, but heavier hence the handshock. Elm is not as strong in compression but is lighter. Bamboo is strong, light, and has good elasticity making it the first choice in natural materials for a core material. But it really depends on what you are doing. Are you choosing a material for a bow you are ordering? I'd say boo. If you're looking too build a bow, I would probly say boo but depends on the design. A wonderfully shooting and performing bow can be made with any, provided the design matches the material.

In recurves I don't think theres enough wood for type to make a difference. In thick cored longbows I do believe theres a difference. Red cedar and bamboo seem to be the smoothest and a little faster than others I've tried. My go to longbow is 2 lams red cedar and 2 bamboo. Gives me the strength of bamboo and the color of the cedar without adding weight since red cedars very light also.

I Have Two recurves made by the same bowyer- both 60 inches.

A one piece #51 @ 28, it has actionwood cores

The other is a take-down #52 @ 28, it has bamboo cores.

BOTH Chrono exactly the same with the same arrows.

The Boo cored bow is the smoother of the two, like drawing into a ball of cotton candy, just like a Bob Lee.

They are both Timberhawks.

I think i can tell the difference. At least in longbows. But it's very slight. I agree with much of what has been said, speed wise you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Osage is heavier, bamboo makes a smooth drawing bow, actually when i made my own personal bow, i used a core of 4 lams cut out of vertical laminated bamboo flooring. (actionboo)

It's silky smooth, and zips an arrow well, but i'd credit it more to the limb profile,taper and narrow tips ect..

Red elm makes a good bow, but i still haven't convinced myself that it is any better than good old hard maple, unless your using clear glass, elm looks nicer.

Actually if i was to build a r/d longbow for speed, i'd probably tinker with black walnut. I think its overlooked. but i'd be willing to bet if you'd chrono 100 r/d bows of each,of the same draw weight and design, walnut, elm, or bamboo the walnut would be around 2fps faster on average.

which is nothing, and certainly no reason to choose it over the others unless your a fan of black walnut. It might just be my bow design, but i suspect its because the black walnut ive used was a tad lighter.

shade mt - You mentioned black walnut,,, what about hickory?

Former bowyer Rick Lepp favored Ash, then Actionwood followed by Yew. I shot all three cores from similar bows and MAYBE 2-3 fps difference. I have Bamboo in my Fedora, Red Elm in my Kempf T/D and Yew in my longbow. They all shoot smooth, quick and absolutely no hand shock. don't think you can go wrong with any of the woods mentioned.

Zbone A couple years ago i had gotten a pretty good deal on some nice kiln dried hickory. Stuff is bomb proof, actually looks pretty good under clear glass if it has some figure. One thing i found, is my bows seemed to come out a smidge heavier when using the same stack thickness. So had to go a bit less.

Seemed to zip a arrow pretty quick, although i never chrono'd them. If there is one negative to hickory it's moisture, It sucks it up, Really need to check hickory with a moisture meter, I used to cook mine in the laminating oven a bit before glue up, . Otherwise moisture trying to escape shows up as a very small pin bubble under the glass.

haven't used any lately But yea it makes a nice bow.

Bamboo for me

Too bad bamboo is so unattractive. I always end up putting some type of appealing wood over it.

Black cherry is an underated bow wood and quite attractive... as is sassafras. I'd use them any day and they grow right here at home. I like cutting my own wood for lams, that way I know it didn't lay around and degrade before it was cut up, I know how and where it grew, and was handled, seasoned, etc.

thanks for the info...opr8r

I have calculated the composite structure of a laminated bow and conclude that in a fiberglass bow of about 50 pounds the core contributes about 8% of the total stiffness. Varying the core for the properties of different woods reveals almost no difference in the contribution of the core. The most significant difference, in my opinion, is that the lighter the core the more energy transfers to the arrow instead of moving a heavier limb.

In a carbon bow of about 50 pounds the core contributes about 3% to the total stiffness so I think the lightest core would be the most desirable.

I use maple almost exclusively for cores.

Maple is good, bamboo is good, design means more, I let the bowyer decide. I can't tell the difference between bamboo and yew or elm in a carbon bow. And the chrono does not seem to know either.

the main thing i used bamboo for was to dampen the almost micro-wave vibration frequency uni carbon emits. it's a perfect medium for that purpose. in a laminated layup with fiberglass or carbon outer laminations, bamboo as a core doesn't have any measurable advantage i could ever find.

I have had bows with Maple actionwood, Yew, Red Elm, plain Maple and Bamboo. Although I found the difference to be very slight (if noticeable at all) I would say that I really liked the smooth feel of Yew and then the speed and smoothness of Bamboo, followed by Red Elm and lastly the Maple. But again, it was just my observation and preference. I have shot some Osage bows and it seemed to me that they were a bit more "hard shooting" then the others. I would say though that I would not hesitate to own a bow with any of these materials as long as the bowyer was confident making them with it.

Just received a new longbow a couple weeks ago made by Andy McCoy at Bezaleel bows.Bow has a red weft core with an osage belly and walnut back and clear glass both sides.It is just an awesome bow very quick smooth drawing and no hand shock to speak of.It is also a very pretty combination to look at. Joe

A core wood you don't see mentioned much is sassafras. I've been using it lately in some longbows and I really like it.

For a recurve, I like maple. Hard to beat the way my old Howatts shoot.

shade mt - Thanx for the info...

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