Will silver maple work for a self bow?

I have made a few with red maple, but had to make them long ,and low poundage.Neither are what would be considered good wood for selfbows. Rock maple or sugar maple which is the same wood is considered good selfbow wood.

thanks, is the grain not tight enough?

I made my sugar maple longer than my draw and wider. Came out light in poundage. Very first selfbow with whip ends. Then I moved on to birch and was successful with it in harvesting my first archery deer. It did have some crystaling though. Just my two cents. John

No, silver maple is not bow wood. Its specific gravity is listed as .44 to.53, anything less than 50 is a poor choice for making a bow.

Should work.Just have to make maple bows good'n wide.

Eric knows.For a learner build you could try a 70" pyramid style build those are fairly indestructable.

If you can get your hands on a good walnut sapling that will make you a very good bow.Two inches wide at fades to one a half inch at the tips 62,64,66 inches long.Put 4 inches back set in it,and toast the belly when dry. Never had one fail.

Thanks for all the comments.

Knowing maple (sugar maple) that I worked with in furniture, I would think it should be a good bow wood. They call it rock maple for a reason.

Sugar/Rock Maple is one of my favorite bow woods for self bows and laminated bows. I rarely bother with anything else in a glass, or wood laminated bow (no need to) and I built lots of really good Maple self bows when I lived in Ohio.

We don't have it in the Texas Hill Country.

For lamb recurves it has been the standard of the industry for years. Not as commonly used for selfbows compared to Osage ,Yew, Elm, HHb,Hickory, Black Locust and some other premium self bow woods.

I never made a maple selfbow... well, I take that back, I made a vine maple selfbow once. Maybe I should try sugar maple. I don't know how I avoided it because I tried a lot of different woods in my 'experimental phase', and some that were undoubtedly way worse suited than maple. Lol. I even tried a BBCM bow (bamboo backed curly maple). I'd bet no one here has ever seen that many frets in a bow. Lol. I should have kept it for show and tell.

Not sure why, but sugar maple just doesn't interest me. Maybe some day.

It does not interest a lot of good bowyers for some reason. I have a survival bow that i made from a sugar maple sapling.66 inches long 45 lbs. It is a fun bow to shoot. Just personal preference i guess.

I was gifted with my sapling. I don,t think i would cut a sapling sugar maple to make a bow.

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