Happy New year to you all .I want to make a copy of the Sudbury bow. Unfortunately I live in England and there isn't a lot of hickory about, there is also the problem that I don't know a great deal about hickory.I have seen a couple of bits but they vary a lot in colour one whitish in colour and one brown. I'm presuming the white wood is the sap. Is this any good for bow building or should I go for the darker core wood . To be honest I've looked everywhere and I can't find out , weather the Sudbury bow was made of....sap wood or Hart wood. All I know is that it's made of hickory. So if anyone can put me straight on the properties of this wood and any dos and donts it would be much appreciated.

I've had good luck with shagbark, but haven't tried many other types:

https://www.wood- database.com/shagbark-hickory/

Pig nut, shag bark or shell bark all the same to me. There is no sap wood/ heartwood that I can see like in other woods. But check out YouTube bow build videos. If you can't find hickory over there you may find some elm or locust that makes a similar bow.

There are 3 hickory species abundant in my area which I have all 3 the Shagbark, Shellbark, and Pignut in my yard and from what I was told all have the same qualities for bowyery...

There is sapwood and heartwood in hickory, it's just that the sapwood takes longer to transform into heartwood so is quite thick compared to some other popular bow woods. If a person has only cut young hickories, they may believe heartwood doesn't exist in hickory simply because it hasn't developed yet in the younger trees. Regardless of tree size, a hickory bow can be, and usually is, made entirely of sapwood.

We have 4 or 5 types of hickory here. I like biggens, and pignut and mockernut are my preference, but have used shagbarks too. It's easier to 'read the tree' with the smooth bark hickories.

I say pignut, but Pappy will be on here shortly and he has more experience and sage advice than anyone I know. He's certainly made more bows than anyone I've ever known.

If at all possible, cut the tree during the growing season, then the bark will come off very easily, sometimes in one big piece, revealing a pristine unviolated single growth ring to be used for the bow's back. No ring chasing, drawknifing, scraping etc needed.

Any of these will make a bow, but here are some specific gravity and Janka hardness numbers for reference...

Pignut sg .83, jh 2140

Mockernut sg .82, jh 1970

Shagbark sg .80, jh 1880

Shellbark sg .77, jh 1810

Pecan sg .74, jh 1820

American elm sg .56, jh 830

Osage sg .86, jh 2620

Any Hickory is good Hickory.

There are a few lesser known types that are said to be a bit brittle but people are unlikely to run across them too often.

Like said above, hickory is pretty much all good independent of type. I will say that like most woods, the overall quality and density can vary from tree to tree. I had one piece of pignut that is the densest hickory I’ve ever used. Took next to no set even with my meager abilities. Most of the other hickory I’ve used was very good but no where near as good as this one particular piece.

I don't know jack about various species of hickory. When I'm hunting hickory arrow wood I look for a combination of straight grain and ring density. That's a VERY rare commodity in the boards I've seen over the last couple decades.

Off arrows. I've rehandled my hammers, hatchets, axe, shovels, garden tool handles. I'll pick through a bin of replacement handles and select the tightest straightest grain that's inline with the force that will be applied to the handle.

A couple decades ago I bought a socketed spear head from 3Rivers and made a beauiful tapered hickory shaft for it, from a board. Turning that board into that spear shaft was a trip. Biggest drill powered lathe I ever cobbled together.

Lastly, get this. Back in the mid 1970s I somehow got hold of a vintage hickory handled Chouinard ice axe with a busted shaft. The spike was still attached to the busted piece. That required fitment, chops and tools I did not have, so I gifted the axe to Bela, my Hungarian friend, knowing he would succeed. The dude is a bonafide genius. He masterfully crafted a new handle and spike that fit like a glove. And used it climbing fourteeners in the early season. He's now 94 and probably still using it. lol

I prefer Pig nut, as has been said most any Hickory is good bow wood and it varies from tree to tree but Ping nut seems to be the most consistent.I like to cut it in mid summer so the bark slips right off and you have a good clean back for your bow, it also takes heat well and heat treating really help,Also it is pron to take on moisture so I seal my bows really well with many coats of tru oil, probably at least 6 or 7 and also keep it dry when building the bow. Pappy

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