anybody out there build a bow from crab apple

@ BASSMAN, I have heard of a lot of woods involved in bow building but crab-apple isn't one of them. Hope somebody knows whether it will work or not. BLESSED BE!

Nope...but if I had a piece that was big enough I'd try it.

I have built selfbows from Pear and Apple.

Do what the Bowyer The late Ed Scott taught me,put enough sinew and you can make any wood cast a arrow. Some of his bows had sinew on back and belly.

Gary

Or...you can make the limbs wide enough, and make the bow long enough. That works as well.

I've made a bow out of crabapple and it was fine. I think it would have been even better had I toasted the belly.

On primitive archery i saw one that was bow of the month,even had some of the thorns left on it.I have a piece, and I know wide and long is a good way to build with certain woods,but i wanted to hear some first hand experience.The piece is 60 inches long but my draw is only 26 inches on a good day.I guess i will try 2 wide at fades to i half at the tips,back set with form ,heat treat belly and tiller.Nothing to lose but time ,i cut the sapling near my home.

I've seen a few. Finding workable length chunks is the hard part. I agree with Bob, temper the belly.

Bassman...experience with one wood is essentially experience with any wood. No big difference in building a bow from any of them after it is cured.

I like a bend in handle bow for short ones,, no handle,, they shoot good,,, but thats just me,, I have heard any fruit tree will work, I have a plum bow Marc St Louis made,, its shoots great,, I feel sure your wood will work,, just make it a little over built ,,, just in case

plum bow from marc wow lucky you.fdp i know what you are saying is right, but not much has been written on this wood, and just wanted some first hand experience on it.Batman never heard of it as a bow wood.As i said up above nothing to lose but time so i will go for it.thanks guys.

Bassman, I don't see why it would be considerably different than regular apple, or pear is my point. We don't have Crabapple to speak of in Texas or I'd sure 'nough give it a shot.

ok fdp i will give it a shot, and post the results on a new thread when it is done.We have alot of wild crab apple here in western pa.and sometimes while hunting you get pricked by one,i hate when that happens.As pearl drums said above it is hard to find one straight ,and long enough to make a selfbow maybe that is why it is not talked about much.Ok guys is back to the hatchet, draw knife and rasp.

Google "the you've got to be kidding me birdseye crabapple bow" .

crab apple... as in osage orange?

that is what i said above

A crab apple tree is an apple tree with small sour 3/4" to 2" apples. Great for cooking and jelly not so much to eat. I don't think any of them have thorns. They are nothing like an Osage which has thorns and a large fruit that sort of looks like a green brain and the size of a grapefruit. They are not edible. Osage is a top bow wood crabapple would be like any other apple wood. Like most fruit woods not bad but not a highly respected bow wood. I have heard the Osage fruit called horse apples or hedge apple but they are not an apple by any means.Maybe that is where the confusion comes from. >>>----> Ken

my Grandmother had a crab apple tree, not very big,, it made great jelly,,:)

2 bears our crab apple trees have large sharp thorns. i have had them stuck in my body, and they are no fun.your right the apples are sour ,but make good jelly.i am not expecting to much out of it, but just thought i would give it a try. no big deal.my next try at a real good bow is going to be bamboo sinew and siyahs.good shooting

Elderly Please forgive me. For the ones I have seen didn't happen to have any thorns. I am so sorry. Did you notice I said " I don't think they have thorns." In the write up you so graciously linked it says:"the flowering hybrids don't have thorns or at least until they are very mature." Maybe you just saw the word thorn and said Ah Ha I got him. May I ask why you seem to be stalking me and jump in right after every post I make to dispute the slightest detail in grammar,semantics,or whatever. Out with it. Say what is on your mind and quit playing your childish games.They are so boring.>>>>-----> Ken

Thanks Bassman. I just haven't seen those. Learn something new every day. >>>----> Ken

2 bears we can all learn something new every day,not just you.keep fixing, making, and shooting yours bows.i just talked to pearl drums and today i shot alot of my different selfbows for a total of 150 shots give or take,even did some tiller tweaking on one of them that was a fun day. now i have a trigger finger on my right index finger that is killing me and a sore lower back but i will not quit.i love shooting bows that much at 70 years old.i saw a picture of you drawing your bow , nice bow strong man.take care.

Lots of crabapples around here. I've never tried a bow with it, yet. I wouldn't mind trying though. Most of ours have big nasty thorns.

I planted another edible crabapple out back a few weeks ago. Their apples are bigger and less bitter than the wild ones.

jeff i just wanted to try it because i cut about every wood i could around here to make bows.even birch,red maple,sassafrass,wild chokecherry,some worked out fine others did not.sorry again about the caps.meant nothing by it.

My favorite place to hunt deer are in crab apple thickets.

yes

No problem Bassman, we're cool.

Yeah, I went through a phase where I made bows out of all sorts of woods. I made a bow out of an Arborvitae from my yard once... just once. It smelled just like cedar.

It made it to full draw on the tillering tree.... and I drew it there dozens of times, and put it back in the drying box for a few days, maybe a week... or two :^) (Big mistake, it must have got too dry). The instant I touched my anchor for the first time drawing by hand, she exploded violently! Sounded like a shotgun.

There I stood in the shop with a piece of the handle in my hand about 14" long. The rest of the bow was gone... shrapnel, all over the shop, the bowstring was laying over my right shoulder with about 8" of the top limb still in the loop of the string. Pretty exciting.

No more Arborvitae bows for ol' Jethro

had a bad experience with wild choke cherry built 6 of them one winter ,wide long all looked well after a couple hundred shots one by one they started breaking.the last one that broke i flipped the tips about and inch and sinewed them at the bend.was shootin nice one day in the back yard,and then the bow broke right in front of the sinew wrapping that piece came up broke my glasses in 2 pieces and bruised my left eye. no more wild choke cherry bows for me.you live and learn i guess

update on crab apple build,this tree was big enough to split into 2 pieces.It looked plenty straight to make a bow out of,but when i split it ,it twisted like cork screw a full 180 degrees from one end to the other.Thats it for crab apple.One and done.Sinew backed bamboo horse bow is going to be my next project.We live and learn.

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