I have a buddy that cut a couple straight clear logs and sealed the ends. would it be good to try for selfbow,or should I stick to milling it and try my hand at snowshoe building? Thanks Harry

I have no idea about its applicability to selfbow building, but Ron Maulding built some highly sought after laminated longbows from it as I recall.

Here's one of them,, got too heavy for me though. I like arrow shafts made from Tamarak/Western Larch.

Snowshoes

Compression wood from Larch was used as a belly material in Eurasia but that's a specially selected wood.

In general the wood from these trees is not self bow material.

I'd try it. Make it w.i.i.i.i.de and 66" ntn.

I made a kids bow of eastern larch. It did OK.

MIKE E? You gots photos of the ARROWS? Is it GOOD WOOD for the woodies? Tough? Durable? Any cons? Pls & Thank You!

I wouldn't bother with it. Maybe 20 years ago in my experimental anything goes phase, but no real chance since then. I once made a selfbow with Ornamental Arborvitae. It survived the stresses of tillering but EXPLODED early in life at full draw. I don't play those naive games anymore.

Stash good wood.

I tried a couple of doz from 3Rivers a few years ago and liked them. Heavier than D Fir lighter than Ash or Maple durable, took stain well no problems keeping them straight. Had no complaints. I just stuck with tapered Surewood Fir.

The only way Ron’s tamaracks would stay together was if he sandwiched the tamarack laminations Between 2 thin laminations of maple. There was a learning curve with tamarack but once he added the maple it became one of his best shooting bows.

I've heard one or two people say that Tamarack makes good arrows

Here in Newfoundland ..Tamarack is known as juniper..don't know why..as to making a bow, I have also wondered about that. Here it was ..is..used to make the frame of wooden fishing boats, horse sleds, wagons etc because of its toughness and flexibility.. ..I think.,I know when I was in the woods with my father he would always be on the lookout for the right shaped pieces. Saw the right shaped piece in half and you would have two identical boat ribs. Codjigger

My dad was raised up in a homestead tamarack log tar paper home in norther Mn.. The wood stove burned tamarack also and it threw out the BTUs, the home caught fire in the late 60s, no one was in it, presumed it was arson. The home burn so hot it caught the big white pine that was 30 yards away, the local fire department couldn't get close enough to hose the fire down, they just let it burn to ashes and control the area around it. Miss the old place it was a unique home that raised 8 kids. Excuse me for side tracking on the topic.

Sounds like I will mill it down and use it for a long awaited snowshoe build?

It’s very tough and resistant to rot. We used to use sapling size pieces to stake fishing nets in the water. You could use a maul on it with no splitting and the stakes last for years

I started making a self bow from a 1x6 board of Siberian Larch that had some good growth ring lines running the length of the sides and back. (It looks identical to Western Larch) I was in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, Russia. I made it 66” long and about 3” wide as I recall. It started out seeming like it was going to have some promise but started taking too much set. I’m not sure if the moisture content was too high or the general compression/tension strength of the wood wasn’t there. I gave up on it. From what I could see on bows in museums there, sinew, rawhide, and “cable” backings were employed by the local native people. My sense studying them was that they were mediocre performers that got the job done, but not with any great amount of cast. Ghenghis Khan and his Mongol horde that ran these Siberian natives to their remote northern locations had far superior bows, both in materials and construction.

As some said earlier, if you just want to experiment and have fun with the tamerack, then by all means, go for it. Otherwise, if you have intentions of a durable, fine performing bow, then look for better wood.

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