Ozbow

Afternoon all,

Just wanted to share a quick one I made as an experiment. Couple weeks back Neil (Nezwin) dropped by for a chat while he was up this way and brought me a few boards of Cypress to have a play around with. Knowing that I make a fair few ELB's and he hadn't made any he suggested I might like to ELB a piece of it and see what happens... Well, this happened!!
She is 70"ntn, American ash backed Cypress, pulling 30lbs @ 28" and looks very suspiciously like a very rare timber species we don't see often down here...

Kept is simple, no tips just a horn pass in my traditional shield shape but I think its quite elegant. Shoots very smooth and gets pretty much all its reflex back after shooting within a half hour.

Let me know what you think.

Colin

Colin,

The bow appears to have turned out well.

hunterguy1991 wrote:...........and looks very suspiciously like a very rare timber species we don't see often down here.........

Looks a little like Ewghe.

The next step would be to try a 45# to 50# bow at the same n to n length to see how the Cypress handles compression.

There is a timber merchant in Caboolture stocking white cypress so I might have to check them out.

Daryl.

Interesting Colin, don't quite know why but with the Ash backing and D Cross Section I'm surprised it's handling compression well. Then again as I've mentioned before one of the most abused Selfbow's I've seen was made from knotty length of Cypress. Neat work Mate.

regards Perry

Thanks guys.

Daryl I will have to look them up and see what they have for another bow in a heavier weight.

That is super neato...

After watching some sketchy speculation here to the effect that it's very like the selfbow wood of choice, I had a play with a cypress board from bunnings and made a self crossbow prod. It exploded eventually during late tillering, but not before taking a very heavy draw and me deliberately working it very hard. It looks, works - and smells! - beautifully. Only problem is finding something knot free!

Beautiful! Really like what you've done with that piece. Only a low poundage but it's a start. I'm very keen to see how we, as a forum, develop our understanding of this timber. I don't think it's the be-all and end-all, but I do think it could be a fair choice.

I've got a lot of projects on the go at the moment, and more mentally lined up (I've got a nice ELB recipe now...) but I did visit the mill on Friday and pick up a few choice boards. One of them was a knot free 6' board with sapwood on one face, heartwood on the other Took me an hour to knock out a functioning self bow from that little beaut. Still got half the board left, so thinking that might make my first ELB

If you want to source some up your way, it may be worth contacting the mill (http://www.grantscypress.com.au/default ... s&FormID=1) and finding out where they deliver to in SEQ. I'm lead to believe these are THE guys for Cypress in NSW & Qld, but I could be mislead.

How did you find working the wood? Nice, eh?

Colin,

Cypress Supplies - Caboolture Division
Address: 25 Piper Street, Caboolture QLD 4510 [near the Caboolture Aerodrome]
Phone: (07) 5495 8024

hunterguy1991 wrote:....Daryl I will have to look them up and see what they have for another bow in a heavier weight.

Buy one of their logs and you can go as heavy as you like. On a more serious note,

The numbers do not look all that bad for cypress but I think bow design will be the secret to success. It may even prove suitable for laminations under glass.

Daryl.

greybeard wrote:Buy one of their logs and you can go as heavy as you like.

With Colin's history of heavy warbows, that sounds like a challenge!

Similar properties Daryl but wont go as heavy as Yew looking at the crushing strength and MoR, However, I think it would make a bow of medium weight just fine.

The only way to see just what it would do in bows would be make a big one and see. So, I'll head in to that Cypress dealer in Caboolture (with that little bow in hand for show and tell) and see what I can get from them. A large stave would be ideal but if I have to do a backed bow that's ok for a test.

Colin

Another fine effort Colin. I bet it is has pretty good cast for its draw weight, with its low stringfollow.

Thanks Hamish!

Yes it throws an arrow quite well for a 30lb bow I think. Beautiful and smooth in the hand as well.