Thoughts on limb material
 

I'm getting ready to order another bow :D from Chad and wanted some opinions on limb material.

I've already decided on my riser woods, but I'm trying to decide between red elm or black walnut limbs.

What are your thoughts on these limb materials??
Thanks in advance,
Dave

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

I think the walnut feels a little smoother than elm but the darker woods also show any imperfections in the glass more. If you know you are going to get clear glass with no streaks walnut if you think that you might get streaky glass elm won't show it as bad. I know, no help at all :) good luck

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

My choice of the two would have to be the walnut. Only because I think it will have more figure and color, but I am no wood expert either. Are these the only choices you have? Do you like figure and color, or straight and plain grain? Take care......Tom

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

I like walnut over elm, but did you consider yew. Yew is one of my favorite limb woods. Smooth shooting and looks nice. My 10 year old boy has a Falcon with walnut limbs. I have a longbow with elm. Both are sweet shooters. Comes down to which you like the looks of more.

Good luck. Listen to Chad he knows what's he talking about. Well at least when it comes to bows, don't take his advice on choice of hats;)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

It is my understanding that yew was their choice in building most of the longbows. My Crusader t/d has yew cores with a double taper of grey actionwood between them. It then has black glass on the back and cocobola on the belly. This is a great combination that pulls very smooth and shoots hard. Take care...............Tom

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

All my Crusaders have actionwood cores and yew lams. My latest Crusader also has curly birdseye maple veneers. Kinda like that yew. The sweetest shooting non-Crusader longbows I have are bamboo core/canarywood lams and bamboo core/yew lams. All I can say about these is awesome!!!!!!!!!!

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

My Crusader has a cocoblol riser with yew limbs, I believe actionwood core, and a birdeye bocote lam. Draws very nice and is beautiful. I'm just looking for something a little different for a Hunter II.

I like the look of the walnut, my question is more about performance.

Thanks for the input

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Pardon my spelling on the last post.

CT, with the number of bows you have I figured you would have experience with just about every limb material available. :D;)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

In a recurve I think the walnut is just a tad smoother and I have read it is just a little faster. On purely a performance standpoint I don't think it makes enough difference to base your decision on it. Out of all the hunter II's I have had the 58" with yew limbs was by far the best performer but the yew is an option and does cost more. I have had hunter II's with elm, walnut,yew,and locust limbs and I would rate them yew 1st walnut 2nd locust and elm were more or less the same. And yes I was on a chek mate buying spree last summer :) good luck I am sure Chad will chime in

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

dathein,

Okay here are the riser and limb woods I've owned:

Risers
Maccasser ebony
Brazillian rosewood
Bubinga
Shedua
Bloodwood
Dark Zebra/osage/maple
cocobola
Bacote
Rosewood
Actionwood
Purple heart
Imbyra
Maple

Limb cores/lams
bamboo
yew
maple
walnut
elm
sassafrass
Bubinga
Black Locust
Osage
Actionwood
Japanese Ash
Canarywood
Birdseye bocate

Veneers
curly birdeseye maple
macasser ebony
bocate

My favorite riser wood is Maccasser ebony.
My favorite limb woods are combos:
bamboo/canarywood
bamboo/yew
bubinga/elm/sassafras

It's an evil addiction;):)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

If you want a smooth shooting and good performing bow, go with walnut double tapered core and yew laminations over the walnut. Marc doesn't offer bamboo even as an option, to my knowledge. Therefore, the next best option is walnut doluble tapered core with yew lams.

Bill

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Between elm and black walnut, I'd choose black walnut. It's properties are similar to yew (mass weight, recovery, draw force curve) and it looks really nice too. Chek-Mate doesn't offer bamboo because, in their testing, they found no benefits to it over yew, plus it costs more, is harder to work with, and is not as durable in the long run.

The double tapered core isn't available in the recurves, just the Crusader, and the two flatbows--it won't work the same in a recurve.

Troy did bring up a good point--if the glass isn't perfect (and it's very hard to tell until the limbs are glued up), the darker woods will show any imperfections more than lighter woods.

To me, yew is the ultimate limb wood, but walnut is a fairly close second. Marc refers to it as "poor man's yew".

Chad

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Man, the more I talk to you guys the more expensive my next bow gets.:D;)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

LOL we are always more than happy to help someone else spend their money ;) Besides ya can't take it with ya

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

HMMM as an afterthought just wait till the urge to try a longbow bites ya. Then you will have to buy a few of them then undoubtedly you will decide you liked curves better and have to buy a few of those back again. It never ends[8D] Me personaly am back to recurves for the second time lol

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

I still love my Crusader . . . . . accuracy has improved greatly, especially after rereading Byron Ferguson's book. But the urge to shoot a nice curve has taken me. Time to spend, spend, spend.:D

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

I know the spend spend spend feeling all to well! I am in the process of trying to sell my last crusader and just shelled out 855.00 to black widow for a PSA III. Vic got that bug started at KK this year when I shot his lol Good luck deciding what combos to try

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Chad,

HAve you ever tried orange, mango or banana wood. Do they make a better limb veneer or hat veneer.[8D];):) Sorry just couldn't resist.

dathein,

It's useless to resist. The bow force has got you. Just give up and resign your self that you will have to own numerous bows to satisfy the virus. Just take your paycheck divide it up and send it off every month to various bowyers. Food, cars, houses just don't matter.......LOL. Troy and I know, it's like Lays potato chips, you can't have just 1 or 6 or 12....HELP!

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Well, I did it. I ended up ordering a Hunter II with cocobolo riser, yew limbs with a bocote veneer. Thanks for all your input.

And to think, medical technology still has not come up with a cure for viruses.:D;)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Congrats, should be a real looker. So what are you going to order next? And how can we help:)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Wow dathein, that's gonna be some bow! Be sure & post some pics when ya get it!

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

With the short wait right now I'll have pictures up in about 3-4 months.:)

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

I still think tonkin cane has a "feel" like no other limb material.

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

Chad,

How about a reverse tapered core? Does Marc use them with his recurves?

Zelazny,

I had two different longbows built by the same bowyer. One had bamboo limbs, the other had walnut core with yew lams and carbon over the belly side yew lam with black glass over it and clear glass over the back side yew lam. The bamboo limbed bow was 53#@28" and the other was 48#@28". Shooting the very same cedar arrow I got 150 fps through the chrony with the bamboo limbed bow and 164 fps with the other bow. Additionally, the walnut/yew/carbon limbed bow was much smoother, was absolutely dead in the hand and was much quieter than the bamboo limbed bow.

In the right designed bow, bamboo might be a great limb material. But in the wrong design it can be just another also ran material as it was with the Black Thunder longbow.

Bill

RE: Thoughts on limb material
 

GO with the red elm ! Dick robertson loves it as a core wood ! Dave windauer loves super action wood as a core wood, go with either and get your bowyer to use black walnut as an astetic. TJ