1 foot (dia) by 5 foot trunk of seasoned Acacia

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Damascus

Native
Dec 3, 2005
1,678
208
66
Norwich
The wood is nice and hard which polishes up to a wonderful shine showing the grain, but you can also make really good bows with it. I have made several in the past and all have shot well, shame it being only five foot long. You could make a sweet little flat bow with it!

best of luck, use it wisely.
 

littlebiglane

Native
May 30, 2007
1,651
1
52
Nr Dartmoor, Devon
Right you are. I am actually wondering if anyone - including our Knife makers etc. would be interested in the wood. I could either provide it as a whole piece or cut it into rounds. Just seems quite a special wood that could carve really well and be very tough. The tree had been gorwing in the garden for years. Then it was cut down 3 years ago. The wood is now ready I guess.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,439
2,481
Bedfordshire
I have heard people use 1 inch per year as a rough guide to seasoning. So, if you have a one inch thick plank, it is seasoned in 6 months, a 12 inch diameter log, in about 6 years. Obviously that will depend on how it was kept, and on the wood (some species are slower to dry than others).

For bows, you could either make short ones, or make billets and finger splice them at the handle. I haven't ever used the stuff, so don't know what its properties would be, or whether it would make a good handle. There should be information on the Net about it. Its suitability for knife handles has more to do with how it looks, its density, hardness and how porus it is, rather than its ease of carving or how tough it is. Oak is tough, but isn't all that popular as a handle.

You could try cutting off a 6inch length and reducing it into handle blocks for knives to get an idea of what it looks like, then you would still have enough to use as bow billets if you wanted to give that a try. Just a thought.:)
 

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