How To Tell What A Bow Blank Is Made Of?

[Chet43]

Recently a friend of mine was given a longbow blank or at least that's what I think it is called. He has no idea what kind of wood it is? What poundage and how to make a finished longbow out of it.  The person that gave it to him did not know the kind of wood but said should be 70 to 75 pounds.

He would like to make a finished long bow but he is also thinking of trading or selling it to buy a much lower poundage lomg bow due to his age and health of his arms and shoulders.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks

[Tree Killer]

Do you have a photograph of the stave to show us?  Yew, osage, vine maple, hickory, black locust are some fairly common woods used to make selfbows.

If it's a solid stave of wood, you can take wood off the belly of the limbs during tillering to make it lighter weight...to a certain point.  If it's too weak you can back with sinew to increase the weight. 

[Special T]

Depends where your buddy is located... Briskeybows in Ferndale gives classes on how to make/finish longbows. There are also several good books out there...