# Favorite Wood To Work With



## rem50 (Jan 5, 2012)

Since I am new at making my own SS's I was wondering what woods some of you veterans like to work with and why. If you can give my some of the pros and cons of the woods of choice that would be great.


----------



## Elsinore (Oct 30, 2011)

Poplar carves like soap, its about as strong as soap too heh.


----------



## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

If it is a natural fork ... Then I like working with pine or cherry. Oak is cool too but a little harder.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

wood is wood, thats hard to answer, if you want a proper-safe sling than you need good hard wood or quality plywoodm your question is too general and open to opinions that might be good for you.


----------



## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

i like red oak and cherry for boardcuts. but honestly i like whatever is available. I would suggest going to a nearby mill and asking for scraps/end cuts to perhaps try some new/different woods.


----------



## Jim Williams (Jul 6, 2011)

Yew and cherry have been my favorite woods to work with so far, I work with oak mainly though, due to the amount of it I have. I think purple heart is the hardest wood I have worked with, it also smells terrible, however it looks fantastic once sanded to a high grit.


----------



## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Bamboo cutting boards, finish beautiful and bullet proof to boot.
Philly


----------



## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

newconvert said:


> wood is wood


Dude, that's like saying all beers are the same, a comment which would get you shot in my country.

If you are up for a bit of reading, here is a link to an excellent publication on the mechanical properties of wood. Even if you do not wish to get into the technical side of things, the tables in it give you an excellent tool to compare the strengths of most commonly found timbers.

http://www.woodweb.com/Resources/wood_eng_handbook/Ch04.pdf


----------



## akmslingshots (Mar 2, 2012)

I totally agree with Jim, purple heart is really nice to work with but stinks...

Yew is a treat to work with, natural Ash also.

My favourite has to be ebony, its a PITA but responds to shaping so well


----------



## valkerie (Mar 5, 2012)

Hrawk said:


> wood is wood


Dude, that's like saying all beers are the same, a comment which would get you shot in my country.

If you are up for a bit of reading, here is a link to an excellent publication on the mechanical properties of wood. Even if you do not wish to get into the technical side of things, the tables in it give you an excellent tool to compare the strengths of most commonly found timbers.

http://www.woodweb.c...ndbook/Ch04.pdf
[/quote]

Well said that man!
Wood is far from just wood. I almost chocked when I read that....








There are a wide range of properties available. Once you know your stuff and have worked with a wide range of woods in a wide range of applications you srealize just how different woods can be.
I would suggest that woods with heavily interlocking grain are what you want for SS's. SS's cut from boards violate the grain heavily and thus weaken it considerably compared to un-cut fibers. Woods like hickory,elm,hornbeam,ekki,white oak (not the normal red) etc would be top of my list. Hickory will withstand more fiber violation than just about any wood in the world and I haven't seen one SS made from it yet!


----------



## akmslingshots (Mar 2, 2012)

valkerie said:


> Hickory will withstand more fiber violation than just about any wood in the world and I haven't seen one SS made from it yet!


if you get some, keep me a piece for an axe handle


----------



## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

valkerie said:


> wood is wood


Dude, that's like saying all beers are the same, a comment which would get you shot in my country.

If you are up for a bit of reading, here is a link to an excellent publication on the mechanical properties of wood. Even if you do not wish to get into the technical side of things, the tables in it give you an excellent tool to compare the strengths of most commonly found timbers.

http://www.woodweb.c...ndbook/Ch04.pdf
[/quote]

Well said that man!
Wood is far from just wood. I almost chocked when I read that....








There are a wide range of properties available. Once you know your stuff and have worked with a wide range of woods in a wide range of applications you srealize just how different woods can be.
I would suggest that woods with heavily interlocking grain are what you want for SS's. SS's cut from boards violate the grain heavily and thus weaken it considerably compared to un-cut fibers. Woods like hickory,elm,hornbeam,ekki,white oak (not the normal red) etc would be top of my list. Hickory will withstand more fiber violation than just about any wood in the world and I haven't seen one SS made from it yet!
[/quote]

I've also have been waiting for a hickory sling. I was under the impression that, that was all Rufus Hussy used, but as the wife likes to point out whenever she can, I was wrong!! I like to use spotted gum here,(Australia) it has all the qualities of hickory and is used for a lot of the same purposes due to it's 'shockability'.


----------



## Scrambler84 (Dec 8, 2011)

As far as working with Wood besides strenth I think they are also taking about the beautiy of the Wood. I have seen some Beautiful slings here that I would give out a lot of 1st place winners. Even bought a couple from other builders they are a work of art..
My favorites are Birds Eye Maple and Cocobolo Some Plys have great color. Also a Stain or finish can make a real difference. Sure their are many others.... Just saying... True .


----------



## Tex-Shooter (Dec 17, 2009)

Hard Maple is my favorite wood for a Classic style board cut slingshot, but for wilder ergo designs I would use a laminite of some kind. Baltic Birch Plywood is a good cheap one. -- Tex


----------



## f00by (May 18, 2010)

Strongest wood i have worked with is bamboo. Its pretty easy to work too. My favorite so far though is alder









good luck
-f00bs


----------



## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Hickory and Walnut are my two favorites.
Blackjack Oak and Osage Orange... are also contenders.

To me, anything other than those is just decoration!


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

Hrawk said:


> wood is wood


Dude, that's like saying all beers are the same, a comment which would get you shot in my country.

If you are up for a bit of reading, here is a link to an excellent publication on the mechanical properties of wood. Even if you do not wish to get into the technical side of things, the tables in it give you an excellent tool to compare the strengths of most commonly found timbers.

http://www.woodweb.c...ndbook/Ch04.pdf
[/quote]i would never say anything bad a bout beer! wood is wood, to me? i have worked with balsa to lignum, bamboo is one of the easier to work with, very soft, but finishes well, and is very strong for its very light weight i recently purchased wenge, tiger wood, purple heart, and paduck, because of the grain and knowledge of how they will look finished, i did google wenge this morning to find out its highly toxic. cool! but so far its an experiment, i just love going after different materials to see how they tool and how they finish, sorry


----------



## squirrelsniper (Mar 20, 2012)

Hickory heh? Never seen a ss made from hickory? 
Well here in the south just about all slings were made from dogwood and hickory. As for Rufus, most of his were dogwood, some hickory and some sourwood. The ol timers in my family have showed me much over the years like how to make slingshots and how the hickory tree is best for making whistles when the sap is still down in the tree because the bark slips off easier. 
In my opinion dogwood is the absolute best. I can get it free and abunduntly here. AND you will be hard pressed to find a harder wood in the woods. (Maybe osage but its found in fields.)


----------



## rem50 (Jan 5, 2012)

I am glad this topic sparked a little interest. I know I was being vague but eventually the topic was touched on by you guys.I was really interested in durability then looks. If you read all the posts both topics were discussed. I am very interested in trying some of the woods you all are talking about.


----------



## Blue Danube (Sep 24, 2011)

Bubinga, Claro Walnut, Curly Maple but thats just me......


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Curly Maple,Osage,Black Walnut,are a few. There are so many! Flatband


----------



## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

Desert Ironwood! not easy to find, but worth it. Exceptionally hard, dense wood. takes a beautiful shine with exceptional chatoyance. Osage orange, or Bois' de Arc wood. Starts out a kind of startling yellow color, but ages to a very nice honey brown, and is very tough and impact resistant. I've got a stash of very old growth Black Cherry from a tree that was on my parents homeplace in Arkansas, and it's pretty exceptional too, because it was not harvested till it was very mature, the heartwood is very tight grained and not as open as most commercial cherry wood. I'll be bummed when it's finally gone.


----------



## crazymike (May 8, 2011)

morningwood


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Jeez,how could I possibly forget Desert Ironwood? Hard ,beautifully colored wood and if by chance you should get a Burl of it,then you are in for a stunning treat! Flatband


----------



## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

wow that is hard answer. here are what i like (and don't like) about different species.

Oak - availability and distinct grain.
Maple - availability, but kind of bland unless spalted.
Walnut - can be brittle like cherry, but one of my favorites when finished.
Cherry - can be brittle but love the look of it.
Ash - Love it, dense, available, accepts stain well, and has distinct grain.
Hickory - Love it, very dense, available, and can get very unique grain and combinations of heartwood and sapwood.
Pine - really like pine naturals because they are so easy to whittle on
Osage - not readily available for me but i love it, although being a bowyer my fist thought is selfbows not slingshots!
Beech - for it's density beech carves surprisingly well.
Honey locust - great color, like the sun.

Overall for all woodworking projects (bows, SS, Tools, etc.) if i had to choose one wood for the rest of my life i would have to go with hickory. the SS below is hickory.


----------



## Tex-Shooter (Dec 17, 2009)

Surprisingly, I have never had a piece of hickory to make a board cut from. I have made board cuts from mesquite and would suspect that it is simulator to work with. I have used many different woods and one of the prettiest was a piece of curly Red Oak that I picked up at Lowes. I made six slingshots from it. When finished with oil the grain looked like it was deep and translucent. Here is a picture of one of them. -- Tex
http://slingshotforum.com/gallery/image/893-2003-shooter/


----------



## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

For me I'm loving Wenge at the moment ,the grain of this wood is so distinct even after treatment, I use a lot of pine wood also which can show a very distinct pattern .


----------



## rem50 (Jan 5, 2012)

This has been very helpful. I want to say thanks for all the input. I especially like how "the gopher" laid out the woods and their pro's. This can almost be a reference thread! Thanks again!


----------

