# Anyone know what kind of wood is this?



## Zharoh (10 mo ago)

i just found a branch and sawed it down and thought about making a slingshot with it, but i don’t know what kind of wood it is and im worried it’s pine and maybe not suitable.


----------



## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Lets see a picture of a leaf from the tree . What state do you reside in ?

Welcome to the forum .


----------



## Zharoh (10 mo ago)

treefork said:


> Lets see a picture of a leaf from the tree . What state do you reside in ?
> 
> Welcome to the forum .


i found it as a long branch without any leaves but i live in new york, upstate near albany


----------



## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Natural forks are inherently strong even in pine wood . Pine is dangerous if you make a board cut from it due to grain direction . If in doubt give it a stress test , You can tell the hardness of the wood by how easily it cuts with a saw and carving it with a knife .


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

Looks a bit like Holly 🎯👌👍👊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿


----------



## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

What treefork said, plus....it doesn't look like Pine bark to me.

No matter what it is, stress test it in a vice. Lots of videos and tutorials on how to do it.

Is it dry?


----------



## Stankard757 (Apr 20, 2020)

Haha I always do the wishbone test. This one didn't make it today









Sent from my LE2117 using Tapatalk


----------



## SLING-N-SHOT (Jun 5, 2018)

Stankard757 said:


> Haha I always do the wishbone test. This one didn't make it today
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Dab of Gorilla Glue Mike and it’ll be just fine , lol 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Darrell Allen

** SlingLyfe Band Up **


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

Stankard757 said:


> Haha I always do the wishbone test. This one didn't make it today
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oooo 😮 .see this is why I have always used and always will use oversized forks of a width of 6 to 12 inches sliced into blanks I can honestly say hand on heart have never had a issue with properly seasoned air dried oversized forks 💪👊🎯👍👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎯


----------



## Zharoh (10 mo ago)

r


treefork said:


> Natural forks are inherently strong even in pine wood . Pine is dangerous if you make a board cut from it due to grain direction . If in doubt give it a stress test , You can tell the hardness of the wood by how easily it cuts with a saw and carving it with a knife .


i can saw it pretty easily right now but it’s still a bit moist


----------



## Zharoh (10 mo ago)

treefork said:


> Natural forks are inherently strong even in pine wood . Pine is dangerous if you make a board cut from it due to grain direction . If in doubt give it a stress test , You can tell the hardness of the wood by how easily it cuts with a saw and carving it with a knife .


i cut off the bark


----------



## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

Is this the first natural slingshot you are attempting? 

If so, choose a known hardwood and one that is dry.

By the sounds of it, it's not ready to use yet if it's moist. The rings look spaced out, so it isn't a dense wood.


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

Zharoh said:


> i cut off the bark


I recommend leaving the bark on any wood it helps with spalting and colouring the wood 👌🎯👊👍


----------



## Zharoh (10 mo ago)

Zharoh said:


> i cut off the bark


----------



## David D (Oct 20, 2020)

The bark looked like Lilac which is a shrub so it may not be too good for slingshots. Do you have Lilac bushes there? Test it first.


----------



## devils son in law (Sep 2, 2014)

It looks like Maple too. Was it a tree or shrub?

Like others have said, grab it about a foot up on each fork and try to break it. I won't cut forks out of live trees but even some down forks are still not completely dry, so you'll have to wait till it dries or you could cut it to size and shoot it a while but it's gonna crack when it starts to dry.


----------



## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

David D said:


> The bark looked like Lilac which is a shrub so it may not be too good for slingshots. Do you have Lilac bushes there? Test it first.


Lilac is extremely hard and dense and would make a very nice slingshot. With a specific gravity of .8 to .95 it's harder and denser than nearly all the maple species.


----------



## David D (Oct 20, 2020)

I didn't know that. Thanks. Lot's of Lilac here in Saskatchewan. It grows everywhere, almost a nuisance plant.


----------



## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

David D said:


> I didn't know that. Thanks. Lot's of Lilac here in Saskatchewan. It grows everywhere, almost a nuisance plant.


If you can find a big enough piece it is a world class bow wood as well!


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

msturm said:


> If you can find a big enough piece it is a world class bow wood as well!


is the lilac wood in your area different to the lilac wood in the UK 🤔🎯👊 reason im asking this is a young lad on one of the Facebook natty groups had asked if lilac wood was any good for cattys and was told by guy on there that it was weak and no good👎🎯 🤷 .now I've never used it so I honestly can't say but I just wondered what and if there is any difference between the lilac wood here and beside yourself 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍🎯👊


----------



## David D (Oct 20, 2020)

The type we have here is Common Lilac or Syringa Vulgaris. I looked around and one wood /carving website says that the wood for this variety is quite hard. There are many varieties though and some are classed as trees. Our variety gets to be about 12' and is definitely a bush not a tree. It could be that the stuff in the UK is different but Common Lilac does originate in Europe. The older stems are up to about 2 inches in diameter, enough for a slingshot. I have some drying in my basement. It wasn't going to be my next project but maybe I will jump it up in the que and see how it works out.


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

David D said:


> The type we have here is Common Lilac or Syringa Vulgaris. I looked around and one wood /carving website says that the wood for this variety is quite hard. There are many varieties though and some are classed as trees. Our variety gets to be about 12' and is definitely a bush not a tree. It could be that the stuff in the UK is different but Common Lilac does originate in Europe. The older stems are up to about 2 inches in diameter, enough for a slingshot. I have some drying in my basement. It wasn't going to be my next project but maybe I will jump it up in the que and see how it works out.


thanks for replying bud 👍 🎯 the first pic is the pic the lad put on his post and the second pic is what my app (leafsnap) identified the plant as and its saying Common Lilac 🎯👍👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👊


----------



## David D (Oct 20, 2020)

That looks the same.


----------



## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

Booral121 said:


> thanks for replying bud 👍 🎯 the first pic is the pic the lad put on his post and the second pic is what my app (leafsnap) identified the plant as and its saying Common Lilac 🎯👍👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👊


Yep that is it. if you can find a branch, even off of the short shrubs, with about an inch of girth you have a very nice piece of hardwood. 

Sorry to hijack this thread. 

To the OP, if I had to guess I would say that your fork is pine. I have had luck with pine forks in the past. I would not make a boardcut frame out of pine.


----------



## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

msturm said:


> Yep that is it. if you can find a branch, even off of the short shrubs, with about an inch of girth you have a very nice piece of hardwood.
> 
> Sorry to hijack this thread.
> 
> To the OP, if I had to guess I would say that your fork is pine. I have had luck with pine forks in the past. I would not make a boardcut frame out of pine.


thanks bud 🎯👊 me personally I wouldn't use anything like that I hate debarked y nattys .but ivwill pm the young lad and pass him this info on 👊🎯🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👌 the guy that had told the young boy on the forum lilac was 💩 is a guy that's made a few board cuts n that n thinks he's a master woodsman catty builder 👎 clearly filling all the young lads heads with shit info 👎🎯👊👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 thanks again bud


----------



## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

Booral121 said:


> thanks bud 🎯👊 me personally I wouldn't use anything like that I hate debarked y nattys .but ivwill pm the young lad and pass him this info on 👊🎯🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👌 the guy that had told the young boy on the forum lilac was 💩 is a guy that's made a few board cuts n that n thinks he's a master woodsman catty builder 👎 clearly filling all the young lads heads with shit info 👎🎯👊👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 thanks again bud


Any time!


----------

