bow wood

"With all these absolutely perfect, if slightly short, pieces of bow wood, why not make take-down bows?"

And for my part, I had a catalog of prospective bow woods in the ready recesses of my mind.

I invited him up to investigate Northwest bow woods (yew and viney maple), but he's busier than ever building primitive bows--our take-down vision--for paying customers.

According to Donald Culross Peattie, author of the book A Natural History of Western Trees, the early French explorers called it bois d'arc, which means bow wood, and somewhere along the line the wood also picked up the name Bowdark.

Peattie cites several sources as to the excellence of the wood for bows and war clubs and its value to neighboring tribes: "The reputation of the Osage's own bow wood spread widely among the Plains Indians." Peattie said that it is documented that the Montana Blackfeet had "prized bows of Osage orange, which they obtained by barter" as did the Kiowas, who "carried superb bows of bois d'arc, ornamented with brass nails, silver plates, and wampum beads."