Trees of the species Calycophyllum condidissimum go by a variety of names, primarily degame and lemonwood. In Mexico, the trees are called camaron and palo camaron, while in Costa Rica the name is surra.
The name lemonwood, used most often in the United States, is a misnomer, said Paul Stone, part-owner of Renaissance Specialty Veneer Products (RSVP), in Corona, CA.
Marty Talcove of Tropical Exotic Hardwoods, Carlsbad, CA, said they carry lemonwood staves.
Talcove said that while the wood is listed on Tropical Exotic Hardwoods' inventory under the name degame, it is much more commonly known as lemonwood among his users.
"Rare as veneer and Limited in Lumber" is the description of lemonwood in the Fine Hardwood's Selectorama."
I started bowhunting when I was 16 with a 40-pound
lemonwood self-bow, which I made myself.
Light woods were favored, chiefly figured ash, maple, burr elm, and
lemonwood, with attenuated mouldings and delicate marquetry in dark amaranth or palisander," she wrote.
I've known Larry for many years, and in 1956 he was one of the people who encouraged me to buy my first "grownup" bow in place of the 30-pound
lemonwood bow like all of us kids had back then.
One of the first "real" bows to come my way was a
lemonwood beauty that had belonged to my uncle.
The second bow down in the rack is a little 15-pound,
lemonwood Ben Pearson target bow with which I won my hometown summer league archery contest in 1948.
Fred built his first
lemonwood bow using raw materials from Stemmler Archery, but he soon realized that modern design training didn't help much in the hand-crafting of ancient archery gear.
