Locust Boards/Bows?

[PeteDavis]

I  buy a lot of paneling and mouldings from a millwork shop here in Va., it is run by an old friend of many years. We were out in the wood building friday, and he showed me his inventory which I had never looked at very closely.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of boards of oak, hickory, ash, locust and other woods. Tens of thousands of BF, all kiln dried.

We talked about it, he is an archer, that we could rummage through and find straight boards w/ few runouts and taper them using a taper jig in the table saw.

He had a hickory walking stick, we bent it into a 180 and it never fully blew. We decided that hickory might be OK as-is.

I read in the archives here that black locust boards, w/o runouts, can be made into bows. They would obviously have to be backed, would I use silk/linen, burlap or maybe a 1/8" quarter-sawn hickory strip?

This could be fun this winter if things ever slow down.
Thanks in advance-PD

[Hillbilly]

Pete, a thin hickory backing on one of those locust boards will make you an excellent bow. Keep it thin, 1/8" or less, and trap the edges.

[Dauntless]

I was under the impression Black Locust was one of the stronger woods for tension: It has strong fibres and can survive with a less than perfect back.  Backing it with hickory would probably lead to compression fractures (chrysals) which are almost as bad as the bow snapping in your hand.

A straight, heartwood only, unbacked Black Locust board should make a great bow.  If you are uncertain about the quality of the grain, make it a little wider.

[Hillbilly]

Dauntless, I've seen several nice HBL bows, it's a proven combo. I've worked a lot with locust, and I think it gets a bad rap for chrysalling. If you hinge it it'll chrysal big time, but if you tiller it evenly, it's great wood. I've seen hickory, osage, and yew chrysal badly, too. Locust actually has one of the highest compression strength ratings of any native wood. Hickory is probably less likely to overpower the belly than the locust itself is.

[Pat B]

I posted Tim Barker's wood list(thanks to MaceG for suggesting this to me) in the "Archives" thread and if you read Tim's report on locust you will see that locust is an excellent bow wood but it will separate the careful bowyers from the impetuous bowyers.
  Dave Rue(Snedecker) has made quite a few successful hickory backed locusts bows.

[PeteDavis]

I am assuming that such a thin backing strip would not want a water-based glue. URAC 185 perhaps?

I also wonder about a silk or linen backing over the locust,  with a snake skin glued over that for looks. Might be strong and look pretty good?

PD

[avcase]

Tightbond III is easy and will work perfect regardless of how thick or thin the backing is.

[Pat B]

The only concern with using TB glues is the moisture that will be absorbed into both the belly and backing...unless you seal them from moisture first. You can add a this layer of TB glue to both surfaces and let it cure first before adding more glue to attach them. By doing it this way the moisture will escape into the atmosphere and very little will get into the wood. Silk or linen backings will also work to hold down splinters but won't add any performance to the bow like the hickory backing will. You can add snake skin, fish skin or cherry bark backing over the hickory too.
   Urac is an excellent wood/wood glue. None better IMO but if you don't have it TB glue will work just fine.

[snedeker]

BL boards with run outs work well using fabric backing too. I did one with light hemp cloth past spring that is a killer.

Dave