Best belly woods for hickory backing/ is red oak okay?

[kiltedcelt]

I'm going back to basics here. I want to build a pair of twin bows for my wife and I. I've been experimenting around with a bunch of stuff and the fact is, neither of us is a very good archer. We're both beginners, having just started shooting early this year. I want to build us a pair of solid easy-shooting bows. I have some hickory backing strips 1/8" x 2" x 72" cut from a piece of bias cut hickory. They have grain lines running in parallel lines down the face of the backing. Hopefully this is what one wants in a hickory backing strip, if not, oh well - chalk one up to another learning experience. Anyway, I'm thinking longbows with cut in arrow shelves and contoured handles. Not exactly paleo but probably pretty comfortable and likely to help us in our learning of the basics and improving technique, etc. I can go to the Depot and get red oak or possibly maple, but what other species would be best for the hickory backing? How about quarter sawn woods like white oak? I can always hit the lumber yard for a better selection.

Also, I have several 1x2x6 pieces of red oak that are what I would consider marginal. They all have a couple runoffs at least and I wouldn't make unbacked bows with them. I've read a few times about hickory potentially overpowering red oak. Should I use something different for the belly of the bow as I'd mentioned before - ie. white oak or some other type of wood? I haven't actually backed anything with hickory before, only linen and those were just red oak boards. I'm planning on making these two bows be the same in design, just differing in draw weight. I'll be attempting to get 40# and 30# with these two bows. I'm also thinking semi-pyramid design (full 1 1/2" at fades tapering to 1/2" at the nocks), since I've made a few of these and they seem to work okay for me. Finally, I'm planning on making a fairly built up riser and a cut in arrow shelf.

[Pat B]

I made a very nice hickory backed red oak pyramid style bow that pulls 55#@26" a few years ago. That bow was shot by anyone and everyone, all different draw lengths and draw styles and still shoots well today. I believe I had less than $6 in the red oak(from Lowe's) and hickory backing. You should be able to make a good bow for yourself and your wife with hickory backed red oak.

[snedeker]

Your edge grain hickory strips sound like they are just the ticket.  You don't have to worry about ring run offs in your oak if they are going to be hard backed.   Red oak might not be the "best" core wood for backing with hickory (i.e. I mean primo choice might be osage or ipe etc) but that is a perfectly viable combination.

Dave

[kiltedcelt]

Thanks guys, that's what I was hoping to hear - ie. that hickory backed red oak was just fine. I suspect some of the talk about hickory overpowering red oak is due to red oak's reputation as the poor man's lumber bow building material. It's cheap and widely available but no where near as cool as less common woods. Anyway, I'm going to get to work on these bows tonight. I've made a few different styles of bows and some were good shooters and others were learning experiences. However, I've only been making bows since the beginning of this year so I think I need to go back to basics. Going back to basics to me is making a simplistic style of bow and doing it over and over again until I can make one easily knowing it'll be the draw weight that I intended and that it will be a durable bow that will last for years. Once I have maybe not "mastered" the design but become reasonably competent, I think at that point I could move on and start making different designs.