ipe

[Norwotuck]

I want to make a self bow from Ipe.  should I make it bias grain or edge ring?  Ive tried to follow a ring on the piece I have and it seems very difficult to follow, but I've broken two edge ring attempts.

[Easternarcher]

I want to make a self bow from Ipe.  should I make it bias grain or edge ring?  Ive tried to follow a ring on the piece I have and it seems very difficult to follow, but I've broken two edge ring attempts.

Ipe that I have is nearly impossible to even see the rings let alone follow one!
Ipe is great in compression but not so great in tension (IMHO)....might be better and safer to back it with hickory or boo. Just a thought.

[Justin Snyder]

Quarter sawn wood should work fine.

[ken75]

Nor i would and have used quartersawn on it . round the edges of the back good and tiller well and you should have a shooter .heres two i did recently

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[wally]

I made one and it is very difficult to follow ring growth so I just used an unknown decking board and backed it with sinew. I covered that with red fish skin and scalloped the belly for looks only. It was about 60 inches and 38 lb at 271/2".
It shot really well and I loved it-until someone stole it!! from my front door where I foolish left it for 1/2hour before I remembered. Sometimes it's the quick and the dead around here.

But a self ipe bow is perfectly possible with sinew back for safety

[Parnell]

I've never seen any Ipe planks that have the grain running in a proper "quartersawn" pattern.  I get twisted grain patterns so use backing strips of hickory and I've also used maple that works fine.  Would like to make an unbacked one, but having broke a couple would rather back it for security and longevity.

[Justin Snyder]

Parnell, I have wasted a lot of wood cutting to get close to the grain orientation I want. Ill cut tapers off in two directions trying to get there.