Bamboo backing thickness.

[turmoiler]

Hello to everybody,

I've read in several places that the correct thickness for a bamboo backing is 1/8" ,that is a little bit more than 3mm. I've successfully made two bamboo backed flatbows with the backing being 5mm more or less.
I'm making a new bow and I'm reducing the bamboo thickness to the suggested 3mm, but everytime I reach that thickness I feel like I went too far and that I've reduced it too much. As the bamboo is rounded, the edge of the bamboo is more or less 1mm at some points and it feels too thin for me.
Am I doing it wrong or it is just my feeling?

thanks

[Pat B]

With the BBO and BBI bows I built the boo was 1/8" at the crown and had knife edges on the sides. This was for bows less than 1 1/2" wide.
  All of the power fibers are in the top 1/8" so that is all you need for backing strips.

[M-P]

Howdy,    Yeah see pat's reply.   I too have read that the strongest fibers in the boo are in the very outer layer, just under the rind.   For greatest strength, I  try to keep those fibers and discard the rest ( of the boo) as much as possible by making the backing as thin as possible.  That means knife sharp edges.  The thickness in the middle will depend on how high crowned the boo is.  Note!! That works well for use with dense belly woods.  For less dense woods, the boo can be too strong.  When backing wider bows of weaker wood, I have had good results with a thicker boo, that is then trapped to reduce  strain on the belly wood.
Ron