Self bow?

[Dale]

If a bow made from one piece of wood has a backing of silk would it still be considered a self bow?

[Kegan]

Yup. A selfbow is a bow made from one peice of solid wood. Usually it is only considered a backed bow if it is backed with wood, boo, or the like.

[venisonburger]

I would say if it is backed with silk it isn't a self bow, it's a backed bow.
VB

[Coo-wah-chobee]

........If a piece of wood has added to its back, sinew,rawhide, silk,linen,boo blah-blah blah its backed with these things to give it protection or more zoom. Since its backed its a backed bow not a selfbow which is only wood. ...................bob

[duffontap]

If a bow is backed, it's a backed bow.  Because of the generalness of the term-selfbow, however, I think it's still appropriate to call bows backed with rawhide, snakeskin, linen, etc. a self bow.  The main point people are trying to get across with the word 'self' is that it's not a laminated bow. 

The bottom line is, there is no consensus on these kinds of things so we need to add clarification when we describe our bows. 

                J. D. Duff

[1/2primitive]

I would consider it a backed bow. If it was backed with snakeskin or the like (I supose it would be just something that will affect the bows performance in any way?), it would still be a selfbow.
       Sean

[AndrewS]

I agree with J.D.Duff.

If a bow is backed, it isn't a selfbow, but if the backing is one of natural materials (silk, hemp, linen, rawhide, sine, maybe bark,.....) then we can call the bow "SELFBOW".

[Coo-wah-chobee]

...Ok so we will deal with semantics !.lol A single piece of wood made into a bow is a selfbow. Strictist definitions here. So 2 billets are not a selfbow but a wooden bow. As I said and J.D. and Andrew S. said anything added to back makes it a backed bow. So lets call anything not laminated a selfbow as long as we dont use strict and narrow definitions. works for me ! .bob

[duffontap]

...So 2 billets are not a selfbow but a wooden bow.

Although bows made from billets have been called 'self bows' for a couple hundred years.     Ahhhhhhhhh!  I agree with Bob though.  Strictest definition would be a full-length stave with no backings etc. 

            J. D. Duff

[DanaM]

Self Bow -  evokes the image of any bow made by ones self
Backed Bow - evokes the image of a bow backed with something

personally if it don't have wheels then its ok by me.

Think I will let Oldbow decide whether its a backed or a selfbow, besides he gets paid da big bucks to make these decisions

DanaM

[Dale]

Thanks for the clarification everyone.  I'm just getting back into all-wood bows and have seen alot of bows, both backed and unbacked, referred to as self bows.  I always thought that a self bow was a bow made of a single piece of wood with no backing.  I guess that is still true.

[Badger]

A self bow can be made from billets are a single stav, a self bow cannot be backed, a self bow can have a handle section added and nock overlays and still be a self bow. The little confusion comes in when backings are really finishes. Most consider snakeskin a finish and not a true backing. Silk is considered a backing but often only for a little insurance. Steve