Youngbowyer,
Yes. It is backed with rawhide. It's the first ERC I have tried so I wanted to try and ensure its survival. It was very clean and knot free on the back, but I wanted to back it anyway.
For what it's worth, I did remove about half the sapwood and chase a ring on the back. I wanted to be sure and have a good bit of that heartwood left after tillering and it would have been all sapwood otherwise. I can get whitewood anywhere, but that vibrant red is pretty rare. Chasing that tiny little ring was a *&%^!!! But, it was worth it I believe.
