Bark on bow back

[mspink]

Have any of you ever left bark on as the back? Got a couple pics of a mountain maple stave, let me know if you would leave it on or not. Also what is the trick to leaving the bark on? Do you sand it down or use the inner bark, any info on this would be awesome. Thanks

[Weylin]

I've heard that you can do it but there's a risk of it drying out and popping off. I'm sure someone with more experience will wither confirm or refute my hearsay. Good luck with your bow, I've been enjoying seeing your projects.

[Dazv]

I have done in the past. I find that it cracks off and it can make a popping sound. This i find a bit scary because you can tell if it was bark of a splinter popping and if you think a sound was just the bark and it turned out to be a splinter you could end up having you bow break.

[TRACY]

I leave cambium layer on most all of my hickory bows for camo effect and aesthetics. Give it a go

Tracy

[Pat B]

In most cases the bark will get brittle and if it vdoesn't pop off it can crack and those cracks can go into the bow. I have heard you can leave some bark on hickory but I've never tried it.
 Generally when you see a bark backing it has beed added to the bow for decoration. There are only a few barks strong enough for this. Choke cherry or paper birch are the only ones I know of.

[blackhawk]

I've never made one,but you can leave bark on plum. I don't think the mountain maple will work. I thought of trying it with a smaller sycamore cus I think it wood look sweet,but I think its bark wood become to brittle. Hmmm? Now ya got me thinking. Maybe go longer than normal bendy and keep the draw weight down near 40lb so its not as stressed,even tho it wood be a dog of a bow. If the stave don't mean anything,then why not try. Although I have high doubts.

[sadiejane]

on page 176 of steve allely and jim hamms book, the encyclopedia of native american bows arrows and quivers vol 2, there is a drawing of an osage bow made from a small sapling with the bark on the back and around the sides a bit. of course, there is no way to know if it was a viable bow, ever used etc(tho all of the bows in these books are from real historic bows either in museums or private collections-so it does actually exist). the bow is attributed to the kiowa. still wanna give er a go with an osage stick one of these days, just cuz.

[Del the cat]

This is the closest to a bark on I've done... decrowned Hazel.

Del

[dwardo]

I have left the cambium on a few. This one was silk covered afterwards.
You can see it just under the silk. I would think that to get away with all the bark it would be very species dependant and also a slow cure so the bark and wood dry slowly and do not separate. I have tried it with normal ash (fraxinus excelsior) and it just popped off. Cambium thinned on elm has been fine.
This was cherry prunus avium

[aaron]

i have tried with vine maple, but it popped off. Then i did one like del the cat (also VM) and it stayed on. Elktracker has done some ocean spray bows with bark on and it worked fine. So, I guess it depends on the species and if Mt maple is like VM, i don't think it's a good candidate.

[randman]

In my limited experience, I've tried a few times to keep the bark on because I really like the look.
Some of the things I've found are:
If the bark and or cadmium are too thick (like the maple in your pic) forget it.
Very thin bark and cadmium layers can work (1/16") Ocean Spray and small green Vine Maple saplings, Purple leaf plum sometimes.
Bark cracking and popping off in localized areas can be an indicator of less than perfect tiller. Sort of like a chrysal warning but on the back
of the bow. And it can scare the crap outa ya when you hear that crack or tick when the bark lets go!
Squirting super glue into cracks and wrapping can hold down some localized areas if the rest of the bark is sound.

I've had a few successes and a few failures and I keep trying because there is just something about a primitive bow that still has the bark
with even some green moss and lichens still on it.

[Slackbunny]

I wonder if you could somehow seal the bark up so it wouldn't dry out so bad? Maybe with hairspray or something.

[rossfactor]

I've had success with narrow (>3 inch) diameter plum.





Gabe

[Blacktail]

i feel it depends on species of tree and age of tree which will dictate the thickness of skin(bark)....if you want to give it a try..BUT,prepair your self for the bark to pop off if it does...i will say this..and its info from Gordon...if you leave the bark on it will add draw weight BUT if it pops off during the tiller or after tillering is done and then pops off it will take away 5-10 pounds of draw weight.....john

[Elktracker]

Allot of good info here! I Know John Strunk leaves the bark on all his Ocean Spray bows and just gives them a light scraping or sanding to nock down anything loose, I also have had good luck with OS bows and leaving the bark on but sometimes it will pop off in spots. I really love that plum bow that rossfacter made! It is one of my favorite bows that I have seen since I got on this site! Not sure about mnt maple but your only risk is bark popping off or as pat said sometimes it can crack into the back of the bow. I would probably take it off if it was me.

Josh