need some help

[Shondy55]

hey guys I'm making a hickory short bow, i was going to back it with rawhide, and then put snake skins on top of the rawhide, is this a good idea or will it negatively affect the bow/arrow performance?

                     -shondy

[Pat B]

If the bow is from a stave and has a good clean back you shouldn't need the rawhide.
  How short is it? You might consider a bend through handle design if very short.

[Shondy55]

its a really straight grain board bow, right at 60" ttt

[DarkSoul]

Both rawhide and snakeskin will negatively affect the performance of the bow, if you take arrow speed into account. Both these materials don't add drawweight or reflex to a bow. However, they do add mass to the limbs, which ultimately is a bad thing performance wise. If bow performance is all you're after, you should leave the rawhide and snakeskin out of the equation.
On the other hand, rawhide makes a bow more durable, protects the back from dings and prevents small splinters from lifting. These can be really crucial factors that determine a functional bow, although these factors do not add to the performance of the bow.

A 60" hickory board should be able to make 27" drawlength, but 28" will be pushing it without a backing. How wide can you go? What's the drawweight you're aiming for?

[Bryce]

Darksoul is correct.

I would back with 2 or 3 courses of sinew in a slightly reflexed position Once completely dry scrape and sand till smooth and flat, then take either brown or black shoe dye over the sinew which will make the snake skins really pop.
If you don't have sinew these fine gentlemen on PA are more than welcome to hook you up.

The sinew will add weight but in the reflexes position will add speed and protection from breakage.

Hope that helped.  - Bryce







             

[Shondy55]

darksoul, its about two inches wide at the fades, tapering to 0.5 inches at the tips, its in somewhat of a pyramid style.  i was aiming for 50 to 60lbs draw weight. this is a bow for a friend of mine that he will use for hunting.

[DarkSoul]

Many hunters prefer a reliable bow over a bow which is a few fps faster. Therefore, I think your best bet is to apply a rawhide backing (and possibly snakeskin for camouflage or looks). Do you know the drawlength of your friend? If he's a short lad, he might draw only 26" which would be perfectly possible with a 60" hickory selfbow, especially if you leave it the full two inches wide. But a rawhide backing leaves you more room for errors in tillering (which will occurs if this is only your first or second bow).

[crooketarrow]

 Unless you reallty have the back volated HICKORY do'st need a backing even on shot bows. The key here is back volations. Bit if you feel you need it do it. No preformance value with either.