Thank you guys for the interesting discussion and the links!
I think it was a good idea you didn't put sinew on the back.
Oh, and the pics are very nicely done.
The decision to leave it unbacked was easy, because this wood is very elastic and this is the most lightweight (mass) bow I ever had.
thats an awesome bow..... i wonder what other woods could stand up to being concave
I've done about 20 bows with hollow concave limbs. Osage, Juniper, BL, Elm and a few others. Everything is just fine so far, no problems. Bl and Juniper were lightweight (drawweight) bows.
RIDICULOUSLY beautiful bow.
It seems a hollow belly might potentially be the most efficient design, going opposite of the fact that a crowned belly is the least efficient (in materials that are weak in compression which includes most wood).
I don't think a crowned belly is the worst design, but perhaps Steve can jump in. IMO it depends on bowdesign and wood species (english longbow!). It is interesting that this design was already built 3500 b.C. on an yew longbow (archeol. find in switzerland).
