Good method for hand making backing-strips?

[Jodocus]

Hi all,

Anyone make backing-strips by hand? if so, how?

[Del the cat]

Done it once clamped a bit of Ash to a length of 2x2 and painstakingly reduced it with a rasp.
It was slow work, it was for the Ash/Cherry bow, one of the very first entries on my Bowyers Diary
Del

[adb]

Too labour intensive. I broke down and bought a thickness sander.

[Del the cat]

Too labour intensive. I broke down and bought a thickness sander.

I think you should rub it with mud and do charcoal stick figures on it to make it look more primitive
Del

[bubby]

i cut them on a tablesaw and then run them thru a planer, Bub

[Pat B]

A simple cloth(silk, linen),brown grocery bag paper or rawhide all make good backings for security but not performance.

[bushboy]

not truly by hand and a little sketchy,but i have made them with a skil saw before i got a table variety. i cut 1-1/2 by 15/16 ths thick then laid a 2by 4 flat to support the skil saw ,clamped them together,them clamped the 2 by 4 to a table. drew a line at 3/16ths thick and ripped it.certainly not the best method but it worked many times 4 me.only have enough blade depth to do the job or it will buck.not adviseing any one to try this at home but i am nutty at times. ps  this is not a good method,just saying.

[adb]

Too labour intensive. I broke down and bought a thickness sander.

I think you should rub it with mud and do charcoal stick figures on it to make it look more primitive
Del

No, nothing primitive about it... but it sure saves time, and makes wonderful backing strips, ready for glue up.

[bow101]

Jodocus,

The manual method, "ouch" slow and painfull.
What I use is a drill with a home made sanding disk that I built from a pice of 1/4 inch MDF. I have to build a thicker one as it tends to track a little bit on the hairy side.
Just take a piece of 1/2" plywood or MDF. I prefer MDF, cut it in a 8" circle and go buy some 8" 60 Grit sanding discs with the self sticky backing. It works.
I then clamp the drill to the saw horse and away I go.

[BowEd]

A hand power planer does wonders.You can get tapering done easily with it too.

[Dauntless]

A good handplane, a rasp and a cabinet scraper will work. I've done some bamboo strips with a drawknife and a cabinet scraper.

[dragonman]

I agree with Dauntless, a good handplane and a saw and some effort, doesnt take me that long,  Thats about  all the tools I use, whats the rush if your not making a living from the selling them?

[Tom Leemans]

I once prepped a bamboo backing totally with hand tools, namely a block plane and toothing plane.