Laminated Bow backing?

[BowSlayer]

ok so i wan't to start making laminated bows. i am going to be making a form some time this week and im using inertubes to apply presure. my only question is about the backing, i don't wan't to use f*******ss and i have heard that hickory and raw bamboo work as backing but i have accses to niether. so my question is would any bow wood with good straight grain work as a Backing? thanks in advance

[blackhawk]

Sure ...as long as it compliments the belly ....it would be best to say what woods you have available for best combinations

[DarkSoul]

I am probably having a dialogue with the deaf, but you would be better off making a few selfbows first, before you consider laminating with a pressure hose form.

[BowSlayer]

I am probably having a dialogue with the deaf, but you would be better off making a few selfbows first, before you consider laminating with a pressure hose form.

Im not using the inertubes as a hose pipe.  Im cutting them to use them as elastic bands to stretch over the bow.  I know I need to practice with selfbows  but im following sam Harpers build along on his website. Thanks for the advice.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

ERC backed with maple is a good combo according to many things I have read.
Maple or elm are pretty good in tension as long as the grain is good.
Darksoul has a good point.

[blackhawk]

Although dark soul has a good point,and  I refrained from saying it.....BUT there's only one way to learn,and that's by doing and making mistakes...I'd rather see you actually trying to build a bow,then run your lips

[paulsemp]

I think I will have to stir up the pot and disagree that  a laminated bow is not necessarily harder than a self bow. making a bow with a single backing is not that hard of a process. I have found that overbuilt bows with white oak, maple or hickory backing are almost unbreakable. granted that you're backing strip and core have decent grain in them. you will need to learn how to plane  the boards for proper glue up.  also inner tubes work great for clamps but be careful not to apply too much pressure & squeeze out all the glue.

[WillS]

My advice - get yourself a copy of Steve Stratton's DVD Making The Laminated English Warbow.  Granted, the bows he makes in the DVD are around the 100# mark, but everything he does from choosing woods to the glue up and shaping/tillering is excellently described and the guy is a master at what he does. 

If you're interested in going down the laminate route, it's pretty much a must-have.  He even uses inner tubes for the glue up 

[BowSlayer]

My advice - get yourself a copy of Steve Stratton's DVD Making The Laminated English Warbow.  Granted, the bows he makes in the DVD are around the 100# mark, but everything he does from choosing woods to the glue up and shaping/tillering is excellently described and the guy is a master at what he does. 

If you're interested in going down the laminate route, it's pretty much a must-have.  He even uses inner tubes for the glue up 

Cheers mate.  I'll look into it

[bow101]

I see the point of crawling before ya can walk idea..!   I have broke probably 11 bows have 2 shooters,  But.....but...the best bow I built was a laminate., total 5 lams, Yup she was Numero uno.  Why 5 lams because they were thin had to get the thickness to 7/16" + or so.  The only reason it broke was my lack of bow building experience obviously, but it would of been better than any board, or self bow I built in the last year.     

[BowSlayer]

My advice - get yourself a copy of Steve Stratton's DVD Making The Laminated English Warbow.  Granted, the bows he makes in the DVD are around the 100# mark, but everything he does from choosing woods to the glue up and shaping/tillering is excellently described and the guy is a master at what he does. 

If you're interested in going down the laminate route, it's pretty much a must-have.  He even uses inner tubes for the glue up 

Cheers mate.  I'll look into it

[steve b.]

"my only question is about the backing"

[fiddler49]

If you have access to a table saw then any straight grain riff or quarter sawn white wood boards like hickory, ash, maple, elm, oak can be sawed into 1/8" backings. I just made a new limb for a take down bow of mine
with 1/4 sawn ash and purple heart. Works great!  cheers fiddler49

[BowSlayer]

If you have access to a table saw then any straight grain riff or quarter sawn white wood boards like hickory, ash, maple, elm, oak can be sawed into 1/8" backings. I just made a new limb for a take down bow of mine
with 1/4 sawn ash and purple heart. Works great!  cheers fiddler49

Thanks, that's the main answer i was after.  But thanks for all the other awnsers and input it has made me think. I do have a new table saw so it might be fairly easy to make lams. Thanks to everyone.

[mikekeswick]

If you are in England....google yandles and bamboo suppliers. Yandles are excellent and pretty much always have hickory in stock and it's cheap,cheap,cheap!