backing Ipe ? options?

[lostarrow]

 Recently had a very productive trip to buy some lumber . My dealer  just happened to have a clean White Ash  board with perfect grain. Will yield four staves with no waste. While looking through the dregs of Elm he had I noticed a piece of Ipe  standing in the corner. 1"x5-1/2" x 8' long . 1/4 sawn with no runoff at all . Crappy bit for the last 12" but he didn't charge for that. Should be able to get 4 from it as well .  I've never worked with Ipe before . I  plan on backing it  with either Hickory or Bamboo. Would  Ash, or White Oak hold up to the stress? If so , should it be thicker (3/16)? Also found 2 Water Buffalo horns for $10 each and a nice Abalone shell for $6 , in the last couple of weeks.  Now I just have to find the time to turn them into a nice ELB

[huisme]

Ash is an amazing tension wood, and makes excellent backings. I prefer it over hickory, personally.

[adb]

I've used ash, hickory, maple and bamboo with ipe. All worked wonderful. No issues. Appropriate grain, of course. ELBs, warbows, and flatbows. Cameroo just made an ipe flatbow backed with white oak I think. Cam?

[Cameroo]

That one I posted recently was a maple-backed ipe, but I have used white oak on ipe before with no issues.  No need to trap the back or anything like that.  No need to go any thicker than what you would normally use either.  1/8" would be fine, although 3/16 would be just as fine   It's all in the grain.   You could take a strip of white oak and bend it in a circle without snapping it.

On another unrelated note, a question for Adam (don't want to hijack your post Lostarrow but it's kind of related), I was just wondering if you have ever made an ipe bow with grain nice enough to leave un-backed?  Can ipe handle tension at all?

[adb]

No idea. Never tried it. It works so well as a backed bow. Why mess with a good thing? 

[dbb]

Some time ago the same question was asked,i posted a pic of a ipe selfbow that a guy on a Swedish forum made it was an elb style bow.
So yes it can be done.

[adb]

I think the South American natives in the Amazon region made ipe selfbows. Really long. Like 7' long, and narrow. Long arrows, too. I think a selfbow from ipe would work better as a stave. No idea where you'd get a stave of ipe.

[dbb]

I foud the post i mentioned,its in swdish so most of you cant read it but a Picture is Worth a 1000 Words 
http://hem.bredband.net/yng1394/ipebow.html

[lostarrow]

Not hijacking at all Cameroo! Very legitimate, and relevant question. I was tossing around the idea myself , but the contrast between the creamy white and deep red looks soooooooo good! Like I said ,I've never worked it , but it's so hard and dense I would think it would be less suited to tension load.


 Next question :  Does it glue well with the bamboo using TBII, TBIII  ?

[adb]

I foud the post i mentioned,its in swdish so most of you cant read it but a Picture is Worth a 1000 Words 
http://hem.bredband.net/yng1394/ipebow.html

Wow. That bow is a toothpick. Doesn't take much ipe to make a bow!!

[Joec123able]

I think the South American natives in the Amazon region made ipe selfbows. Really long. Like 7' long, and narrow. Long arrows, too. I think a selfbow from ipe would work better as a stave. No idea where you'd get a stave of ipe.

I'm sure you can order a stave of ipe but I'm also sure it will cost a fortune

[Cameroo]

Thanks for posting that link.  Interesting bow!

BTW, if you use google chrome for your browser, you have the option to translate foreign pages to your native language   A button will appear at the top of the page giving you the option.  Makes that link a little more meaningful.

[adb]

I think the South American natives in the Amazon region made ipe selfbows. Really long. Like 7' long, and narrow. Long arrows, too. I think a selfbow from ipe would work better as a stave. No idea where you'd get a stave of ipe.

I'm sure you can order a stave of ipe but I'm also sure it will cost a fortune

From where? Care to share your source?

[lostarrow]

Not bad at all. 1-1/4" set is less than spectacular however.   Any guesses why ?

[dbb]

Not bad at all. 1-1/4" set is less than spectacular however.   Any guesses why ?

I reread the article and he admits that he pushed it too far too long time too early,i guess that will be the cause to atleast some of the set.