will this combo work?

[Lee Lobbestael]

I have some rawhide and would like to make a rawhide backed eastern red cedar bow. Is this a good combo or do I need a stronger backing such as hickory? I was hoping to buy a erc board from lowes.

[Pat B]

That should make a good combo.

[JonW]

The only cedar boards I've seen at Lowes are Western red cedar. You might want to make sure.

[adb]

Yup, make sure it's ERC... which is actually a juniper. I have an ERC stave which is perking right now, and I plan to back it with rawhide.

[Lee Lobbestael]

oh my mistake! I take it western cedar is no good for bows?

[adb]

No.

[blackhawk]

I've seen thin ~30" slats of eastern red cedar at the "other" store...n it seems with both each can vary as to what they carry wood species wise...some have such n such and another in a different locale will even tho its the same chain of stores...I'd be a lil leary of buying ERC from a big box store tho...I only like to use stuff that's cut buy a bowyer or myself...ERC is finicky enough and I wanna know exactly what n where the wood came from and how it was handled....and its also gonna be very hard to find ERC lumber that has good enough grain for rawhide backing...maybe one for a hard back if your really lucky...good luck

[JW_Halverson]

I picked up a rail-straight western red cedar fencerail at Lowes a few years ago and decided to fool around with it.  I made an English longbow with a full bend thru handle design, 77" tip to tip.  I started 1 1/4 inch wide at the handle and all the appropriate 5/8 rule futzy stuff and ended up with about 30 lbs of draw weight and 6 inches of set on the most perfectly fretted piece of crap you ever saw!  The sapwood to heartwood ratio on the finished product was  a lovely 1:3 ratio.  I left a string on it and hung it in the garage, pretty as a picture, absolutely no cast, laughable effort at best.

Materials: $6
Time:        3 hours
Value:        Poops and giggles.

Blackhawk makes some good points, make sure you know the species of wood, know for sure that it was handled properly air cured, vs laying on the ground picking up mold and rot, etc.