Reverse brace with cherry bark?

[wizardgoat]

Has anyone tried this? I know it's not as stretchy as sinew, but could it work? Or would it be too much for it to handle?

[dwardo]

Not tried it my self but handling cherry bark I would say its far too brittle and would probably just crack.
Have often thought about trying wych elm bark which is incredibly strong.

[Pat B]

Not just any cherry bark will work for a bow backing. I have used choke cherry bark and it is strong enough and IMO does add some performance. It doesn't seem to be stretchy at all.

[autologus]

It seems tough enough but the problem with using it as a protective or performance enhancing backing is it is too short to provide the continuous fibers needed to add performance.  To cover the length of the bow splicing is necessary and defeats the purpose of an elastic backing.  I suppose you could do a Z or W splice and then wrap the spliced area with sinew but who knows how well it would hold for tension.  Sounds like a good idea for an experiment.

Grady

[Bryce]

I've reverse braced with cherry bark. And it doesn't really do much:/

[wizardgoat]

Thanks for your 2 cents guys