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Author Topic: RED oak for backing strips?  (Read 4029 times)

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Offline Sidmand

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RED oak for backing strips?
« on: November 30, 2014, 04:17:16 pm »
I had what I thought was a great piece of white oak, so I ripped it into 1/8 inch strips for backing some great Ipe I also had.  Turns out, I have great RED oak and I now have about 9 pieces left.  One was glued up to a great Ipe board, but it exploded violently on the tree due to a tension break on the back; the Ipe just torn that oak in half.  I took out a big magnifying glass and verified that the pores on the oak are indeed hollow, not filled like white oak.  I certainly don't trust it for backing Ipe now.  Now I have to find a source of backing material for my Ipe.

Question is, has anyone successfully backed a 40# or greater weight bow with RED oak?  If I can't use it for backing, can I glue several strips together for a reflex/deflex laminate bow or something?
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Offline PatM

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2014, 04:38:34 pm »
Glue it to more red oak or similar.
 A bow was recently posted with red oak backing on a tropical wood belly.
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2014, 04:53:26 pm »
Glue 3 together and make a red oak tri lam. Should be sweet.
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Offline bushboy

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2014, 06:55:32 pm »
A R/O. Backer should work with maple or ash belly. Good luck!
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Offline arachnid

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2014, 04:05:39 am »
I had the same thing happened to me latly (red oak thought to be white oak an an ipe bow exploded on the tiller). I did maneged to back an african walnut belly with red oak and it came out sweet! (Look for a thread titled "a successful experiment" on page 2 or 3). Apparently red oak works as a backing for less dense woods.

Good luck!
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Offline Sidmand

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2014, 09:35:41 am »
Quote from: arachnid on December 01, 2014, 04:05:39 am
I had the same thing happened to me latly (red oak thought to be white oak an an ipe bow exploded on the tiller). I did maneged to back an african walnut belly with red oak and it came out sweet! (Look for a thread titled "a successful experiment" on page 2 or 3). Apparently red oak works as a backing for less dense woods.

Good luck!

Saw that bow, it looks good!  I have some strips of Ipe that are just a bit thicker than 1/4 inch that I think I could make some lighter weight (#30 or lighter) bows out of using the red oak as backing for.  But, for the 1/2" ipe it appears that red oak just won't hold it.  Scared the hell out of me when it blew, I'm glad I had built a pully system for my tiller tree, cause it would have been a hard knock for sure.
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Offline arachnid

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2014, 10:35:25 am »
If you do manege to get some white oak 1/8" thick, it makes graet backing for ipe. I have a white oak backed ipe flatbow and it's one of my best shooters.
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Offline Springbuck

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2014, 05:28:09 pm »
  For my own larnin' how thick was the ipe when you tried to bend it.

  If the grain is indeed perfect it should do well backing medium woods roughly around the same weight.  Try it on cherry or walnut?
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Offline Sidmand

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2014, 09:52:53 pm »
about 3/8 inch, tapering down to about 1/4 inch, width was 1 1/4 inch tapering to 3/8 inch.  I had it bending to about 14 inches at 35# at about a 1" brace, had just got a good circular tiller and BANG!  After checking myself for leaks and changing my drawers I looked at the remnants and could see the redoak had separated on the back about midlimb, and then the belly cracked and split, all rather violently and spectacularly.
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"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." --> Aristotle

Offline adb

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Re: RED oak for backing strips?
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2014, 10:54:03 am »
Red oak is just not strong enough in tension to work with a super strong belly wood like ipe. White oak would be fine. Like said, why not do a multilayer oak glue up, or use it as belly wood with a forgiving backing like maple or ash. Keep it wide and long and don't ask too much for draw weight or length, and you'll be fine.
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