ERC tips?

[Loganic]

Hello,

If you've seen my last post, you'll know that I'm infatuated with the ELB shaped bows more than anything else. My last bow was a nice 45-50# Hickory ELB that has held up well, but now I would love to make a pretty ERC longbow that will survive longer than my last one.

My last ERC bow blew up after ~100 shots, having been pretty badly tillered (even, but with too much strain in the middle). I'm wondering: What's the best ERC backing? Hickory? I tried maple in my last attempt but Hickory might be a solid choice to make it stronger in tension.

What are your thoughts?

Loganic

[Deerhunter21]

From what Ive heard sinew adds protection to the bow (so it dosnt blow up in your face) and it adds performance.

[Hrothgar]

I 've purposely never used erc for a bow --I don't trust my bowyer skills enough, but from second hand knowledge it seems if it breaks it basically explodes. Sinew might be a better choice than a hickory strip, rawhide is sometimes used to back erc  as well.

[DuBois]

I would only go with sinew but I don't do wood on wood backing so couldn't tell ya about that. ERC doesn't weigh much and is good in compression so it is a good match and probably would use plenty to take more strain off back and decrease pressure on belly too.

[Limbit]

You can use any backing you want, but it is a soft wood, so a really stiff backing will overpower it. Make the backing thin. I'd recommend ash personally. Sinew is heavy, but if you just do one well layed layer, it won't effect the bow anymore than any other backing. Good rawhide is enough for a well tillered one.

[Eric Krewson]

A bowyer friend who makes over 50 selfbows a month, stays in his shop 12 hours a day, often 7 days a week, backs ERC with bamboo and has no trouble with it.

Virgil cranks out some bows!

[Marc St Louis]

A bowyer friend who makes over 50 selfbows a month, stays in his shop 12 hours a day, often 7 days a week, backs ERC with bamboo and has no trouble with it.

Virgil cranks out some bows!

Your picture has an ad in it Eric

[gutpile]

sinew and cedar are like peas and carrots.. just like hide glue and sinew... made for each other IMO... always thought boo would overpower cedar.. apparently I was wrong... gut

[Bayou Ben]

My guess is that the strength of the backing wasn't your problem.  If you say it was one of your 1st bows my first guess would be the tiller, second would be that the backings had grain run out and wasn't really suitable for a backing, or a combination of the two. 
If using maple or hickory for the backing the grain should be near perfect. 
Check out Marc's maple backed ERC : http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,58509.0.html

[Eric Krewson]

No more ad, Virgil is also the best at bending statics I have ever seen.