Does a high crown mean the belly is always trapped?

[stuckinthemud]

My stave stash is all sappling, all very high crowned. Does the extra width of timber across the radius of the crown mean the belly is, in effect, trapped as it is much smaller in width?

[PatM]

 No, the high crown carries the bulk of the tension so the back is trapped and the belly wider.

[stuckinthemud]

 are there any implications for bow design?

[PatM]

It's just natural trapping.  Works great for tension strong saplings.

[SLIMBOB]

All things equal, I prefer a nice crown on Osage.

[druid]

No. Most of my sapling bows are high crowned with flat belly. And works good.

[ksnow]

I've long thought that "trapping" the back of a bow made from a flat stave was a lot of work, when a high crowned stave would have resulted in the same effect with much less work.

Like PatM said, great for tension strong woods. Mesolithic European bows (holmegaards, etc.) were typically made from high crown sapling staves, almost always elm.

Take a tension strong wood with a high crown, temper the belly, and you have the beginning of a great bow.

Kyle