I've never seen anyone do this, so I thought I'd share (I'm sure someone has, I just haven't seen it).
Of all the hard backings I've tried, nothing beats this IMO. Granted, you have to have access to a pipe-straight hickory tree at least 8" in diameter, but if you do, I highly recommend trying this...
I fell the tree, and cut the clearest 7' section there is. Then, I go around the outside of the tree lengthwise with a chainsaw, removing the outermost inch of wood (you end up with about 4 or 5 potential backings and a log with a quadrahedral or pentahedral cross section). Then I pull off the bark.
The rest is done with the jointer, bandsaw, and belt sander.