Bamboo backed Ipe Longbow

[Tommy D]

Been looking at the Ipe planks I have and there is one that is 72” by 1.5” by 3/4” ... I have heard folks say you can make quite narrow bows with Ipe. I’ve never made an ELB ... am tempted. Could I start with a width of 3/4”. The grain looks nicely quarter sawn and very dense. Toying with trying to get two bows out of it. But that might be being greedy. Aiming for 55-70 pounders.

[PatM]

Ipe is fine in that width.

[Hamish]

Ipe will work with a very narrow width.
3/4" width won't leave you much room for error. You will need a board that hasn't already warped and bowed, and won't when you resaw it into staves

Also such a narrow bow is more difficult to tiller, because they have a tendency to want to bend sideways, rather than in the intended plane. Be aware of that when stringing the bow. The way around that is to start shallow draws(a few inches) until the bow is trained to draw how you want it(You may even have draw it sideways, opposite to how it naturally tries to bend) . Don't draw it any further until its right as you can imbed sideways set, as well as regular set.

[Pat B]

I'd suggest 1 1/4"wide. Like Hamish said a very narrow bow can be hard to tiller and to keep from bending laterally.

[Bryce]

1 1/4” wide is pleasing to the eye for me. But 3/4”-7/8” for ipe’ is just fine as well for even substantial hunting weights.
I had one that was 3/4” at the widest 68”ntn pulling #76@27”
I glued in about 2” reflex with roughly tapered/floor tillered core and tapered boo lam and after shooting in still had a good 1” of reflex right after shooting.
It all just depends on what you have and what is pleasing to your eyes.
Bamboo and Ipe’ is one hell of a combo.