Hickory vs bamboo as a backing for ipe

[Eric Garza]

I will be making a laminated bow with ipe as the belly wood. I am trying to decide between backing it with hickory (have a decent hickory backing strip) or buying a bamboo backing strip. I know others on this board have far more experience working with ipe than I do. I am curious what folks think are the costs vs benefits of using each of these backing materials?

[Selfbowman]

I would try some bamboo from Jaap.  pm me if you want his Info.  Arvin

[gutpile]

boo no doubt with ipe belly..gut

[PatM]

Get boo if your hickory backing strip is only 'decent".

[Pat B]

I prefer hickory for ease of preparation and application. I've made quite a few hickory/ipe bows with good results. IMO it makes a great combo.

[bownarra]

Doesn't really make any difference - the quality of the bow is much more dependant on the guy doing the tillering They are BOTH great combos. Choose what you like the look of.
I've made hundreds of both combos and tested most of them - little to no difference in performance. The quality of the ipe will be of more importance to be honest. Ipe quality on the whole is going down.

[Selfbowman]

If you want to see one come alive try your boo thickness close to a 1/4” in thickness. Most guys go half that thick. It will end up narrow and light in mass from my experience with Osage. Might try it. Arvin

[Kidder]

If you want to see one come alive try your boo thickness close to a 1/4” in thickness. Most guys go half that thick. It will end up narrow and light in mass from my experience with Osage. Might try it. Arvin

This is super interesting. Can you possibly post a picture? I was reading TBB last night about the tensile strength of bamboo as a backing and it indicated, as I recall, that it was in direct relation to the SG and that the outer portions of bamboo were something like 1.08 (again as I recall). But the emphasis was on it being substantially denser on the outer portion. How does that translate over to a thick backing that varies in tensile strength - weaker as it moves closer to the neutral plane? Lots to chew on…

[Selfbowman]

Kidder I don’t know for sure. But the thicker bamboo is braking the records. Think about it this way. Yes the rind is more dense but the rest of the boo is lighter than both the rind and the ipa. The boo is over bearing but narrow it and it seems to work. I don’t know all the science behind what I do but I’ll try what makes common sense to me . Sometimes the common sense makes the arrows go farther. It’s been said on here what is in the middle is just that in the middle. Lighter is better. That’s it in a nut shell. Arvin

[mmattockx]

Think about it this way. Yes the rind is more dense but the rest of the boo is lighter than both the rind and the ipa.

Sounds like the lighter inner portion of the bamboo is acting as a light core wood. Considering how dense ipe is that does make sense.


Mark

[PatM]

Badger addressed this years ago. Rich Saffold also.   If the belly can take it a thicker boo backing seems like good engineering.

[Selfbowman]

But i was not here years ago. So I have to find my own way. 😁😁😁 thanks for telling me now though. I might add the thick bamboo backs have all been trapped also  that I built. Arvin

[PatM]

Yes, you missed a lot of stuff but managed to catch up.

[Selfbowman]

I’ve been watching you guys argue for some years now.😁😁😁

[Eric Garza]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I just ordered a couple bamboo backing strips. I have used bamboo in the distant past, but gravitated towards hickory because it was cheaper. Finding good hickory backing strips these days seems near impossible. If anyone knows of a good supplier please let me know, either by posting here or sending a pm.