Grain in exotic woods

[Jacob1]

The picture some ipe does the grain look like it is suitable for bow making. I realized that when buying it was almost impossible to see the grain until it was planed/scraped

[Hamish]

 Looks okay, especially if you are going to back it with a nice piece of hickory or bamboo.

People do make unbacked self bows from ipe. I would need to see more pictures  of the stave before I'd be certain of whether it would safely make a selfbow

[Jacob1]

The grain gets pretty swirly but I will be backing it with bamboo I didn’t know it was possible to make a self bow from ipe I thought it was too imbalanced in compression and tensile strength

[Hamish]

 Doesn't look swirly in that photo. That section at least is relatively straight, looks to be running around 10 degrees from the edge of the board.

Definitely fine for a backed bow.

Plenty of selfbows have been made from ipe. Like any board stave the straightest grain, defect free board will give the highest chance of survival.
Backing with a good strip allows you to glue in a little reflex and improve performance, that's why most people do it.

[Jacob1]

That area isn’t very swirly but it does get pretty wiggly

[Morgan]

I hope Mr. Krewson responds to this. He has made some fine backed bows with very questionable grain on the belly. He had responded to a post about belly wood grain with pictures some while back. Popular consensus is that belly must be straight same as back, and while I think getting the best grain you can for the belly increases your odds of success, Eric has shown that it is possible to make a good bow with way less than perfect belly grain. He could tell you the limits if any he’s found. You might pm him to bring this thread to his attention.

[bownarra]

I'm made enough laminated bows to be sick of them now....
Sure you can use funky grain on the belly but fibers that aren't running parallel (more or less) to the belly cannot withstand the same compression that they would if the grain were optimal. This is a simple fact. If you stay within the limits of your particular piece of wood...you will get a bow.
In the beginning I wasn't too picky about belly wood - i've learnt the hard way that sub optimal belly wood is a waste of time. Others will have different views but I will always , always pick the straightest grain belly wood. I've also seen people say that pin knots in ipe don't matter......
Ipe is a funny wood....there can be lots of variation in quality.
Bear in mind I am making bows to sell. Nothing sickens you more than having to make another due to sub par materials failing...but if your bowmaking is just for yourself you have a lot of wiggle room to experiment and see what works for your particular set of bow making values