Maple - need backed?

[BigWapiti]

Has anyone built a bow out of the native maple maple (I think its referred to as Douglas Maple) here in the Pacific NW / cascades (Snoqualmie Pass area)?

Its tillering out nicely and has an extremely smooth draw - but the thing weighs hardly anything.  Admittedly, I'm used to VM and oak, but this is really light stuff.   

I found that it doesn't bend well (breaks) with heat, or steam.  Well, it bends well, but there is a very fine critical point where it ends up bent well or splintering madly.

But I'm curious, would this light wood require a backing?

[P.W. Smith]

yeah..It would need a backing...In my experience, that "native maple" is smooth drawing, whippy, light and very VERY weak in tension...Had a big tree blow down last winter and got 6 staves from it...tried to make bows out of 2 of 'em, and they died in tension...the rest was fuel for my wood stove...GOOD LUCK, and hope you have a better experience than I did...
Derek

[Pat B]

Be sure your backing you pick doesn't over power the belly wood. Rawhide, silk or linen help in the tension strength.  Backing won't necessarily make poor bow wood into a good bow. I'm not familiar with the maple you are talking about so I'm only guessing about it but if it will make a backed bow, it should make a self bow.        Pat

[BigWapiti]

Thanks guys,

I'm taking this one slow and feeling pretty good about it.  I'm thinking a backing just to protect from possibly lifting splinters.  I was thinking silk and then putting a strip of cherry bark on that.  But maybe that'll be too much.  I've never backed a bow.  I really don't want to if I don't have to as its got some real character in grain and the wood itself.

One thing I did tonight while heat bending some VM -- I heated up the belly of the maple to just a light brown.  I'm not sure why I did that, but figured it was worth a try - I didn't heat up the other maple I tried and it broke.  Who knows...

I think I'll just continue on tillering slowly and see what happens. 

-Mike

[grantmac]

Why not back it with some thin vine maple? That and Hard maple make great backings for lightweight woods.
     Cheers,
           Grant

[Badger]

Big, I have made quite a few bows from the light maple. very similar to poplar. I use my own mass formula on them and they come out pretty wide. I actually like it for lightweight elbs around 50# to 60# around 74" long. I have never backed one and out of about 6 bows I dont remeber any of them breaking. Most of my 50# flatbows came out about 2 1/2" wide. It actually makes very fast bows. All mine have been from straight grained boards. Steve

[BigWapiti]

Thanks Badger - I'm doing this from a log (about 6" diam) and using the outside curve as the back.  I've set the width to only 2" on this one (should have done 2.5" as you mentioned).  And compared to yours, mines a bit short - 68".  I'll keep going at this slowly and see what happens.  Thanks for the input.

grantmac, thin vine maple?  Not sure how I'd get thin vm - there are so many knots in the stuff.  Might be fun to try someday - but I don't have the power tools to do such things correctly.

Thanks again guys.

[elkh8me]

Hey, I am currently working with the same wood (Douglas Maple or aka Rocky Mountain Maple).  It grows everywhere here in North Idaho.  Anyway, a few months back, I cut down a 6" dia. tree and started a bow.  I too just removed the bark and the corky looking layer just below to reval one continuous growth ring.  Then I roughed out the bow with a hatchet & draw knife.  I placed it inside for about a month.  When the moisture was at 9% I meant to  began tillering, but I was not able to start for a few weeks.  Anyway, soon enough I began tillering and everything was going great.  The bow was turning out nicely.  I was shooting for somewhere around 60lbs @ 28" (since I plan on elk hunting with it).  Anyway, I made it to 54lbs @ 26" on the tillering stick.  I tried to pull the bow back to 27" to see what poundage it would be at when all hell broke loose.  The bow exploded.  The tillering I feel was very good, and it did not break at a knot or even next to one.  This bow was unbacked.  I checked the moisture content of the wood after it broke and it was only at 3%.  The wood felt as light as balsa wood.  Perhaps the bow would not have broken if the moisture was 7-12%.  I don't know, but if I was you, I would back that bow.  Especially if you think the wood is feeling pretty light (you may want to invest in a moisture meter if you do not have one-- $20 on e-bay).  I am now working on a new version of the same bow only this time I am going to back it with cherry bark.  Ohh yeah, the bow that exploded was based off of the meare heath design.  66" knock to knock and 2" wide.  I did draw the bow by hand several times to around 25" just before she blew.  The bow drew very smoothly and I feel this wood will make a great bow. 

Well, good luck.   JP (ELKH8ME)

[brian melton]

Big,

          You sure you are not describing big leaf maple??? Douglas should look VERY similar to vine maple... I have made several flat bows from big leaf, you need older trees as the younger ones have weak wood..



Brian