Best Cherry cross-section

[Papa Matt]

Brothers,

  Any of ya's know what the most efficient cross-section would be for a Black Cherry bow, about 66 inhes in length? I made one before, and it seemed a little slow, and had significant set. It had the belly rounded a bit and the back was flat. Is there a better cross-section design?

Thanks
Matt

[Badger]

Matt, I am not sure if the belly cross section is as much an issue as how much working limb you have, I used to make some hickory backed cherry r/d bows and they were good shooters with flat bellies, if I didn't make them wide enough in themain working area they would chrysal. I have also made cherry elb style bows very narrow with deep cross sections. With a good amount of working limb, bending handle and such they can be deep and narrow as well. Cherry is a light wood, so either needs to be wide and flat on short working limbs  or just use a lot more bending limb. Steve

[Pat B]

Tim Baker had a pyramid style cherry bow posted in TBBI I believe in the "Performance..." chapter.
     Pat

[DanaM]

Matt I've made 3 bkack cherry bow, all unbacked going for 50 -55 lbs at 26" The first 2 broke due to a tension failure,
the last one fretted quite badly but still shot and took 1.5" of set from straight, I didn't induce any backset either.
 My advice is keep it long, wide and get it bending out of the fades almost to the tips.
The more limb you have working the less likely its going to fret. I would also suggest a backing of some type rawhide, silk or linen
Just my 2 cents.