Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: yebon on October 12, 2013, 10:03:30 pm
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I am starting my first bow. I have been going to lowes and home depot for about 2.5 months and have not found a decent board to use. I did however find one that was OK but i fear it still may have too many runoffs. Is it possible to use a backing like hickory or sinew are something along those lines or do you guys have any other suggestions. The board i have is Red Oak. Thanks for any advise.
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Hickory works well with red oak. Make the backing 1/8" or less thick. Years ago I made a hickory backed red oak(Lowes) pyramid that still holds reflex and shoots well.
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With a backing, Red oak can probably handle more run offs than you might think if tillered well. In 2.5 months you might have had a couple bows by now! I say, on the next trip, pick the absolute BEST board from the pile that day, throw a backing on it and let the chips fly. I can usually find a couple on every trip that will make a decent bow with a backing. If you really want to go without a backing, you need to be much more wary of grain selection. But I'm still a newbie at this. Here's one I made with the most grain run-off - 68"ntn, 1.5" wide, 50#@26" bendy handle, unbacked 1.5" of just unbraced set. Now, most of the run-off is near the tips, where it is doing the least bending, but there is still a fair amount of run-off. It's not tillered perfectly and it's over-built, but it's got 1000's of arrows through it and it's decently fast, and I learned a lot from making it. You might be waiting a while for a flawless board, when you could be learning a lot from no-so-perfect wood. I say get to it!