Cedar bow questions

[jkyarcher]

Im thinking about building a cedar bow and was wondering about a few things
-should i back with sinew or rawhide?
-do i back before or after tillering?
-and any other suggestions?
thanks

jkyarcher

[Pat B]

Do you have your stave yet? Is it clear or have knots? Rawhide should be sufficient as a backing. If you are building a short ERC bow sinew backing would also be appropriate.

[Pappy]

Before tillering. Is this your first bow ?
   Pappy

[jkyarcher]

I have some wood from a ERC that fell in my yard. It was a large tree so the board is very flat on back and I thought it would work pretty good. I wasn't planning on making it short.

I have built a couple of bows (neither that great) never tried backing and was not real sure on the order of backing and tillering.

[Pat B]

For rawhide backing you can put it on any time. For a wood backing like hickory I like to get the stave to floor tiller stage and be sure the limbs are bending evenly and together so I get a nice even backset after gluing up in Perry Reflex.
  Either rawhide or a wood backing would work fine for what you want. You could alse use silk, linen or brown grocery bag paper for backing your ERC. Being that it is a board I would definately back it.

[jkyarcher]

thanks for suggestions
it isnt a board just a very wide piece with a flat back due to the large size of the tree
Also with the paper bag how much protection could that give to the bow

[Pat B]

Paper bags are made with interlocking wood fibers. Add the glue to that and it is very strong.