Why bother searching for the Perfect Board, when you can use fiberglass backing?

[Bowyer Wannabe]

Hi guys, I don't want to sound like a smart ass with that question, but I am a beginner, so I was just wondering:
When it comes down to board bows, why do people bother searching for perfectly quarter sawn boards, with no run offs on both sides, when they can use just about any plain sawn board, and back it with fiberglass cloth?
I understand that fiberglass backing isn't traditional, but what if one doesn't mind it?

Isn't fiberglass cloth backing the ultimate solution to not having access to quality wood? Or am I missing something here?
Maybe a plain sawn board with irregular grain would still lift a splinter, even if it is fiberglass cloth backed?

Help me understand, please.

[RBLusthaus]

This is Primtive Archer and we don't use the F word round these parts.  If using glass is an option for you, there are other places the get the advice you seek. Here, you could get advice on using sinew or raw hide as a backing, but not glass.  You are correct, it is just not what the focus of this site is all about. 

Russ

[bowandarrow473]

It is true that you could use a glass backing on boards, but that's no fun! Having that threat of breakage looming over you at all times makes you work harder, tiller better, and in the end makes you more satisfied with what you've created.

[Ryan3880]

Blasphemy! Blasphemy! Blasphemy!!

[PlanB]

Also, and I agree with the above, fiberglass isn't a whole lot of fun, at least for me. I used to build boats, and a famous old time yacht designer once said on looking for the first time inside a fiberglass hull, "It looks like frozen snot."

Also there's the satisfaction of going into the woods and just using something you find there to make a working bow as people have for millenia, rather than running down to the auto parts store and buying a can of stuff and itchy cloth to smear onto a poor example of a board. Why not save the fairly steep cost of the chemicals and put less money toward a good board?

[bubbles]

You just gotta keep in mind the title of the site. We generally keep it to primitive materials, with the exceptions of modern glues and strings.   Also, selecting a less than perfectly grained board and backing it with something as bombproof as fiberglass could lead to belly failures and chrysalling.

[Badger]

  Before I joined the internet I used FG on the backs of all my bows. I had no idea how to chase a ring or select a board. I was never so happy as when I learned how to make bows with no fiberglass. I have plenty of modern bows at home. I never shoot them, only wood for me. Besides that if you like the people here then you can't use FG it disqualifies you immediately.

[Bowyer Wannabe]

Lol, I didn't mean to be a blasphemer. I realize that this is Primitive Archer, but I also believe that there are people on the board who have built bows, using non-traditional materials before. My question goes to those people.

Also there's the satisfaction of going into the woods and just using something you find there to make a working bow as people have for millenia, rather than running down to the auto parts store and buying a can of stuff and itchy cloth to smear onto a poor example of a board.

I know what you mean. I have built primitive bows out of staves that I harvested in the woods.

Why not save the fairly steep cost of the chemicals and put less money toward a good board?

Because where I live "good boards" do not exist.
First problem is that the stores only carry conifers. Oak, ash, elm... no body cares to sell these here.
Second, even if you somehow manage to find an oak board, chances are that it will be less than perfect. So I figured I'd just use a shitty oak/ash/elm board (still hard to find) and back it with something.
I like fiberglass cloth because it becomes transparent when impregnated with epoxy, so you can still see the wood underneath. The natural look is not lost.

[Del the cat]

The logic of the question is breathtakingly flawed.
It follows, why make a bow when you can buy one?
It's about acquiring skill, understanding the wood, making connection with our ancestors, creation, artistry and simplifying back to basics where we can make and repair our own equipment.
I'm also on an archery forum where many are target archers shooting equipment the don't understand and don't know how to set up... they are striving for better performance by throwing money at the problem... I try and point them towards primitive bows, field shooting and making their own (with limited success )
It's like the old story of the Texan oil billionaire who come across this old guy sitting by the river making a pair of moccasins. He says heck if you got all your family working together in an organised manner making those things, you could set up a business, earn a small fortune, retire and then you could do what you want.
The old boy looks at him and say, yeah, but I'm doing what I want right now....

I despair at your comment "the natural look is not lost". But you know it's not natural... it's about being true. Heck why not just buy a bow and say you made it?
Del
Sorry if I sound harsh, but it took me best part of 20 years to find a Yew stave to make my first decent ELB. The effort brings it's own reward.

[PlanB]

Truly the bottom line is, you should do what you want. Just as that is true for others who prefer not to use fiberglass. So what is the dilemma?

[Bowyer Wannabe]

Truly the bottom line is, you should do what you want. Just as that is true for others who prefer not to use fiberglass. So what is the dilemma?

There is no dilemma, really. I was just asking a question and it goes like this: will backing make a crappy board usable?

[PlanB]

Ahh. Different question altogether. You would need to have the skill to determine what crappy means in specifics, and the skill to use fiberglass in a way that would resolve the crappiness specifics. Help there would come from people skilled in that art.

[le0n]

I was just asking a question and it goes like this: will backing make a crappy board usable?

^^ regarding this,

Also, selecting a less than perfectly grained board and backing it with something as bombproof as fiberglass could lead to belly failures and chrysalling.

the answer was already stated.

[Del the cat]

Where do you live?
Del

[DavidV]

There are few places in the world where there isn't some sort of wood to make a bow with. Using FG to get away with poor bowyery skills is like slapping a band-aid on it and calling it good, there's a bigger problem you need to fix which is finding proper wood.