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

[PlanB]

I think it's interesting, too that many fine bows here are made of what some might call "crappy" wood -- I've seen standing deadwood, with worm holes, knots, etc. turned into works of art that shoot hard.

So a question to ask yourself is,  what does that say about materials vs understanding what they mean in specifics and how to work with them?

Without an understanding of wood, or even fiberglass as a material for that matter, the result will likely be the same no matter where anyone starts using them. Skills must develop to be successful. And that takes learning.

I think you should buy a piece of crappy wood and fiberglass it, to find out what happens, for you specifically. And where you want to go after that experience. What you become interested in. Nobody can tell you that in advance. Nor will you know without doing it.

[Pat B]

A crappy board is a crappy board whether it is backed or not. When building wood bows, boards or tree staves you should get the best piece of wood you can find. Once you learn proper tillering and understand the principles and techniques of building wood bows then you can experiment however you want. Trying to take short cuts isn't going to get you very far. Even with FG bows there is a lot to learn about the engineering and execution of building a FG bow before you can build a decent one.
 About 10 years ago, when wood bows really started getting popular a few of the FG builders decided to build backed selfbows with FG backings to reach into that part of the market. They soon found it wasn't a reliable or a viable option because the FG was too strong and unforgiving for the wood bellies, even with the compression strong woods like osage and ipe.
  Find the best bow wood you can find (and truly look for it) and build a backed bow or tri-lam bow with a natural backing like hickory, elm, hard maple or bamboo. All make good, natural material backings.
 Woven FG cloth and multidirectional FG matting isn't the same as FG used in bow building. Fred Bear and others back in the day found that out and started using unidirectional FG strips for bow backings and later backs and bellies.
 

[Bowyer Wannabe]

I agree with you PlanB. I am in the search of a (crappy) board now. Believe it or not, it's a challenge to find even a crooked, twisted, full of knots oak board around here. Like I said, no store is selling hardwood. They only carry pine and fir which also forces the local carpenters to work with conifers too.

Regarding understanding of wood, I think I know a thing or two about that - I have worked with hazel and ash saplings before and I have made a few bows that had a decent tiller and shot well.
I chose the board approach because I don't want to wait another year for any freshly cut staves to dry out.

I am all for traditional archery, guys. It is just that I don't mind a little bit of fiberglass here and there.

[Badger]

    Bowyer wannabe, its fine whatever you do, you just can't discuss fiberglass in this forum. It is primitive only. We do allow modern adhesives though so not entirely primitive. The working parts of the bow have to be natural materials or they can't be posted here, plenty of other forums where they are fine to post.

[Pat B]

FG is a traditional bow building material. It has been used since the 1940s. We are building traditional bows but we choose to use as many natural materials as we can to achieve our goals. If you want to use FG in a bow, that is your prerogative. Most of us here on PA choose not to use FG in our bows. We know it is not necessary. Good tillering of appropriate well seasoned wood is the key to building good wood bows.
 We hear this same argument/mindset every year and try to explain ourselves so much we(collectively) get a short fuse when the subject comes up. I'll bet a few of our members use the same questions and arguments when they first got started here on PA but learned how much more rewarding it is to do it our way.
 

[bradsmith2010]

I just like working with wood,, and how beautiful the bows are, and I like to make bows similar to ancient men,, so I dont have time for the more modern material bows,,  just like if I was going to make furniture,, I would make wood chairs cause i like wood,, pretty simple,,

[willie]

saplings don't need a year to dry, a month is doable if handled right, and you are just looking for something to shoot

there are some very nice ones posted here sometimes, do a search on "sapling" and you might be surprised

[bowandarrow473]

All my saplings/staves are dry within 2 months (some within 1 month), if you rough them out they dry very quickly, roughed out and in a hot car or drying box and you could be good to go in as little as a week or two.

[GB]

I don't have a place to cut my own bow wood, so I searched online and found a hardwood lumberyard that is an hour away from me.  I buy osage staves on ebay. 
IMO backing a crappy board with fiberglass sounds pretty half assed and I wouldn't expect a good bow to be the result.  If you want to go the FG route, you can buy a kit for one online.  As has been said, this is a wood bow forum and there are other forums out there to discuss FG bows on.

[Marc St Louis]

FG is a traditional bow building material. It has been used since the 1940s. We are building traditional bows but we choose to use as many natural materials as we can to achieve our goals. If you want to use FG in a bow, that is your prerogative. Most of us here on PA choose not to use FG in our bows. We know it is not necessary. Good tillering of appropriate well seasoned wood is the key to building good wood bows.
 We hear this same argument/mindset every year and try to explain ourselves so much we(collectively) get a short fuse when the subject comes up. I'll bet a few of our members use the same questions and arguments when they first got started here on PA but learned how much more rewarding it is to do it our way.
 

I guess it all depends on where you want to put the bead on that traditional line, Pat.  I personally don't consider FG traditional

Exactly where do you live Bowyer Wannabe to be in such a poor hardwood location.  Up here in Northern Ontario you can buy many hardwoods useful for making bows, you can even buy some of the tropical wood species as flooring boards

[wizardgoat]

If you just want to make a bow that shoots and don't care about being natural material make a PVC
bow. They shoot surprisingly well, but are all very lame IMO.
If you look a little harder you will find a hardwood dealership near you.
Or share your location, someone here may help you out. Good luck

[Bowyer Wannabe]

Hi, I live in Eastern Europe. I already checked all the places that sell flooring boards - they have only laminated boards that are very short.

[Del the cat]

Hi, I live in Eastern Europe. I already checked all the places that sell flooring boards - they have only laminated boards that are very short.

Aren't there trees you can get wood from?
Del

[James Rodney]

what part of Europe?  little more specific.  i have a few friends that live in Switzerland, and they live right dead smack in the woods.   also, a good place to find staves is on ebay.. some are a little pricey, but usually already split, and seasoned.  No excuse for using boards unless you're doing it for practice.  I'm a very GREEN noob at this and from the research i've done already in the last 3 weeks.  wood is not hard to get.  Ebay has osage orange for sale for 30-45$ USD.   

also, i want to say this.  while i may not want to make board bows, (i've made one) just to get a hang of it.  Don't get discouraged about anything.  Learn, Make mistakes, and in the end you'll be better off if you don't give up.. just leave FG alone.. that word makes me want to slap my mama. 

[willie]

seems like black locust is replanted in some places for firewood? maybe could find a nice piece for reasonable price.