Unbacked Wenge Board Bow?

[manysteps]

I went to my local hardwood store for some maple and hickory and found the straightest grain Wenge board I've ever seen... Now I have two boards of it 1x2x72" for future bows...

I know it tends to splinter, but is it possible to tiller it without backing it? I prefer to tiller first, then decide on backing later (depending on how things go during the tiller)... besides that, if I broke it with backing on it somehow, now I'm out a $30 backing on top of a $40 belly.

[Bayou Ben]

A couple weeks ago I bought a Wenge piece about 1"x12"x12"  for accents on handles.  When I got home I looked at my receipt and realized that that piece cost me $28!  I almost drove the half an hour back to return it.
Long story short, I doubt many people have worked with Wenge as a bow because it's so expensive.
 

[manysteps]

Yeah, I paid $86 for 4 board feet... worked into 6 bows, 6' of excellent handle material, and a 6'x3/4" piece I gave to my friend who let me use his table saw that he can make pens and such with.

[JWMALONE]

A couple weeks ago I bought a Wenge piece about 1"x12"x12"  for accents on handles.  When I got home I looked at my receipt and realized that that piece cost me $28!  I almost drove the half an hour back to return it.
Long story short, I doubt many people have worked with Wenge as a bow because it's so expensive.

A 12 foot one by twelve, I would have drove back and bought some more. A piece of red oak that size around here would cost ya 50 bucks..

[PatM]

In the early days of PA Greg Harris wrote an article on D bows and described an unbacked Wenge board bow.

 There was also an article called " The Wonderful World of Wenge" describing bows of various types made from the wood. Not sure if they were all backed or not.

 Given the nature of the wood it seems like a wise idea to back it rather than risking wasting your money, even if it might hold up.

[Bayou Ben]

John, I don’t know these guys well enough to properly respond to your comment

[JWMALONE]

pm me

[manysteps]

In the early days of PA Greg Harris wrote an article on D bows and described an unbacked Wenge board bow.

 There was also an article called " The Wonderful World of Wenge" describing bows of various types made from the wood. Not sure if they were all backed or not.

 Given the nature of the wood it seems like a wise idea to back it rather than risking wasting your money, even if it might hold up.

I found the issue with the Wenge article... any way to help me find the other issue?

[pnwarcher]

If I were you, I'd risk it and try to make a selfbow, because an unbacked wenge selfbow would be unique and really cool looking.
It'd be a shame to waste a pricey board by having it explode on you, but it would also be a shame to waste an unusually straight grained board making a backed bow you could've made with an inferior board.

[JWMALONE]

My bad Bayou Ben, didn't have my glasses on, thought you got a twelve footer.

[Badger]

  Wenge is not a good bow for a self bow. Strong tendency to explode and chrysal.

[Hamish]

wenge does make a nice core lam though.

[PatM]

In the early days of PA Greg Harris wrote an article on D bows and described an unbacked Wenge board bow.

 There was also an article called " The Wonderful World of Wenge" describing bows of various types made from the wood. Not sure if they were all backed or not.

 Given the nature of the wood it seems like a wise idea to back it rather than risking wasting your money, even if it might hold up.

I found the issue with the Wenge article... any way to help me find the other issue?

Volume 2 Issue 3

[Springbuck]

  Back it.  The couple of bamboo backed bows I made of it seemed to really be springy, snappy-like. The other couple attempts fretted suddenly and broke at the kink.  Bend testing it told me to back it.

  I suppose an unbacked bow is possible if you could really see grain orientation, but I'd have a hard time trusting an unbacked BOARD bow.

[manysteps]

Quite a mixed view of things... fortunately I'm not in a hurry to get started on them... If this grain was hickory, you'd be selling it for TOP dollar as backing... being it's 1" thick, there's "some" flaw in a perfect quarter saw, but really, it's about as good as grain gets. (in my pretty unexperienced opinion)

Maybe opinions would change if you saw some pictures?

Mostly, I'm looking for things to watch out for with this wood... I've already heard it likes to splinter... so does hickory, so I'd think a good sanding and burnishing could get over that part.

If it likes to explode for other reasons, I'm all ears... I have 5 other bows I intend to build before I even think about diving into these pieces.