I am building my first board bow from red oak. I found a great tight grained board with pretty straight grain. I was wondering, is fiberglass cloth and resin any good for a backing? I know I could do hickory or Boo but then I would have to order which defeats the purpose of the build. My second option is linen and wood glue. Any help would be apreciated.
Riot
Linen and wood glue will work fine for you. Brown grocery bag and wood glue will work also. You won't get any more benefit from the FG cloth and resin. Pat
Any negatives from this setup? I like the idea of it being clear.
Riot
Fiber glass doesn't stretch and if you are not careful it can over power the belly wood. This being your first bow makes it more likely. It won't be clear anyway but opaque white. If the grain is appropriate you can make an unbacked bow from your red oak bow. Have you looked over George Tsokalas(sp) web page. He has all the info you will need to be successful with your red oak board. Pat
His web page is locked. How would glass "overpower" the belly? I could probably use a little concept and theory schooling here.
Since the belly wood can only compress so much, with the adding of glass to put more strain on it... I tried the glass w/resin and the bow blow. The glass held it but it still broke.
I found using TB III & glass worked way better, but not as good as linen & TB III. This is just what I found by doing that.
I made a red oak board bow w/Air Backing. It's a 70"N2N pyramid style long bow that pulls 51#@24"
Try Ferret\\'s Website (http://groups.msn.com/ferretsarcherywebpage/welcome.msnw) look for board bows
it you have not made a bow yet you shold read Tim Bakers first bow in the How To section you do not need any backing, let that be your fourth bow, Oh yae you will make more than one!!! ;-)