I've been researching board bows. Apparently red oak is acceptable.  Would a clear fiberglass backing be a good idea?  Should be better than drywall tape as shown here:

 http://www.geocities.com/salampsio/oak5.htm  

I built a hickory longbow 20 years ago with a such a backing. It was a really sweet shooting bow.

Should work for red oak, shouldn't it?

Drywall tape holds the back together without taking much of the tension load.  A strip of fiberglass will take all the tension load and I'd be concerned about crushing the belly wood.  I've seen a number of fiberglass-backed oak bows... to the last they had terrible set.  Your milage may vary...  :D

the tape holds good, but if you use fiberglass the bow will take set bad. I made a RED OAK Pyramid bow with No backing.. Straight grain on the back and sides.

I'm sure some can build red oak boards with fiber glass backings, just like some can build red oak bows with bamboo backings but for me it isn't worth the possible frustration and I would think it would be discouraging to a new bow builder. FG tape is OK also I guess but just because it has FG in it doesn't necessarily make it the optimal backing material. With the right board, no backing is needed. If you want to add a simple backing for insurance reasons, linen, silk or even brown grocery bag make excellent backing materials with little or no expense if you have TiteBond glue on hand. Once the TB and material(cloth or paper) combo cure it makes a very strong but somewhat flexible backing. Like glass cloth and resin these combos become as one and will give you the protection you need without overpowering the belly.  Pat

What about regular paper drywall tape, covered by something to make it pretty?

I just have seen pic's of the fg tape.

If you want something pretty and protect a bow, go to goodwill and buy some old silk neckties, silk is a great backing for a bow.

Yes, paper dry wall tape should work fine too. It is heavier than brown paper, silk or linen and that can cause more hand shock and slow you recovery down. Whatever you use to back your bow, you should saturate the material with glue to form a solid backing. TBIII is waterproof(highly resistant)and works well with any of these backings.      Pat