soft maple for selfbows

[Cody Roiter]

Hello Guys, last year I cut myself some soft maple that i was going to use for making lam.. But I been wanting to make myself a self bow and wanted to know if soft maple was any good for making self bows... I was thinking of maybe backing it with some bamboo or glass....

Thanks for the help,

Cody

[Pat B]

Cody, you can make a selfbow with soft maple(red?) with the right design but to me, it wouldn't be worth the effort. Backing it with boo or glass would make it less likely to succeed. Both are way to strong for soft maple.

[Cody Roiter]

Pat so you are saying I should or should not back it ?.....

Thanks,

cody

[Pat B]

Not with boo or glass. A silk  or linen might help hold it together. I don't know the properties of the soft maples.