Question regarding fiberglass cloth as backing

[arachnid]

Hi all.

I'm about to make a white oak backed ipe takedown. I was wondering about adding a layer of fiberglass cloth over the white oak, just in case. Questions are:

A) will it add protection?
B) will it effect performance (add/reduce)?
C) is there a danger of it overpowering the ipe belly, causing it to fret?

Thanks

Don't do it...  F/G cloth does not work well with bows... Trust me I know... I used a layer of 6 oz. cloth...   It will stress and turn white on you...  
    Thats all I have... Some of the other wood bow builders will take it from here...

[Wolftrail]

I have built a few,  but I used TB3 for gluing it on did not fret.  I used the woven bi-directional stuff and the pro bow builders sell it.

That might work with wood glue because the glue will have give to it...  But I would not saturate the cloth with resin...  Hey if you want I may have some unidirectional glass tow that I may not use I could mail you...  You could experiment with it... PM me if interested... You also could use resin on it but it may over power the belly....
   Hey Wolftrail...  Are you talking about drywall tape.??

[Wolftrail]

Hey Wolftrail... Are you talking about drywall tape.??

Lol I will never use drywall tape, this is the same stuff used in marine and auto, once glued down I think its about .015 to .020 thou. thickness. With TB it will have some stretch to it unlike clear unidirectional glass with epoxy.  I have fixed hinges with this stuff.

[monterey]

I used the automotive stuff on a light weight red oak bow.  Saturated with the hobby shop kinda  thin epoxy.  I think any added performance it may have added as probably offset by the added weight.  It stayed in place with no funny things happening.  

It's a lot of work and expense just for protection when a couple layers of grocery bag and TB3 will do just as well.  Plus, the paper backing gives you a canvas for some art work.

[macbow]

Protection.  Some
Performance. Negative effect.
Pretty hard to overpower Ipe.

[arachnid]

Originally posted by macbow:
Protection.  Some
Performance. Negative effect.
Pretty hard to overpower Ipe.

All I wanted to know.
Bottom line- Bad idea.

[macbow]

IPe is some really strong stuff for a backing I use bamboo and also Hickory Have not tried white oak although it should work.

[arachnid]

Originally posted by macbow:
IPe is some really strong stuff for a backing I use bamboo and also Hickory Have not tried white oak although it should work.

I've used white oak  to back ipe before. Works great but needs to have straight grain.