Board wood pairings

[YosemiteSam]

Well, it has been a merry Xmas for me.  After many failed attempts to find good boards at the hardware stores, I'm suddenly sitting on a stack of good maple & hickory boards.  There's probably enough to make 7-10 bows, depending on how I cut them or whether or not I back them.  It's mostly maple but I found some good hickory pieces at a smaller lumberyard in town -- just got lucky this time.

I may opt to cut some of the better pieces down to backing strips.  My table saw isn't the best so I may chicken out.  We'll see.  But it has me thinking about the best wood pairings for laminated board bows.

From widely available woods, what are the best pairings for these if I chop some of them into backing?

Hickory backed Hickory
hickory backed _____(oak? walnut? other ideas?)_______

Maple backed Maple
Maple backed ______(does anything else do well with maple?)____________

[John Malone]

Congratulations, its nice to find a winning ticket now and again.

[Forwardhandle]

I love working with maple it is a great wood but I had one of my favorite maple bows frett on me after about 1200 arrows but it was only my 3 or 4 bow I ever made and the tiller was not perfect  but the design was short for my draw ,sense then I know not to over stress the design with maple it can be a tad compression weak but if made wide & long enough would make a great bow maple on maple with moderate reflex ! maple usually will make a fast bow.

[John Malone]

I saw a maple longbow once with a walnut riser and tip overlays, she was a beauty. Would have bought it but it was $300 bucks in the early 90s!!

[Pat B]

Any combo of those 2 woods will work well. Both hickory and maple will make good backings for the oak or walnut. The maple may be a better choice for the walnut but hickory will work.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by Pat B:
Any combo of those 2 woods will work well. Both hickory and maple will make good backings for the oak or walnut. The maple may be a better choice for the walnut but hickory will work.

Maple backed walnut sounds like a sexy combo of wood colors.  If I was making a simple pyramid design for this combo, should it be a little wider, say 1.75" at the fades?  Or is 1.5" sufficient (assuming something in the 68-70" T2T range)?  I'll pull out the TBBs to see about trapping & heat treating these combos.

Hickory backed red oak could be fun.

There were some awesome slabs of white oak at the lumber yard -- 1.5" thick x 10" wide x 8' long.  Grain was straight & mostly all clear.  I've got enough wood.  But it has me thinking...

[Pat B]

At 68" to 72" @28", 1 .75 will be fine. You might even go 1 1/2" but start wide and reduce the width later if needed.
I made a hickory backed red oak pyramid bow a while back that is 66" t/t, 50#+/- @26". This bow is about 2 1/4" wide at the fades with a straight taper to the tips. I've let everyone in the world shoot this bow to see what would happen and she's still holding a slight reflex. I think I added 3" of reflex at glue-up.

[Wolftrail]

Yep all the woods are good.  I have used White oak as a center lam between maple. With maple pay attention to the edge grain having no run off or very, very little.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by Pat B:
At 68" to 72" @28", 1 .75 will be fine. You might even go 1 1/2" but start wide and reduce the width later if needed.
I made a hickory backed red oak pyramid bow a while back that is 66" t/t, 50#+/- @26". This bow is about 2 1/4" wide at the fades with a straight taper to the tips. I've let everyone in the world shoot this bow to see what would happen and she's still holding a slight reflex. I think I added 3" of reflex at glue-up.

I'm still new at this so pardon me for asking an ignorant question.  I never even considered adding reflex at the glue-up stage.  Never knew I could.  Now, having a few bows under my belt, it makes sense.  Did you raise the tips with blocks or did you make a form (caul?) and clamp it to that?  I might want to try it.

Any good ways to ensure a fairly even bend at the floor tillering stage?  I use a gizmo to do my tillering because I don't yet trust my inexperienced eyes.

[BMorv]

Yeah that's one of the advantages of gluing a backing.  If you are strictly adding reflex, you can just block up the tips and secure down the middle of the handle.  I've seen some people suspend the bow between 2 saw horses and hang a gallon jug of water from the middle.  There's a few ways to do it, and a caul isn't necessary.  If you floor tiller it before glue up it should bend nicely.  
Before glue up I check the thickness with a caliper every 4" or so down the limb, and make sure that it is tapered properly.  Then I bend it on floor and ensure that both limbs are bending the same, and make sure it's not too thick. I grab one of my finished bows that's similar in weight to compare limb strength to see if I'm close.  
I guess the experienced guys skip the caliper step and they know if it's too thick by floor tillering, but it works for me.

[Pat B]

I don't use calipers but use my thumb and fingers to lightly feel the thickness along and across the limbs. I can feel differences that I can't see sometimes.
 Try to get the limbs bending evenly and together before glue up so they are bending evenly and together after. You should be able to pre-tiller the belly at least to brace height before glue up to insure everything lines up. If you glue a twist into the bow, it's twisted!
 For glue up I use a 2x4 as a base and clamp the handle to the middle of that, the fresh glue-up. Then lift the tips to rest on blocks. I use cut off 2x4 for this so it's not quite 4". The depth of the riser or thickness of the handle area will affect the amount of reflex. More is not necessarily better in this case. 3" to 4" is plenty to use. I also use big "C" clamps at the handle and small ones at the tips. I use bicycle tire tube band to wrap the limb as a clamp.

[ty_in_ND]

Originally posted by YosemiteSam:
I've got enough wood.  But it has me thinking...

Trust me, you'll never have enough wood.     :D

If your boards are straight and you don't mind a little waste, you can saw either your maple or hickory into 1/8" strips and then glue them back up into a bow.  You would be able to add some good reflex/deflex this way (or a recurve) without heat or steam.  I'm pretty sure that's one way the old time wood bows were made (like pre-fiberglass Hill and Pearson bows for example).  Plus, if you have any left over strips, you can save those and use them as backing strips.

[YosemiteSam]

Thanks for these ideas.  I ripped a bunch of strips from 3 of the boards.  Now I have enough backing strips for 9 bows plus some extra belly wood with the other boards.  And now I need some more belly wood to go with those backing strips.  As you said, Ty, never enough wood.