Do they always have to match?

[V I Archer]

Looking at all the stunning bows folks are posting pictures of a thought occurred to me.  Do back and belly veneers always match?  Would it be a sin against the bowyer code to put yew on the belly and bacote on the back?  Does anyone do this or am I way off he mark?

[dhermon85]

Don't see why you couldn't. Have seen bows with nice veneer back and glass belly or vise versa. Wonder if anyone has pics of "mismatched" veneers?

[Alexander Traditional]

I've thought about this also,but never wanted to ask.

[ron w]

I have a bow that black glass on the front and gray on the belly. I have seen mixed lams before and they can be really nice if some thought is put into it. Plus if you are having a bow built to your specs you can do anything you want.....your paying!!

[Steve Jr]

Yes, a lot of guy's do it I had a Fedora extreme long bow with bacote on the back and zebra on the belly. It was a beauty of a bow but it didn't agree with how I shot it. So I sold it, I wouldn't be  afraid to ask a bowyer if they would do it. It is pretty cool looking.

Steve

[Florida lime]

I can think of several bows that come with a different back and belly. I've seen it done for looks, and for capitalizing on the different properties of the wood.
I've seen a few Leon Stewart longbows with a yew back and an osage belly, as an example.

[Matty]

I've owned MANY bows with un matching back and belly lams.
The bottom line for most people ...is ....well the bottom line.  '$$$$
Veneers =$$ and some are more than others. I don't think Bowyers care what you ask them to make.  I think it's kinda cool to have different backs and bellies

I've seen lots of bows with one thing on the belly and a different thing on the back. I have a Stalker longbow that is like that and it looks awesome.

Bisch

[nineworlds9]

Totally fine.  And fairly common.  I had a Dwyer that was a tamo ash belly and waterfall maple back.  I currently own a Stewart Slammer 3pc with a curly maple belly and olive ash burl back.  My 62" Centaur is black carbon belly and snakeskin back.  Come to think of it, more than half my bows are different belly vs back.  LOL.

[KenH]

Just finishing up a bendy-handle flatbow, my first excursion into clear glass as well.  The back is a beautiful straight grain pine (of all things) and the belly (so I can look at it) is a swirly grain Red Elm lam.  Looks pretty neat, IMHO.

[YORNOC]

I have them built all the time this way. I usually skin my own bows with different snakes, so I have whatever wood that brings out snake colors put on the backs, and some cool exotic wood on the bellies.

It's your bow, you can do pretty much whatever you want!

[Troy D. Breeding]

For several years I build all my bow with fancy back veneers and left whatever the core material was on the belly side.

Do what you like. They all look good to me.

[Jack Hoyt 75]

It's fine and I would say pretty common. Most of the higher end custom bowyers offer different lams on back and belly.  I prefer the darker veneer on the back and a light wood with Burl or Curley on the belly.  I think it's a high end look.

Your bow, do whatever you like!

[Sam McMichael]

A while back, somebody told of an idea that he had but did not follow through on that would have included juniper on the back and yew on the belly. That would be beautiful in my opinion. In my mind I can see a NM Shelton done this way.

I would like to see pics of varying wood combinations.

[TOEJAMMER]

I have a few Cascades with different lams back and belly and a Robertson Purist with bacote on the back and the bamboo core wood on the belly.  Also a number of bows with black glass on the back and clear on the belly. It isn't that unusual.l

[FerretWYO]

My Stalkerhas walnut on the belly and coco on the back.

[damascusdave]

If you look at my 64 inch 1959 and 1960 Kodiak thread in Trad History and Collecting you will see that different back and belly color has appeared on many production bows...the picture of the 1960 with reversed glass is very interesting since those bows featured brown glass on the back and orange on the belly...of course the new Kodiak also features that combination

DDave

[Doc Nock]

Kirk @ Bigfoot, and others have told me that, black glass is a wee bit snappier.  

I left it to Kirk but he ground my lams really thin to save weight and I have a waterfall bubinga I beam in my Bocote riser...

So...     I got bocote veneers on the back and bubinga on the face of the limbs.  I had to go up in spine to harness the energy in his XX carbons with those veneers, so I guess it didn't hurt nuttin!

 

 

 

[coldwinterlake]

Zebrano on the front side and macassar ebony on the back side

[mike g]

My Big 5 has Black back and Brown belly....
    Craig told me it was the first one with that combo....
    On a Hill style which combo would be best.
Would Yew on the back, Osage belly, Bamboo core..?