use of dark woods, eg BL and Osage, in edge grain orientation

[snedeker]

It has been suggested that edge grain (quarter sawed), as in boards OR starves these aren't great for self bows. Osage is risky for breaks, and in general the wood's dynamics aren't great even if it holds together.  I have verified this with a couple silk backed specimens.  I'm not sure about BL, but note I've never seen an edge grained BL selfbow and plan to stay clear of the concept. 

What about with hard backing though?  I did a boo backed edgegrained BL board a couple years ago, and it might be a touch more sluggish than plane swan.

What's the concensus?

Dave

[Pat B]

Dave, I prefer edge grain or biased grain for backed bows. Hickory makes an excellent backing for osage. Something less strong like maple or elm should be good for locust although hickory would work too.

[snedeker]

I'm not referring to the concept of edge grained backing Pat, I am talking about the core/slat/belly or what have you.  The part that gets backed

Dave

[knightd]

I prefer to use a edge grain core when backing with boo or hickory and such..

[Pat B]

Dave I meant the belly slat being edge or bias grained. That's how I like backing strips too.

[adb]

When I'm making a backed osage bow, I prefer quarter sawn boards. Also, quarter sawn backing strips, in either maple or hickory, are my choice.

[Ryano]

Dave, I've done quite a few hickory backed osage and locust with all sorts of grain configurations and I really don't see much difference. That said, I prefer quarter sawn or plain sawn with osage because of the pin knots. You don't want to get a pin knot running across the limb on the belly side or you'll have trouble....