Here's a dumb question.....

[Easternarcher]

I worked up the components for a boo backed hickory today. Now maybe it's the boo I have but it seems that in order to flatten the boo down to 1/8" or so, that the width was maybe 1 1/8" wide. Any wider and the boo would be too thick at the crown.  This is actually my first time working this batch of boo, so maybe the raw boo was smaller diameter than needed. Good thing this is gonna be a lighter weight bow.

Am I missing something here?

[Pat B]

A properly designed boo backed bow is not much over that width. The bigger the boo of course the wider the backing strip but usually not much over that.
  I personally think hickory is not a good candidate for a boo backing and a hickory bow (IMO)should be wider than 1 1/8" . One thing you can do to improve the combo is to trap the bow towards the belly. This will give you more belly to spread the compression stresses over a wider surface. In trapping the bow you will want the cross section to have a wider belly than the back.

[Easternarcher]

A properly designed boo backed bow is not much over that width. The bigger the boo of course the wider the backing strip but usually not much over that.
  I personally think hickory is not a good candidate for a boo backing and a hickory bow (IMO)should be wider than 1 1/8" . One thing you can do to improve the combo is to trap the bow towards the belly. This will give you more belly to spread the compression stresses over a wider surface. In trapping the bow you will want the cross section to have a wider belly than the back.

Thanks Pat. I thought I was doing something wrong (other than hickory too narrow) but that's all I have right now anyways.  I always though hickory made a good combo with boo backing? You see alot of bows like that, but liekly wider than 1 1/8"

[Pat B]

Hickory is very strong in tension but not very strong in compression. For a boo backed bow I prefer compression strong woods like osage or ipe. Hickory is relative cheap and usually straight grained so it is easy to make a glue up and can be produced relatively cheaply. I have seen a few good boo backed hickories but in my opinion it isn't a good candidate for boo backing.

[Easternarcher]

Well I'll be jiggered!
It aint too late luckily...I got some IPE I was saving. How about a Hick backed Hick???

[radius]

hickory backing hickory works great:  you can bend it into a cool shape you like, and the woods work together perfectly.

[Pat B]

Hickory backed hickory is an excellent combo but being an Eastern Archer humidity is a concern. I like hickory for bows and prefer it as a backing over boo but in our wet climates it should be stored in a hot box on a house with a/c when not in use.

[Easternarcher]

Hickory backed hickory is an excellent combo but being an Eastern Archer humidity is a concern. I like hickory for bows and prefer it as a backing over boo but in our wet climates it should be stored in a hot box on a house with a/c when not in use.

Cool that you picked that up Pat. Well, all my parts are currently cooking in the box, just to dry off the moisture. Well hBH is doable for sure. Lucky I ripped out a couple of extra slats first. We'll see what happens. Thanks