I happen to love the antelope rawhide I have been getting from Michael Foltmer, one of the advertisers in Primitive Archer Magazine. It's ultra-strong, super-thin....and it sure as all billy-heck doesn't slow down the antelope that wears it! His price for a full antelope hide is less than what it costs for two sets of pre-cut backing strips from most suppliers. And you can back at least 6 flatbows with a single hide.
It's about as thin as the cardstock an a good quality business card. I had a quarter inch wide strip lying on my workbench when a local "expert" showed up. He was asking me about the backing job I was doing. He then proceeded to tell me that antelope was too weak and that I should be using buffalo because that is what the native people used. Yeah. Right. And then they used belt sanders to thin it down, too, right? He picked upthat stip lying on the bench and reiterated, "too weak". So I told him to break it. He wrapped it around a finger on each hand and proceeded to pull. No stretch, didn't break. Before I could warn him, he proceeded to give it a hearty snapping jerk. On the right hand it cut all the way thru the skin, ligaments, tendons, etc to the bone. On the other hand it sliced deep into the first joint on his pinky. I had to drive him to the emergency room since he was leaking bright red hydraulic fluid all over my nice clean wood shavings. Funny, but he never came back to the shop.
