Cuban degame ( lemonwood) as a backing?

[Badger]

   Does anyone know if any longbows have been built with Degame as a backing. I only have enough for 1 backing and if it probably won't work I don't want to waste it. Grain is not all that straight and does have violations. I have heard they don't worry about violations on degame but I am not convinced.

[PatM]

It wasn't violations but general growth ring orientation that didn't matter with lemonwood.
 Many Lemonwood bows ended up backed with some form of backing for insurance.
 I certainly wouldn't use any wood with violated grain for a backing.

[adb]

Use it as core wood for a tri-lam.

[Badger]

  I went ahead and glued it up to an unknown tropical wood with the lemonwood back. The tropical wood didn't have any tendency to chrysal like so many do and was relatively light at about 70 sg. I got it out to about 24" draw and my splice let go, This was the first time I tried a working handle using tightbond, the splice looked good so I am assuming the tightbond is not good for a flexable joint. My lemonwood was a lot straighter than I first thought it was once I cleaned it up, nice straight edge grain. Going to try again with cherry, no splice this time.

[mullet]

I would use it as a Belly wood, tho may be wrong.

[Badger]

 Eddie, I did the first bow as a bellywood and it seems a tad weak in compression. It made a nice bow but no barn burner. I backed it with hickory.

[mikekeswick]

I've also found lemonwood to be a little poor in compression. A lot of elb's are made with it as the bellywood here in the UK but I personally don't really rate it. If they want something yellow then it's pau amerillo for me 
I've seen a few old lemonwood backed lemonwood bows. The backings have all been about an 1/8th thick. I can't think of the maker's name now though....

[Aussie Yeoman]

Badger, did you ever back another bow with Lemonwood?

Here in Australia, there is reportedly a vendor that will be selling lemonwood boards 1 /34 by 5 inches for $23 per meter (about 40 inches).

I'd be interested to hear of your experiments in backing with it.

Dave

[duke3192]

I've recycled a couple of old lemonwood bows that I got off ebay, I cleaned them up and backed them with bamboo and they came out real nice. A 65"ntn Hill style American longbow @48#'s @28", and a youth bow 52"ntn, 30#'s @20". I don't know about what you can get now, but the old stuff is very tight grained and imo is better than hickory as a belly wood.

[Aussie Yeoman]

I knew it was good for a belly material, I was wondering how it worked out as a backing material. Certainly not as good as Hickory or bamboo of course, but perhaps to back some of the lighter woods with suspect grain.

[duke3192]

Please try it and post your results. We can't get it here in the States because of the Cuban embargo.

[Badger]

  Compared to osage or hickory I was not too impressed with degame. I still have a good sized piece and may eventually try it on something.