Maple Board Bow Questions

[DisloyalMachete]

So, I bought a 1x4 Maple board today, and I was hoping I could get some feedback on if this would work well for a bow. Board selection has been my main problem at this point, so I wanted to make sure I'm on the right track. It has a mix of heartwood and sapwood, mostly heartwood. I know sapwood is good, but is maple heartwood alright to use for a bow? Could I use a mix of sapwood and heartwood? Should I back it? I would prefer not to back it, but I would like to do everything I can to avoid it breaking regardless. I found some conflicting information about maple heartwood for general woodworking projects online, but I couldn't find anyone who had used it for bows. I'm shooting for either a flatbow or pyramid bow that is around 40-45 pounds. If it's not ideal, I can stash this one for now and find another. I'm still new to this, so I want as many variables on my side as I can have.

[High-Desert]

From the pictures, it looks like a more than suitable board. Maple heartwood and sapwood will be just fine, or if you want to incorporate both. What sort of maple is it? Even with the worst kind of maple like Oregon maple, Acer macrophyllum, a pyramid design, 65"+ for a 28" draw at the poundage you want will be doable. Keep us updated with your progress and there will be plenty of guys on here to help.

[George Tsoukalas]

The board looks petty good.

A good foolproof design for th weight you want is to make a bend in the handle bow with no cut outs or handle pieces glued on.

You could follow the directions on my site for a red oak board but rip it to 1 3/8".

http://traditionalarchery101.com/boardbowbuildalong.html

Jawge

[bubby]

A pyramid would be best if you ask me. 2"wide at the fades 66" long. 4" handle with 2" fades. Glue a 9" piece on dead center. Profile 2" wide at the fades straight to 1/2" wide at the tips to start.start with the limbs 1/2" thick and tiller from there and you will make weight easy

[Badger]

A pyramid would be best if you ask me. 2"wide at the fades 66" long. 4" handle with 2" fades. Glue a 9" piece on dead center. Profile 2" wide at the fades straight to 1/2" wide at the tips to start.start with the limbs 1/2" thick and tiller from there and you will make weight easy

  I agree with this, I have made tons of male board bows, they make great bows.

[DisloyalMachete]

I'm glad to hear that the heartwood will work. I believe this is hard/sugar maple, but I'm not 100% sure. Since this is a 3.5 inch wide board - I think I will do a combination of the designs suggested. I will rip it at 1 3/8 for Jawge's design out of only the heartwood, which will leave me a little over two inches for a pyramid bow with a mix of heartwood and sapwood. I think that will look really interesting. I won't have access to a saw to rip this for a while, but I will update this when I make some serious progress. Thank you to everyone for the feedback!