Wood Bows in a Production Environment?

[Selfbowman]

Well put Hamish. good evening 107.77.219.88 Arvin

[txdm]

Great info, thanks hamish!

[PatM]

Wood bows could still just be churned out with good tiller and then grouped by weight according to how they turned out.  There isn't really a need to  overly plan the finished weight by analyzing  the wood properties beforehand     When the tiller is good, weight the bow and assign it to a group  and move on.

[RyanY]

Wood bows could still just be churned out with good tiller and then grouped by weight according to how they turned out.  There isn't really a need to  overly plan the finished weight by analyzing  the wood properties beforehand     When the tiller is good, weight the bow and assign it to a group  and move on.

Plenty of lower quality mass produced board bows are done this way. Use hickory for higher probability of survival with poor grain quality. The problem with those other than the grain is that the layouts are generally awful with poor tiller for the design.

[PatM]

Definitely today but in the past the skill level of workers was clearly much higher and timber selection better.  A lot of old Ben Pearson hickory bows  still look pretty good even if showing bad set from years of being left strung.

[RyanY]

Definitely. I come across them once in a while and am surprised how good they look. Some have a thin backing of some kind. Not sure if it’s fiberglass or what.

[Badger]

Wood bows could still just be churned out with good tiller and then grouped by weight according to how they turned out.  There isn't really a need to  overly plan the finished weight by analyzing  the wood properties beforehand     When the tiller is good, weight the bow and assign it to a group  and move on.

Plenty of lower quality mass produced board bows are done this way. Use hickory for higher probability of survival with poor grain quality. The problem with those other than the grain is that the layouts are generally awful with poor tiller for the design.

[PatM]

Definitely. I come across them once in a while and am surprised how good they look. Some have a thin backing of some kind. Not sure if it’s fiberglass or what.

   Often "fiber" backing which is essentially paper rawhide.

[Hamish]

Paper rawhide is a good analogy Pat.

You can still buy fiber. Vulcanised fiber/fibre is used in the electrical industries, also gaskets, and linings for knife handles.

Most of it is small sheets but it is available in rolls long enough to back a full length bow in one piece.
I haven't tried any yet. I definitely reckon it would would be worth a try.

Strong enough, yet not as strong as fibreglass which tends to cause more set if used on a wood bow that doesn't also have a glassed belly. Whatever the reason was, set or ease of manufacture this style of backing did not last long before ground and tapered laminations with a back and belly of fg took over.