Yew "look a like" combo?

[kevinsmith5]

In working on a hickory backed ipe longbow it occurred to me that the sanded but unfinished stave superficially resembled a yew stave. The ipe I'm using is relatively light in color so right now it's more reddish than brown, though I know from experience it's going to get much darker when I put pretty much any finish on. But it has me thinking....I have to make a bunch of ELB's for some SCA combat reenactors and was wondering if anyone had a combo that would look like yew when finished? I thought about Osage heart wood, but cost wise that would be prohibitive. Plus they are limited to 35 lb draws at 28" and I think making one like that of hickory backed Osage might well look like a very long shish-kabob skewer....

[Cardboard_Duck]

Maybe hickory backed ERC?

[Pat B]

Mulberry with a few sapwood rings left on.

[autologus]

How about yellow pine with a poplar backing.   

Grady

[blackhawk]

At that low of a weight I might just use a one piece of hickory or red oak board and dye it to make it a "look a like"...those cheesy reanactors won't know the difference frolicking around in there man tights 

[kevinsmith5]

I was a little surprised to hear that all their rules say is "35 lbs"....I mean the first bow I made for one of them was a reflex deflex hickory backed ipe and speed wise it was pretty darn fast for its draw weight. You'd think they'd have more specific rules covering speed as a opposed to draw if they're gonna shoot them AT EACH OTHER....

[kevinsmith5]

How about yellow pine with a poplar backing.   

Grady

I think it might need to be a bit more "shootable" than that....

[PatM]

Maple/Cherry

[AH]

hickory or maple backed jatoba? maybe the jatoba is a bit too red...
I'm thinking about making a maple backed jatoba war bow.

[autologus]

How about yellow pine with a poplar backing.   

Grady

I think it might need to be a bit more "shootable" than that....

So explosions on the battlefield are frowned upon huh?

Grady

[kevinsmith5]

How about yellow pine with a poplar backing.   

Grady

I think it might need to be a bit more "shootable" than that....

So explosions on the battlefield are frowned upon huh?


Grady

I'm assuming so, yes.

[Jmilbrandt]

I really like juniper heartwood backed with hickory. Although the difficulty of finding good juniper would probably stop you from making enough for a reenactment.

[kevinsmith5]

Juniper would be hard here on the east coast. So far ERC seems most likely. I think they need a total of six bows for their group....it may be more eventually so I would want to go with a combo I'd be sure of being able to get access to more of. Maybe dying the belly of a hickory backed hickory is the route I'll have to go.

[The Gopher]

ERC is Juniper

[Jmilbrandt]

Yes it is, but not the juniper i was referring to I should have been more specific. I'm not sure the purple in erc would be a good substitute for yew. I was thinking a more like the one seed I use with dark orangish brown heartwood.