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Hard maple

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kevinsmith5:
So my local wood supplier has just gotten in some 10" wide 8/4 northern hard maple. Looking at the straight grain along the side of one 8' board had me drooling. That one board would be $100. I'm thinking backing, cores, and maybe bellies (anyone ever done that?). Do you think it's worth it?

toomanyknots:

--- Quote from: kevinsmith5 on November 01, 2013, 06:12:52 pm ---So my local wood supplier has just gotten in some 10" wide 8/4 northern hard maple. Looking at the straight grain along the side of one 8' board had me drooling. That one board would be $100. I'm thinking backing, cores, and maybe bellies (anyone ever done that?). Do you think it's worth it?

--- End quote ---

I've had super good luck with hard maple as backings. Funny enough, I've had extremely bad luck using it as a belly wood. This is all lumber from a dealer. So I don't know the exact type of tree, just that is was hard maple.

kevinsmith5:
Looking at the edges I should be able to cut backing strips off the edges for several, inches with straight grain. Then i think id be into strips that would be for cores in trilams.

adb:

--- Quote from: toomanyknots on November 01, 2013, 10:58:37 pm ---
--- Quote from: kevinsmith5 on November 01, 2013, 06:12:52 pm ---So my local wood supplier has just gotten in some 10" wide 8/4 northern hard maple. Looking at the straight grain along the side of one 8' board had me drooling. That one board would be $100. I'm thinking backing, cores, and maybe bellies (anyone ever done that?). Do you think it's worth it?

--- End quote ---

I've had super good luck with hard maple as backings. Funny enough, I've had extremely bad luck using it as a belly wood. This is all lumber from a dealer. So I don't know the exact type of tree, just that is was hard maple.

--- End quote ---

+1

Cameroo:
The first lumber I bought for bow making was hard maple.  A board of almost those same dimensions and price.  If the grain looks straight down the side edges, go for it.  Once you rip that up, you will end up with some nice quatersawn lumber.  The stuff in the middle of the board is ideal for backing strips.

$1oo seems like a lot for a board like that, but you will likely get at least 6 or 8 bows from it, plus some prime backing strips.

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