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Osage in the NE?

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swotavator:
Haven't pulled a really heavy one, but I can deadlift 340x5 soon hoping it won't be too much of an issue by the time I get there.

swotavator:
But that being said, it looks like ipe and bamboo are the winners.

mikekeswick:
A heavier bow is a light one scaled up. Wood has a max strain that it can take. A well made 40lb bow will feel the same strain that a well made 140# bow will. There is just more wood to spread the load over.
Hickory and boo are both equally good backings with a bit different properties but both will work. If hickory backings fail then the grain wasn't straight enough.
I don't know why Will thinks making bows from hick/ipe is vastly different to other woods? Sure different woods have different properties but the process of making a bow is the same regardless of wood type. What will be different is the shape and dimensions of the finished bow.
Try any and all combos you can get hold off whilst learning the basics! You learn through making mistakes then gaining experience. The failures teach you much more.

WillS:
I was thinking mainly of the difference between a 120lb boo/ipe bow, which will be very narrow and physically small in the hand, and a 160lb American yew self bow, which would be exactly the opposite.  If you were to cut your teeth on the boo/ipe without a whole heap of experience with self yew bows, it's almost a guarantee that the yew bow would be made incorrectly. 

Although, I'm pretty sure if you made an 80lb Osage bow, and just "scaled it up" when making a boo/ipe bow, you'd be looking at a genuine miracle if it came out at 120 ;)

willie:

--- Quote ---you'd be looking at a genuine miracle
--- End quote ---

I suppose that it is all in the scaling.

Not to sidetrack the OP about sourcing materiel's, but does anyone have good recommendations for how to scale up properly?

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