Hey all,
Looking for input on this idea. I've got a stack of white oak boards from a tree we felled in the pasture years ago. I am wondering how they would do as backing strips on bubinga. I am making one hickory backed bubinga, but have so much white oak I was wondering if you all think it would work well on the other bubinga bows.
Just finished a hickory longbow with bubinga handle and tip overlays, will post some pics when I get a chance.
Guess I should have searched before asking. I see that white oak is considered good, and should be worth a try for me. If the grain is good enough on some of the boards maybe I can make a few white oak bows too.
They've been in our hayloft for about 10 years, and I used part of one for a lamp base for a lamp my wife bought, its some heavy, dense wood.
Gotta clean off the pigeon $#!+ off of 'em first though...
First thing I would do is shoot the pigeons. Then wear a resperator and gloves cleaning it up.
Haha funny you mention it, I just shot one this afternoon, there have been two of them up there, the other flew out and hopefully won't be back. Bunch of swallows up there too, tough to keep the birds out of there.
I think some of the boards are bur oak, but there may be 10 - 15 1x8 10 foot boards up there, some of them white oak, all unplaned, so its more difficult to read the grain. Hopefully there's at least one good board in the bunch.
I recently had a failure with white oak, but I used a really thin backing strip (1/16") which was stupid.
I'd say you're fine but I'd probably go for 1/8" to 3/16" in thickness. Especially since bubinga is pretty dense, that will ensure your backing is strong and also should lower limb mass, I think white oak is less dense than bubinga.