So I have a Pine Hollow hickory backed ERC kit here that I'm interested in working on over the winter. However, I've read in multiple places that the hickory will need to be thinned a lot, to less than half the stated thickness (@ 3/16 in.) That seems wasteful to me, is there some way to cut it in half or something so as to not waste it? Waste not want not, and I'm not confident in how I would do it, so should I be seeking out a table saw, band saw, what?
If it was a full 1/4 inch mabe re sawing on a bandsaw that is well tuned.
Table saw probably too much kerf.
If you resaw on a band saw you will probably have 1/16 if lucky.
Table saw may grab it and bust it.
IMO thinning it is not really going to do very much in terms of preventing it from overpowering the belly. Reducing the thickness by 50% might reduce the overpowering effect by 10%. This is because the outer 10% of the limb just below the surface of the wood does most of the work, so you' ahve to be getting it dangerously, stupidly thin to make much difference. I believe this approach is one of the great misconceptions of bow building. That's just one man's opinion so feel free to take it with a grain of salt... but it's an opinion informed by a knowledge of mechanics. I believe the traditional bowyers bible also supports this approach.
The proper way to do it IMO is to trap the back. In other words make the back more narrow than the belly. If you reduce the width of the back by 25%, you will reduce the overpowering effects of the hickory by 25%, 30% will give you 30% etc.
I might consider trapping it so that the back is 25% more narrow than the belly. So if your belly is 2" wide at the fades tapering to 1/2" tips, start with the backing 1.5" wide at the fades and taper to 3/8" wide at the tips.
Hope this made sense.