I know red cedar is very light but I also know it can be fragile.
How does it hold up as limb material compared to elm or bamboo under fiberglass? Will the glass and finish protect it or will it still be more delicate?
If a good piece of heartwood is used for the limbs how much more fragile is it really? Playing around with the idea of getting a bow with working red cedar limbs since that wood reminds me of home.
It will be fine between glass. Be very pretty too.
Red cedar is a great limb wood under glass. Makes light limbs, which make a fast bow. Not sure how cedar would work in a recurve or aggressive r/d hybrid longbow design, but it works great in Hill-style and mild reflex-deflex longbows.
Dave Johnson has been using red cedar (I believe exclusively) for the limb cores in his Hill-style longbows for decades, and they are great bows.
Do a search on here for cedar and you will see a bunch of really pretty bows, I have just been looking into this myself. I love the look.