A good friend of mine is building a house right now and he is putting down some IPE flooring.  He purchased about 200 sq ft more than he needed and it was super cheap.  In all that he bought there are several pieces that are about 72" long. All this is about 5/16 thick. Well he gave me a bunch of it. After I ran it through the planner to get the groves off the back and sanded the gloss finish off it is just over 1/4" thick. My question..... is this stuff good for building bows? I have some pieces of osage about the same thickness and was wondering if i could laminate them and back them with osage and come out okay?  Could I laminate 2 pieces of the IPE together and back it with bamboo?  And if I join ipe and osage  which needs to be in the middle?  I realize that I would probably be better off to use one thicker board to make a bamboo backed bow but I dont want this stuff to go to waste.
Thanks

Ipe, osage and bamboo backing maybe for a selfbow? I think it would look neat. Either way I would back it with something. It depends, I think on what you are looking to arrive at, a hunting weight bow or a plinker?

I have three narrow 3/4 inch thick staves and am also trying to figure out what to do with them (72 inchers also). I will probably hickory back them and build up the handle section with Osage.

Have you thought of makind a glassed backed bow with Ipe?

You could send it to me, I will test it and tell you if it works  :D  
I would glue 2 pieces of ipe together and back it with bamboo.

Since you have thin stuff and a planner I would Boo back, Ipe core & osage belly trilam

I did it with osage belly, walnut core and hickory backing. Thin stirps, so the handle was built up with ash and a sasafrass backing overlay. This made the h andle or riser area thicker and nice fitting to your hand.




Sounds like you got lucky with the free ipe, good luck!

Osage, That is exactly what I'm talking about. I love it. Would you care to share info on the thickness I should start with on the lams. Also how did you get that profile?  Thanks alot.

BRIAN IV  DONE IT  SEVERAL TIMES THE FASTEST BOWS IV EVER BULIT ARE OSAGE IPE I LIKE TO BACK THE IPE WITH OSAGE  MAKE UR HANDELS WITH WHATEVER FITS UR FANCY  BROCK

Sure Brian, I'll give you a brief overview on how this bow came to be.

I started with a 2 X 12 pine board and a leaf spring from a 1953 Willy's pick-up truck. Used the leaf spring for a pattern of sorts and drew out my profile lines on the 2 X 12 board.
Cut out the lines with a band saw.
   

Then I drilled me some holes for c-clamps to clamp it to my bench.
   

Drilled some more holes for my straping and bolts.
   

Bought me some fire hose and and air up kit from an auction site or Binghams??
   

1/8" Osage - 2" hickory backing - 1/4" walnut board (Ipe in your case) - 2" x 1" x 12" ash riser block - scrap sassafrass for overlays
   

Took me awhile to figure out the sandwiched riser but I eventualy did somehow?? Once the riser design was a go, I finished all the surfaces for smooth glue lines. Used Titebond II and allied it to all surfaces. Used a hacksaw blade to tooth the glueing surfaces! Dont forget that part!
Slide everything in the form, tightened it all up and shot 60lbs of air into the fire hose and let the glue cure for a couple days.
In tillering it out I was careful to not go throught the 1/8" osage belly. I did at one point tiller from the back but only slighlty where needed. The osage belly ended up being close to 1/16" once completed.
This bow ended up in the mid 40#'s but shoots very well and very fast for the weight. I still shoot it from time to time.
Finished it off with the sassafrass overlays and a 3 color stain method that kinda resembles a curly maple.
 


Tip of another tri lam I did. They are a lot of fun but, I still like the selfbows best!
   

Thanks for asking and keep us posted on your endevor!!!!

Beautiful work Osage!!!
That bow is a knockout.  

Beautiful work on that bow!!! ... I am specifically impressed with the Stain job you have done - I am looking for something along those lines for a BBI bow I have finished, that is in serious need of a good finish!!

I would guess the method involves applying the darkest stain first, then somehow sanding it down a little to obtain the pattern, before applying the lighter stain? (On the other hand, the idéa of sanding away at the Boo Backing, after the grind has been removed ...      )

Just fishing around hoping for some more "advanced" technique for working with Stains and Bamboo Backings I guess      ...