I just picked up a rift sawn hard maple board that has some birds eye to it.  Grain looks very straight and clear.  I'm thinking about backing a red elm board with it.  Anyone ever use it for backing?

Pine Hollow Longbows sells maple for backing, though I don't know how it's sawn nor the pattern.  I do think flame would be a tough backing, but I have no idea about birdseye.  Should be a real looker, though.  Would love to build a maple backed bow myself-got some ERC that would pop with a piece.

Birds eyes are swirls in the grain around a knot and not strong in tension because of the violations. It should work fine for belly slats but not backings.

Thanks for the input and advice guys.  Guess I'll go with old reliable hickory and save the birds eye for the belly wood on another one.    

flame, curly, or other figured wood is a very abd choice for backing. The figure comes from the grain being wavy, and not straight. The thign that actually cause the figure is that you're cutting through the wood fibers at varying angles ... bad news for a backing. Would be ok for belly lam, but still not optimal.

And I just learned something too.  I see a lot of laminated bows with the stuff, I just didn't know the rules here were different.  Good to know before I messed up my stave.

Glass bows have glass backing holding the figured wood together.

I once built a bow with curly maple on the belly. You've never seen so many frets in a bow. It fretted between the curls.... probably two dozen of them or so. It was pretty awesome :^)

I'll never again use/waste it on a bow without glass.

I ahd the same experience as bowjunkie.... I like at that massive piece of curly maple thats now shaped down into a "bow" ... really a wall hanger and I think about how many limb veneers and riser accents are in there ...