Hey Guy's,Know that I'm hooked on bow building I'm wondering if there is a sort of list as to this wood works well as a backer for this type of core or belly wood? short of just experience(witch I'm short on) You guy's have been GREAT answering my questions but I don't want to become a pain in the you know what   .. Burt

Hard maple or red elm works good, but it has to be 1/4 sawn, rift sawn at the very least.

Too many combos to list, and all are personal preference, not *your* favorite.  Look at Primitive Archer and Paleoplanet.  Both have lists of compatible woods.  TBB also has a list.

Hickory added to Roy's list.

DUH, how did I forget that?  

Thank-you**** Burt

I haven't used them, but I've heard of guys using ash and white oak, also.  Like Roy sez, straight grained quarter or rift sawn are your best bet.

You can make an easy form to put reflex in while glueing your backer on out of a six foot 2" X  4".  I copied Roy's nice tri-lam form, but made mine cruder and uglier   :rolleyes:   and omitted the center post.  I prop a block of wood in the center depending on how much reflex I want.  I like 3" of reflex to start and expect to lose an inch or more of it after the bow is shot in.  

I've seen red cedar mentioned and I have quite a bit of it. Seems a soft wood for bow material, how are you all using it in your bows?

The last bow I made was eastern red cedar with a red elm backer.  It is very soft and light, but evidently pretty elastic and pretty decent in compression.  I found a nice board; almost all heartwood and no knots in the slat I cut from it.  I made it 1 3/4" wide and 68" long for a 45# bow and glued in 3" of reflex.  It holds 2 1/4" of reflex at rest and is my lightest bow at 14 1/2 ounces.
The wood itself is just beautiful.  Hope to find another good board and make another one sometime.
On top of that, it smells really good, too.  

Backing strips do not need to be rift or quarter sawn. It makes no difference. Straight grain is straight grain and that's all that matters. Straight grain, straight grain, straight grain.    
A split stave isn't quarter sawn now is it!

Believe me, I'd love to find a face sawn board that follows one unbroken ring, but if I did I wouldn't rip it for a backer.  I'd make an  unbacked bow with it.  Almost all of the ones I find are rift sawn and I usually go through the whole inventory to find just one that has acceptable straight grain.