Hickory backed hickory

[NBK]

Hi fellas,
I'm pretty new to bow-making and have made several "kid's" bows by chasing a ring/tillering etc. for practice.  I've got alot of hickory sawn into about 4x4x72" boards but the grain always gets violated somewhere along the length not allowing me to "chase a ring" for a full-sized bow.  My question is what's my best option to utilize this wood.  Should I saw it further and glue a backing onto it?  How thick should the backing be?  And I've heard of a Perry Reflex, are there any demos of this?  All replies are appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

[Roy from Pa]

I never heard of a Perry Reflex. Looking forward to info on that.

From what I understand, a flat sawn board bow does not have to have a single growth ring along the back of the bow. As long as the violations of the growth rings are pretty equal along the back of the bow and there is not more than 2 grain run outs along the side of the bow.

I am new to board bows, so maybe others will come in and clear things up for you.

[huntersteve]

You can get away with a couple run outs per limb...but if there's more than that then I always apply a backing...I usually cut my hickory backings at 1/8" thick....or you can use other types of backings such as silk,linen,leather.....Steve

[razorback]

Chack 4Est Trekkers thread "so you want to see a build along" thread to see a real good description of what you want the back of a board to look like. Valid for just about any board.

[NBK]

Thanks for the info.  Thats a great thread razorback.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Perry Reflex (named after Dan Perry) is when you glue your reflex into your bow using a form of some type.
It's what happens when you glue up a bow blank like building a fiberglass bow.
You are forcing the belly wood into tension and the backing strip into compression I would assume it works best on wood laminated bow like what you are doing or backed with boo which is the example given in the bowyers bible vol.3 Page 91-94.
The TBB describes it as a bow inside of a bow saying that the wood that is glued together is storing energy before the bow is brought to brace or even straightened and is working during draw and storing energy before the draw causing the bow to store more enegy overall when brought to full draw there by performing better due to storing more enegy.
Hope it makes sense.

[Pat B]

Dan Perry(Perry reflex) makes some of his world championship flight bows with hickory backed hickory. Makes a good combo.