ORIGINAL: burniegoeasily

Ash will work. Idont likethe stuff. Its real brittle. Ive made bows with it that were ok. Putting it underglass would insure it doesnt break. You dont have to buy prepregged glass, just use the glass cloth and set it on the to back of the bow with some two part epoxy. No need for a heat box, just let it cure completely. Might take two or three days. You can also cure it by putting it in a car and leave it parked in the sun for a few hours. As far as laming it and reversing your grains. Ive done that. But you dont have to cut a lot of lams, Just cut a 1/8" off the back of the board and flip it over and glue it back. That way the grains cross. But if you have lots of violations, ash will need to be tillered pretty well to survive. That is for a decently heavy bow. Red oak or white oak would be a much easier first wood to work with. But if you want to use the ash, no need to get all fancy with a backing, use something like drywall tape and titebond III. Or linen and titebond, silk, or even a brown papper bag. They all will work, plus a whole lot of other things, as well. The drywall tape would be the best of the bunch I mentioned. You will surely want to back a bad piece of ash, if you chose to use it.

There are tuns of ways to skin that cat. All depends on how you want to do with it.