Board bow wood selection input needed

[toymaker]

I'm starting to get a little wood selection now!! I'm thinking about building my wife a bow. She hasn't shot since she was s kid. I though it would be fun to go to the range as a family , so she needs a bow! I'm trying to save the best for my bow not to be greedy but I will have a much higher draw weight and stress the wood more. With that said Here are the wood choices I have... I have Hickory in both backing strips and belly stock. I also have White Oak in backing strips. i also have a bunch of Ash which I've made two bows out of already. I'm thinking of making a English Longbow. I'd like it narrower than a flatbow. She would be happy with a 30lb draw weight and a length of about 64". So what types of wood combo should I choose? What width should I make it? I know the tillering creates the thickness and the width stays about the same throughout the tillering process. Where should I start? The bow the I blew up was narrower but it was an Ash backed Ash bow with, I think, a glue failure. I'm just looking for a little guidance!
Thanks,
Gary

[Ifrit617]

Hey toymaker...

I just mde my mom a bow.... It is a 64" long selfbow and was made out of a red oak board although any of the woods that you mentioned would work. The bow pulls about 25# at 27"... The bow was made from a 1x2 board with okay grain but with low weights almost any board will work..( within reason) .. Here are the stats..

64" long d-bow with a semi-stiff handle section ( pyramid front view profile)
1.5 inch at the fades tapering straight to 1/2 inch tips...
Limbs are about 3/8 of an inch thick but they started at 1/2 inch thick before tillering.. ( handle is 5/8 inch thick)

The bow tillered very easily with only 3 trips to the tillerin tree:)  it's very sweet shooting and the outer limbs are extremely light so it is vet fast for 25#... And accurate.

I'm going to probably post pics this weekend so you can se what I'm talking about:)

Jon

[Ifrit617]

O yeah.. I almost forgot.. The bow took almost no set.. Only about 1/2 an inch or so.

[bubby]

you can probablly take 2 hickory backing strips and 1 white oak backing strip in the middle, glue it up pyramid 1" 1/2" wide down to 3/8 tips  and be real close to 30#, Bub

[toymaker]

i think I want to try a ELB style. Does Hickory or White oak work for a backing on Ash in an ELB?

[Ifrit617]

It would work... Except you would have to hav a really thin bow for that light of a weight... Especially if the bow is only 64" long.. Therefore unless you use light woods, the bow probably won't have that much of the d bellied longbow shape.. (5/8 rule).. It would have more of a flatbow shape, but would take more work thAn a pyramid type bend through the handle bow.. But If you really want a long bow, GO FOR IT! see how it turns out... I'd be very interested to know. Good luck.

Ifrit

[Michael C.]

Do you know what type of ash it is and is that 64" nock to nock or tip to tip? I would think that the hickory or oak backing would overpower most ash species and you would end up with a wife who is scared to touch a bow again I tend to treat making a bow for a lady the same as I would a kid in the respect that you don't want to use a weaker wood just to make sure they don't get hurt or scared away from shooting.

[toymaker]

Thanks for the input!