Pyramid bow design question

[Stingray45]

Hey guys,

Got a quick question about bow design. I really like the pyramid style bow design so that's what I typically do. I just finished up a pretty nice Ash bow, pyramid style, 64" ntn, draws 42#@27". It's 2" at the fades and goes down to 1/2" nocks. Nice and smooth, good shooter. I'll be posting it up on here as soon as I finish the bottom limb tip overlay.

My question is about a different design I want to try. Found an excellent board at Home Depot of all places. Looks to be a perfectly quartersawn maple board. Grain runs straight and the full length on all 4 sides, (actually found a 6' board and a 12' board so I took both, giving me 3 staves to work). The bow is going to be 66" ttt and right now it is 3/4" thick and 2-1/2" wide. I'm thinking of having a 5" handle that is 1-1/2" wide that tapers out to 2-1/2" fades that then taper down to 1/4" nocks. How thick should I leave the limbs? Typically with the other bow I mentioned, on that design I tapered it from 3/8" thick at the nocks out to 5/8" thick at the handle and then tillered it from there. I'm thinking with the wider fades it needs to be thinner but how much. After reading TBBIII it also seems like it needs to be pretty much a uniform limb thickness through the majority of the limb. So should I take it down to about 1/2" thick for the inner 2/3rds of the limb and then taper it down to 3/8" at the tips. Any recommendations are appreciated. I'm trying to end up right around 50#@27". Thanks.
~Barry

[RyanY]

With nocks that narrow I'd keep it at least 1/2" thick at the tips. I think a 1/2" thick should be good for the whole length but maybe add some thickness so you have plenty to work with.

[ionicmuffin]

since you have not need to reduce thickness i would make them 3/4 thick, then as you go you can thin them according to what the bow dictates, if there is plenty of room to work with then you can reduce it quite a bit. Just my thoughts(i do this with all my board bows, 3/4 until im ready to start shooting.)

[bubby]

on my maple pyramid's i generally start just under 1/2" the length of the limb, but i dont make my fades that wide, generally 1 3/4" @ fades, 50# shouldn't be a problem, why such a wide handle though, be carefull with those tips leave them alittle stiffthe last 12"

[Stingray45]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Bubby, no reason in particular just wanted to try something different out. I typically do about 2" so I figured I would give this a shot. I was going to go with just a 1" handle but then when I laid it out on the board I thought it looked a little thin. Would it be better to narrow it from 1.5" to 1"? I think 1" is about what I usually do.

Barry

[bubby]

go ahead and go with what ya got, you can take wood off, but ya cant put it back, Bub