Fade help

[Dances with squirrels]

And this one is 9" since this bow is considerably shorter.

[SLIMBOB]

If in fact your fades are 2 inches, then that looks good.   I like it.   If your fades are 3 1/2 inches and the last pencil mark on the right is the end of the fade, then you may be thin and narrow in the middle of the fade.

[George Tsoukalas]

I do a 4 inch handle and 1.5 to 2 in fades depending on the length of the stave for my 26" draw. The center of the bow is the center of the 4 in handle. My bows end up around 64" ntn usually. Both limbs the same size. I like being able to turn the bow around if need be for tuning.

I used to do an offset handle with the handle 1 inch above center for the upper limb and 3 inches below center for the lower limb. Bottom fade about an inch and top one 2.5". Both limbs the same size but the bow can't be turned around. You have to decide early on which is the upper limb.

Here's a discussion of handles.
http://traditionalarchery101.com/handlestyles.html
Jawge

[SLIMBOB]

Here's the pic you asked for.  The handle ends and the fade begins at about the edge of the leather.  The fade ends and the limb begins at about where you see the shiny spot.  Note that where the limb transitions to the fade, the width begins to narrow, and there is a corresponding increase in thickness.  If these 2 things are out of ballance you can end up with a narrow thin section which is no bueno.

[bow101]

Good topic.  I find that if the fades are to abrupt like on the short side I end up with problems., placing to much stress in that area.   But then again I'm building lam bows totally different animals.  What I usually end up doing is gluing on a lam on the back side longer than the handle fade area.  This does work but then again you can end up with the bow taking more set in mid limb area.   Your bow is 69" NTN not to worry in my opinion. 

[scp]

As I only shoot at targets, I prefer long bows. That means my handle area can be as long as 16 inches. Recently, I usually make them about 12 inches. That means my fades are about 4 inches each. They work fine as stabilizers. The longer the better. Even for hunting bows, I like the way it looks in a bow with 3 inch fades. I keep on asking myself why just 2 inches unless you want to make your bow rather short. Keep it long and accurate!