How thick is your bow?

[juskatla]

  Hi. I am curious to find some actual examples of finished bow limb thicknesses to compare to.
   Right now I have roughed-out two flat bows, both 60 inches long, stiff handles. The Yew one is 1 and 3/4 inches wide - going straight to 3/4 wide tips. The Juniper recurve is 2 and 1/4 inches straight(ish) to 3/4 tips. I'm aiming for 50 pounds.
 That's what size I happen to be working on but really, any thickness measurements even of different size/weight bows out there would be very much appreciated.

[Del the cat]

Here are som figures.
Hazel primitive with flat limbs.
60.25" ntn 36# @ 28"  D cross section with flat belly.
4" from nock the limb is 20mm wide and 10.3 thick.
27" from nock the limb is 42mm wide 14.1mm thick.

'Twister' Yew bow
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,28324.msg376265.html#msg376265
Top limb 6" down from nock 24.6mm wide 13mm thick.
29" down from nock 43.4mm wide 15.9mm thick.
Hope this helps
Del

[DarkSoul]

A friend of mine is composing a library with all kinds of bows, including detailed measurements and statistics for each design and wood. Take a look in this library. There's many examples of great bows, with detailed width and thicknesses listed.

[PEARL DRUMS]

They are all within a 1/16" of each other. No matter the style, length or wood species.

[JonW]

I am curios to see what the replies will be on this topic. Rich tried to set up such a "library" of different bow styles and was shot to pieces by others because there would be too many "variences". I think mine would fall into the same description as what Pearl came up with.

[osage outlaw]

They are all within a 1/16" of each other. No matter the style, length or wood species.

That's why it is so easy to go from a 50# bow to a 30# bow if you don't pay attention while tillering. 

[juskatla]

Thanks to all for the help. I did do a lot of looking before I posted the question but didn't find much about bow thickness.  That's a really interesting statement from Pearl Drums. I am wending my way through that bowyers library as my primitive internet connection permits.

[UserNameTaken]

So, if you guys were to pick up a piece of wood, reguardless of species, what thickness would you reduce it to before you started thinking about tillering?

[gstoneberg]

The thickness where the bow limb started to flex as I ran the draw knife.

George

[Gordon]

So, if you guys were to pick up a piece of wood, reguardless of species, what thickness would you reduce it to before you started thinking about tillering?

I am afraid that question cannot be answered without considering the species of wood. And even within the same species there is signifiecant variation. That's why you floor tiller - when you feel the limbs start to give way, that's when you begin to get serious.

[okie64]

I usually draw taper lines on both sides of the limbs from 5/8" thick at the fades to 1/2" thick at the tips and then work the sides down to the lines, after that I start working down the crown thats left in the middle using the ring lines as a thickness guide. Length, weight, limb width and type of wood make a big difference on limb thickness.

[JonW]

Gordon you make exquisite bows so I am not challenging your skills.With that being said are you saying you would tell someone new to bow making that their roughed out bow should be two inches thick? I think probably not. IMO there is nothing wrong with giving a person a suggested starting limb thickness. 5/8" is a good start for any type of wood considered to be of bow making quality. Roughing out a bow is not rocket science. If it were I would have to find another hobby

[Gordon]

Jon, 5/8" might be ok with osage, but if you started there with a piece of yew, juniper or cascara, you would end up with a 20# bow. I am not saying always start out with 2" of thickness. What I am saying is that the thickness at which tillering begins is dependant on the species, variation between individual staves, and also the bow design. One simply cannot state a value that will work for all species (and designs) as the previous poster requested. It is just not possible.

[UserNameTaken]

They are all within a 1/16" of each other. No matter the style, length or wood species.

Okay, but if the above is true, then if follows that you could rapidly reduce any stave down to a certain dimension, which would be a great place to start if you were a fledgling bowyer. I don't have the experience to know if all bows end up within 1/16" of each other, but if it is true, then that's some pretty useful information for the beginner.

[UserNameTaken]

Another way to pose my question would be: what is the thickest bow that we have on record? Come up with that number, and you can tell any new bowyer to remove wood (without worry) down to that line.