How wide Hickory do I need?

[Razorbak]

Ok I was gifted a primo piece of hickory board by " D " aka David on this site and man is it a pretty piece and I want to do this piece justice..how wide do I need to go.. what Im looking for is a flatbow style with some reflex , in my mind I was thinking 8" riser/ and 1 1/4 to 1.5 deep at handle and at the fades tapering to  1 3/4 and heading out to the tips either 5/8" or 1/2" and looking at a 66" bow with a draw of 55 to 60# @ 26". now is this a good starting point and can the hickory handle it? I don't want to stress the wood as its to perfect of a board to mess up/ break because it wasn't wide enough   right now it is 72" long and 2.25" wide and 3/4" thick, does anyone have a good dimension for this hickory as Im still not convinced my layout is sufficient...thanks guys Im real excited on finlly being able to make a bow that didn't break after all these years since I started reading all the advice on this site

[macbow]

Hickory flat bows like to be wide.
I'd suggest 2 inches at fades and keep the 2 inches another 6 to 8 inches then taper to tips.maybe 1/2 inch tips.
Now keep in mind I haven't made a keeper hickory bow they all blew up. But all I made were much narrower.

[D]

Anybody have a good pic of a pyramid style bow to show him

[macbow]

 

 

[macbow]

The bow in the pictures is a hickory bow.
1 3/4 inches at fade. 60 inches long.
Nocks are almost 3/4 inch.

This bow was tillered by Ed Scott from Owl bows.
I did the Finnish work. This bow is sinew backed.
Sorta a pyramid bow. You would need to be longer without the sinew. I'd still start with 2 inches at the fade, you can always reduce it later.

[The Gopher]

Pyramid bow, 2" wide at the fades with straight tapers to 1/2" nocks and you are good to go.

[Razorbak]

Thanks guys. I will keep it 2 " wide. Should I keep it a few inches after the fade wide before I  start the taper

[The Gopher]

I've heard to leave an extra inch, i've also started the taper right away. I don't think it matters much if it is tillered well either way. Make sure your board is nice and dry.

[LittleBen]

I agree with the Gopher ... I dont think it matters too much. I usually just make a straight taper unless I'm getting fancy. If you start adding reflex or recurve or both, a stright profile for half the limb or something really helps with stability, but a straight limberd bow doesn't need it.

My recommendation on length is  (handle length) + (Draw length*2) < bow length, so for a 28" draw length and an 8" handle, you want an absolute bare minimum of 64" ntn. I'd recommend 66" personally.

I'm not saying it's not possible to go shorter, I'm just saying that it's better not to push your luck until you've got some experience under your belt. I have a hickory stave bow which is 54" ntn with a 5" handle, draws out to 26" and is 1.375" wide. It's heavily heat tempered, recurved, and took 2" or more of set. and it was a major pain.

Also, heat treating hickory has been very effective for me in reducing set. I've onyl done this on staves. Never made a HICKORY board bow.

[Razorbak]

Thanks everyone for the tips. Anymore  pics of hickory bows boards or staves they want to share. I'm thinking of adding some reflex to the hickory to try and reduce set   Should I oil or grease it before I heat?