Help with Limb Pattern

[jimmyZ]

I am laying out a pattern for my first bow.  Plan is for an Osage board bow with bamboo backing. Planned  length is 64” nock-to-nock. Plan to have 1 ¼”  wide limbs. Handle section will be 8” in length with 1 ½” fadeouts.  Ending in ½” at the nock.

My question: how far past the handle fadeouts should I keep the limbs at 1 ¼”?  I plan to go for 8” but after laying it out on paper & comparing it to a few self bows, that just does not feel or look right. Any suggestions? Any comments on the  bow layout would also be appreciated.

jimmyZ

[Art B]

What's your draw length Jimmy? Knowing that will help with your design. For a longer draw length for that length bow you would want to keep the greater limb bend closer to the handle I would think. Keeping the limbs rectangular out past the fades moves the greater limb bend further out from the handle which would be more suitable for a shorter draw. ART

[Andrew Wesley]

with my Osage stave i went half the length from fade to tip, then reduced down to 3/8" at the tips.

[Osagetree]

Why an 8" handle? Are you cutting in a arrow shelf too?
In my opinion you should have a 4" handle with 1 1/2" fades out to midlimb tappering to 3/8" & 60" to 62" ntn for a 28" draw.

[jimmyZ]

Thanks for the inputs. To answer some of the questions:
Draw Length is slightly over 27"
Handle design came from Dean Torges' DVD. Actually the premise for this bow came from this DVD. Dean used a template in this DVD and I wanted to build one for my use so I was looking to fill in a few of the gaps for the bow's pattern.
I will looki into the 3/8" vs 1/2" for the tip size and see how it looks / feel. I am use a CAD program to design out the pattern before transcribing it to wood.

jimmyZ

[ChristopherO]

Osagetree's question is a good one.  A 4-4 1/2" handle with 1 1/2-2 1/2" fades are usually plenty for the handle area.  Not to take anything away from Mr. Torges, in any way, but that does seem like a very long handle.  Maybe that is why it doesn't look quit right to you.
BTW, by keeping your limb wider out farther you have the option of lightening it down during the tillering process if it comes in too high of a draw weight.