Have a few questions

[Stinger]

Gang,

My father use to build bows back in the early 70's.  He is now 88 years young and his grandson has talked him into showing him how it is done.  Dad kept all the molds and notes he had.  He use to make both single piece and takedown recurves and this time around is going to start with another takedown.  I told him about what a great group there was here and, while he is pretty tech savvy, he asked if I could help out asking a few questions.  ...so, here goes:

1) Where should the center of the bow be longitudinally?
        His old bows are all centered on the riser where the web of your thumb fits (throat of the grip) but centering on the arrow shelf (or rest) also seems reasonable.  Keep in mind that these bows were designed to have interchangeable identical limbs which of course never happens exactly.
 
   2.  What, if any, purpose does the fade in a takedown limb serve?
        One piece bows had to have the fade area in order to attach the limbs to the riser but the takedowns do not have that problem.  It would seem reasonable to him to do without them (although all of his previous takedowns had fades).  They might provide some strength but he is not sure it is needed.  I don't think I've ever seen a takedown limb that didn't have fades.
 
    3.  For a takedown hunting bow, what is the most efficient composition of the limb?
        Our old bows are composed of 2 tapered, maple cores with parallel back and front fiberglass but I know other combinations are used.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Pat

[Robertfishes]

I have only built one piece bows..I have been putting the peak of the arrow shelf between 1 and 1.25 inch above center of bow.. No fade or a very short abrupt fade will put too much pressure in a small area and bow will break there. the pic is of one of my risers before glue up, I like a long thin fade on my risers..I also used a powerlam that went past the end of each fade 3 inches when I glued up the bow.    

[Stinger]

TTT

[macbow]

Pat, I have not built glass bows for a while.  I believe the same basic concepts or still relative.
I liked the locator area to be the center of the riser. Then the arrow shelf about 1 1/2 or less , I like it close to the hand.

As for the fades in the limbs. I believe they serve the same purpose as in my BBI longbows. For me that means transitioning where the limbs bend beyond the riser.

And the composition I don't believe much has changed.
I would try to call KennyM, I'm sure he would be happy to talk to you or your Dad.

[kennym]

1. - I build mine with the center of bow and riser in the deep part of grip, and same length limbs. There are mayy ways to go about it tho.

2. - The takedown bows need a wedge to stiffen the limb butt so it doesn't bend between the bolt and end of riser when you apply the leverage of a long limb to it. Also to keep the limb from splitting at the bolt. I like fairly thin wedges, about .300 and a long taper on them to keep the end of the wedge from looking hingy(bending too much at this point)

3. - If you like the way your old limbs are bending you are good to go, if you want more bending somewhere, then adjust the taper rate, but not a whole bunch in a curve. I suspect you are using .002 total now. You can go up or down .0005 per inch to finetune, but remember, seems like everything you do affects something else too.

Good luck and have fun!!

Great that Grandpa is helping your son build some, great for all of you!!