nah its not necessary, just a thought if you cant get the steam bend to stick. i make my limb tips about 3/8" thick for roughly 5 inches and then thin to 3/8 inch wide later to reduce hand shock and it helps speed a little bit i think too.1/4 inch thick tips sounds thin to me but maybe its just thin from what i know, and maybe someone more experienced will tell you diferent.my experience with the static recurve tips is limited, i just started doing it on kids bows because theyre easy to make and cheap, make good test bows, i glued a tapered 6" section of wood about 1/8" thick at the thick end to the tips and clamped a curve into them while gluing, turned out pretty well. havent tried it full size yet but thats my project for my next short bow.