Board bow question

[NBK]

I'm going to make a red oak board bow for my wife.  I found a great straight grained board, but was thinking about having it planed down in thickness to save myself alot of time.  What thickness would you recommend for a stiff handled bow about 62" long that would end up about 30-35lbs at a 26" draw?  Thanks.

[razorback]

Mike,
Problem with planing the board down to save work is that you need the thickness in the fade area so that the fade goes through the joint between the handle and the board. If you plane it down to say 1/2-3/8" then the bend at the fade could go into the handle area and pop the handle off. This is a picture of a bow that a friend got, where the board was the same thickness its full length with a handle glued on. You can see how the handle area is seperating from the board.

 

A solution for this is to make your handle out of multiple thin layers so the bending part of the limbs begins into the layers, spreading the pressure out. Hope this helps and post lots of pics, love them board bows.

[PEARL DRUMS]

A longer handle will afford a longer taper and allow you to start at 1/2" thick. Your bow is going to be very thin at your target poundage and length, say about 3/8" at the fades. Try a 11-12" riser so you have some room to stretch your fades out. The pic above is awfully abrubt and could have contributed to the seperation?

[4est trekker]

Razorback is right on.  You cannot have a glue joint at the beginning of the fades.  Obviously, laminated bows are a bit different setup, but the same principle applies.  Once in awhile you can cheat and using several thin laminated to build up you're riser if you're getting a little bend, but it's an iffy fix at best.  If you've got time to to do it, you've got time to do it right.  Sometimes what saves us time in the beginning (i.e. getting your board planed) will only lead to more time down the road.  Just my $0.02    

PS...a longer riser will not help the situation.  In fact, it requires the fades to do more work.

[NBK]

Thanks for the input guys.  Looks like my draw shave is going to get some more work.  I'm also going to up the length some for a little leeway.