Board bow for grandson--How thick should limbs be?

[wildbill001]

Grandson is visiting and saw my board bow and wants one.  No problem says I--famous last words, eh?

He is 58" tall with a 24-25" draw.  I would like to make this as light-weight as possible so he won't be discouraged by too heavy a draw.

Using red oak, pyramid-design, with a ntn length of 58".  My question is how thin should I make the limbs?  I'm thinking of starting at about 1/2" and work down from there to get a 20-25# draw.  Does that sound reasonable?

TIA
Bill

[PEARL DRUMS]

I just whipped out a red oak 48" pyramid last night for a co-worker. I planed it down to 3/8" thick and its 20# @ 20". That should be about 26-28# @ 24". Zero tillering was needed.

[wildbill001]

Did you back it with anything?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Nope. I glued the handle on and will finish shaping and sealing tomorrow. It was a straight grained board, no backing needed there.

[George Tsoukalas]

1/2 inch sounds good. But why not make it as thick as it needs to be for the weight you want?  Jawge

[wildbill001]

Well it's down to just a smidge less than 3/8" and is drawing 34#.  Will keep removing wood as he is only able to draw about half way.

Bill

[wildbill001]

Well, we finished my grandson's bow in one weekend.
He was leaving for camp on Monday and wanted to take it with him.

Got the draw-weight down to 25# @ 24".  Still a little heavy for him but he should easily grow into in.  Here is a shot where he is doing some planing.  We had him doing a lot of the work and he seemed to really enjoy it.
   

Here's father and son with the completed bow:
     

And finally, first shots (yeah, we need to work on his form a bit...)
   

Thanks again to all who have put up with my questions and helped.  My son is also working on his bow so we are now a bowyer family !

Bill

[PEARL DRUMS]

Right on Bill! Im glad you got it done in time for his camp. Im sure a few people there will here the story behind the build. Nice job!

[fish n chicks]

That's a pretty good lookin tiller so far. What did your limb thickness end up being? I have one that's about 60" long, pull's about 25 as well, but is only 1/4" thick or so. Maybe 5/16. Nice job fellas.

[Osagetree]

Very nice bow grandson! You have a treasure there so take care of it & keep it always!          

[wildbill001]

Unfortunately I did not get final measurements on limb thickness.  He had to leave to go out of town for camp and this was a bit of a rush.  I do know that we started at 3/8" thick and scraped down from there.

Tiller is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact the bottom limb is a bit stiff and the top limb has a bit of a hinge.  Because of this I'm not sure how long the bow will last but hopefully he will get a week's worth of use out of it...

Bill

[George Tsoukalas]

Bill, very nice. Time spent with your grandson and son is awesome. Then throw making bow together and passing it on well that is just special. Jawge