Youth Board bow specs?

[Buxndiverdux]

I've got some red oak and hickory and wanted to make a couple board bows for an 8 and 10 year old. I'm going to back them for safety. What specs would be good to try? Thanks,

[troutremble]

I make kid bows for that age range all the time. I use a 48"x1-1/2"x1/4" red oak slat from home depot. I glue on a handle made from red oak, 6"x1-1/2"x3/4". I then taper the limbs on the sides from 1-1/2" at fades to 3/8" at tip for a pyramid shaped bow. Shape the handle to about 3/4" wide by 4". Cut some notches with a chainsaw file for string nocks, spray with spar urethane, put on a leather grip(optional) and your done. I buy stings made for 48" recurves and they work perfectly. These bows usually end up at 12-15# @ 20". Total time per bow is about an hour of actual work. String $10, wood $3, expression on an 8 yr olds face as he stalks a chicken; priceless! Lol, he wasnt suposed to do that

[monterey]

I make em the same as trouttremble but tend to taper them to bit narrower at the tips and also add a brown paper bag backing just in case.

For a nine year old I took one of the wider HD slats and cut it in half at the center.  Then glued them to the back of oak handle material with a four inch space between the ends to make it a 52" pyramid bow.  I put a spacer in the four inch space and them covered it with a piece of the same material as an overlay about 6 inches long to be sure the two limbs stayed down on the back.  Going wider gives a bit more draw weight and longer a bit more draw length.

At first I tried this using two of the HD slats butted together at the back and then cut them to about a 56" bow.  The two slats were so radically different in nature that the tiller was never going to be brought in.  Using the single board and the pyramid, the tiller is near flawless every time.

Got no pics of that bow.  :(