how wide should the tips be?

[alex b]

             hi this may sound like a stupid question but...on all of my bows the tips are all very wide compared to the
  bows i have seen here and especially modern laminates. so my question is how wide should a 65-72 inch hickory flatbows
  tips be?

           thanks

[George Tsoukalas]

They should be as wide as you want them but too wide and your bow will kick. Mine are a 1/2 inch behind the nock groove but I take them down after the groove considerably to lighten them. There are buildalongs on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[Gordon]

I make mine between 3/8 - 1/2 inches wide depending on the wood and bow style.

[1/2primitive]

Mine are generally narrower than most peoples'; most of them are about 1/4"-3/8".
I just like to see how narrow I can go without it breaking.
But about 3/8"-1/2", like Gordon, will do well on most any style.
       Sean

[Aries]

I haven't worked much with hickory but I can tell you that in general you will see thinner tips because they are more conducive to a fast bow. light tips usually equals faster bow. on my osage bows i never go over a 1/4 in and sometimes make then as thin as 1/8 in. This is with an even taper from handle to tips. "pyramid bow"  but  when you do needle tips like that you have to glue extra material onto the back of the bow to cut your knocks into because there isn't enough material to work with to do a side knock.   Ty

[George Tsoukalas]

Actually, jmo, it's not so much the nocks themselves that determine speed but the last 8 inches should be as narrow as possible as well. Jawge

[Hillbilly]

I usually make mine pretty skinny, 3/8" or less, unless I'm making a replica eastern Woodland bow or something.

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[batman]

George Tsoukalas your website is mega! 

[akila]

Here is 61lbs bow....u can see the last fiew inches...they are pretty narrow....its better if u leave the tip a little thick and verry narrow....this way the mass is verry low....


Here is a 45lbs R/D bow.....i hope it helps... ...both tips have at the noks, arrounde 6-7mm. wide maximum....u dont need to make the bow at the noks, wider thenn 10mm. max...only iff wi are talking aboute warr bows....the situation changes a little there....

[Kegan]

The more bows I make the less I can tolerate large nocks. I was tillering out a hickory bow with 3/8" tips and looked at them at thought, "man those tips are ugly!" So I grabbed a hand plane and took some swipes from the sides. I would have been better served waiting until after tillering for string alignment... but it weighed so heavily on my conscience !