walnut bow question

[sound maker]

 So I got a friend that gave me a long piece of walnut board 79"-84" after I cut off the bit that's running off badly (mostly stright but its waves a bit though and to be honest its more like 8 feet long) and since he's rather tall and asked for a tall bow I was thinking of making it for him at one of those length . It's a little bit over 3/4" thick and around 1" 13/16" wide and I'm thinking of going with the 79" or an even number. My question is should I just make it a flat bow and should I back it with cloth or wood or no backing. I was thinking of doing it with a 6" handle and narrowing it's width from about 22" from the ends going from the 1 13/16" to about 1" or 3/4" tip, with it going to maybe 1/2" thick to the tip from the ends of the handle area. I'm also thinking of doing some tip overlays with some ipe I got laying around (always nice to have a friend whos in boat building school ) thought would I need to recurve the tips to keep the string on??? This is my first time working with walnut so any advice is welcome.

 and yes I did look it up but there wasn't really any near 7' long there nor one made from a board at that length.(other then the buildalong of the birch bow)

p.s. I believe it fairly close grain and yes I will get some pics up once I can get some good lighting so you guys can tell me.

p.p.s. could someone give me an idea of the draw weight I can go safely with it at around 32" draw length (with a safety of maybe 33-35") I would hate to have it break on me cuz I went overweight and have it go like that.

p.p.ps. Aaaa would adding a riser help it cuz I got some cherry too that I can use to build up  the riser and maybe use it for tip overlays if it will work instead of the ipe?? not sure how its going to look though.

[half eye]

Sound maker,
      Never built a bow that long before.....ever. But with the length your wanting and a 3/4" board to begin with.....your bow wont be very heavy. What I'm saying is that the longer ya go the more thickness ya need to keep the weight up.
     Most of my mid 50 to 60 inch bows were maybe 5/8" thick and would make a little less than 60#. But that same bow at a foot longer or better would probably only hit 40"s or so. Ya may want to ask the guys on the warbow section cause they know a LOT more about these long bow length's.
    My experience with quartersawn black walnut has been very good.....makes a solid, sound bow but wont have the speed that a bamboo, Ipe, osage etc will have.....but it will be a good bow.
Just my opinion so take it for what it's worth.
rich

[sound maker]

I think I might go ahead but make it around maybe 72- 75inches long. Will most likely put a slab of cherry for the riser with maybe some walnut. going with maybe pyramid style bow with it tapering the last 18-20 from tip to maybe 2/4" or 1/2" tips. more or less the board build along on Jawge's website. not too sure with it being around 3/4" thick, if I was to trap the back with white oak or hickory will that help or should I just stay with the riser?? By the way I'm just going for around 45-50# at about 32" draw (I did mention that he was tall right)

p.s. would dropping it down to 72"-70" work or no? and did I mention that this is some scrap wood from a crate making place?? so it a bit rught on the sides.

p.p.s. is there anything  I really shouldn't do to it since its a board bow and walnut at that??

[ionicmuffin]

its also possible to back it with something like bamboo or hickory to up the draw weight and thickness.