Newbie needs help

[Winchester]

Hey all! I am in the middle of making my first bow and need some help (bet you havn't heard that before lol!) I have been getting a lot of help from a gent who suggested this forum, glad he did.
My bow is Oak board 72" and tapered down to 1 1/2" wide where the handle will go. Now I have been doing alot of creeping around the net and have found a number of people use a number of different measurements, especially when it comes to the handle on an Oak board bow. I was going to glue on a 10" long riser but to me that seems very long. 5" long looks about right to me but my opinion has no bearing as I've never done this before lol.

I was going to glue a 10" long 1/2 inch thick Maple riser to the back of the bow and a 2 1/2" Maple riser to the front then carve the handle out. Should I use a riser at the back as well as the front? and is 10" too long? Also wondering when I tiller down the bow do I keep it the same width all the way to the tips? (tips are 1/2") My understanding is that the tips should not bend for the first 1 1/2"? I would like it to be about 50# draw

[Winchester]

Sorry, one more question... when I cut out the arrow notch how far should it be from the dead center of the bow?

[aaron]

Most board bows have a riser on the belly side only.
your riser length should probably be somewhere between 5 and 10 inches- Your bow is plenty long,, so if the riser is "too long" creating a stiff section , you will still have plenty of wood bending.( This depends somewhat on drawlength- I'm assuming you're drawing to about 28.)

As far as cutting a "notch" for the arrow- I recomend against it. It can create a weak spot, and even if it doesn't, it's permanent. Instead, you could glue on a wedge of leather. this is moveable and is less risky  for a beginner.

 not sure what you mean by "Also wondering when I tiller down the bow do I keep it the same width all the way to the tips? (tips are 1/2") " . do you mean "thickness" where you say width?
Yes it's true that the tips do not bend- with your bow, you could make the tips stiff for anywhere from 2 to 4 inches. This kinda happens naturally, you won't have to make those stiff tips any thicker than the bendy portions. Both the width and thickness will taper towards the tips.
good luck!

[Winchester]

Thanks for your reply aaron. The bow was turning out really nice but when I was finishing it up the backing came off. I had used Gorilla glue, works good till you get out in the cool weather. So I am now starting a self bow, going to use sinew backing with hide glue... I will keep the gorilla glue for summer projects lol

[jamesches]

i agree with arron, dont cut an arrow rest i ruined my first bows that way