Holmegaard/ Mollgebet design questions

[hurlbri1]

Experts--

There are many of you who are awesome at Molles/ Holmey's and, quite frankly, that's motivated me to take a crack at one.  I got 3 questions...first, background:

I've found a sweet heartwood, White Oak board--tight grain, cool looking piece of wood.  2 5/8th inch wide, 69.5" OAL.  Right now, I got pin nocks--1/2 wide, 1/2 in tall, 3/4 inch thick (back to belly--depth of the board) with 1/16 inch shoulders outside the nocks. 

I have three issues I need advice on: nocks, working limb length, and a shortie. 

Nocks--I am very inexperienced--I've got 2 working bows out of 7 tries--both pyramid.  So...are my nocks ok?  They seem thick...should I forget the pins, thin the non-working limb, maybe glue on a reinforcing piece at the nocks?

Working limb...due to my inexperience, I chose a 2/3 to 1/3 working to non-working limb ratio.  BUT, I think someone who posts here often, and does magical work with bows, does a 1/2 working limb to 1/2 non-working limb ratio.  I thought it might be safe to have more working limb...but with 2.5" wide white oak, is a 16.5 inch wokrking limb to a 11 inch non working limb (I already subtracted the fades and nock) ok?  Should I extend the non-working limb another 2-3 inches or so? 

Lastly, I'd really like to make a shortie...say 60-62".  My draw lenght is actually a hair under 26" and with a wide board, is it a possibility?  If so, do I go 1/2 to 1/2 or 2/3 to 1/3 working to non-working limb ratio?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Brian

[blackhawk]

Don't know much about em,but ill take a stab at answering your questions 

1st..nocks...I would glue a 2" long piece of qaurtesawn stock hardwood on for tip overlays. Because this allows you to take advantage of the design and make your levers as narrow and weightless as possible. With pin nocks you can only go 1/2" wide minimum with your white oak board,and with the overlays on you can shed lots of mass and get them down to .300" wide at the string groove and a half inch wide 6" from the tips. But don't reduce to those small dimensions until after you string it and know where your string tracking is.

2nd..working limb to lever ratios...I think I know that"someone" you are refering too..lol ..and he makes lever bows with varying ratios pending on a certain design,and uses anything from 20/80 to a lil over 50/50,and he's still trying to perfect a 60/40.I wood leave your ratio the day it is and not extend your levers. That's pushing it for a white oak board in my opinion. But you do have some overall length there which is good.

3rd..the Shorty...make this one last after this attempt. I wood say you need to make that one bend in the handle for sure...and make it no more than a 40/60 ratio at that length and width with a white oak board. You'll have to narrow your handle to 1 1/2" and make a nice smooth tapering transition into the wide 2 1/2" limbs so it won't break there. Good luck

[hurlbri1]

Thank's Blackhawk!  I got some walnut that should look nice on the tips...pretty decent grain too.  I'll glue em up...and keep ya posted on how it develops!