The thickness of a finished bow is directly related to the design, wood type, bow length, draw weight, draw length and the individual piece of wood...and the bowyer
! There are no"set in stone" rules about how much wood should be removed, or not, to achieve a successful wood bow. With synthetic materials, you can figure these things out beforehand and come pretty close with the finished bow.
I'm not trying to be flip but if you remove everything that doesn't look like a bow, to the draw weight at a specific weight length, you will have your bow. Take another piece of wood and do the same...the 2 bows will be different. We are dealing with a non-static material so no 2 wood bows will ever be the same, no matter how hard you try.
Start with your stave, get to your desired profile and remove the wood from each limb to make it bend evenly and together at your desired draw weight and draw length and you will come up with a successful bow(generally
). If you start with your stave and bring it to predetermined dimensions, you will probably be disappointed with the results.
Pat
ps. WELCOME BACK!