Can you tiller oregon ash too flat to be safe? Also, BL question.

[huisme]

I've been working on another molle, but this will be my first in ash and I'm worried I've made it so wide it will be unsafe when it's tillered to sixty at twenty seven. It's roughly two inches wide through the working limbs, and crazy flat. Currently forty pounds at eight inches with a taught long string that touches the handle when relaxed.

And as for black locust: can it be used for a thin design without a whole lot of risk if the draw weight is low enough? It was my first stave bow, and several after that, but they were all wide bows and I currently have some staves that were split pretty thin by my non-bowyer friends. Other staves are drying so it's not a total loss if it isn't worth the time I could spend on another ash.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

i think locust is pretty good in tension. Not as good as elm or hickory though.
do you mean the compression on the belly overwhelming the back... so it breaks? is there signifigant back crown? some rawhide/linen/fgl@$$/gorilla tape would probably make it safer... but don't use the g-tape unless you really need to. its heavy but holds down splinters...

[oldhippy]

   You should be ok on the mollie, limbs that are two inches wide will do fine with a 60 @ 27. As far as locust goes, I have a hunting bow that I have used for the last five years that is 62 inches long, 1 3/8 wide and pulls 65 at 28 or 70 @30. Never had a problem.
   Hippy

[blackhawk]

What do you mean by crazy flat?

And what do you mean by thin?

Sorry..can't help ya much unless I can understand what you mean...

Squirellslinger....let's see your locust bows...how do you know locust isn't as strong in tension as elm or hickory?...and let's see some elm and hickory bows to compare to your locust bows...oh and I wanna see some gorilla tape backed bows too...lol 

[Thesquirrelslinger]

What do you mean by crazy flat?

And what do you mean by thin?

Sorry..can't help ya much unless I can understand what you mean...

Squirellslinger....let's see your locust bows...how do you know locust isn't as strong in tension as elm or hickory?...and let's see some elm and hickory bows to compare to your locust bows...oh and I wanna see some gorilla tape backed bows too...lol 

ill post a gorilla tape backed bow... and i know locust isn't as good in tension as hickory or elm cause i have broken almost every locust bow I try...
and it isn't cruddy tillering.
i might make a fiberglass backed board bow.
i made an elm bow, its 56" long, pulls 29# @27"... i made it for a friend of mine's little brother. it was made from a 2" elm limb with a knot every 2 inches, with recurved tips and its only 1 3.8ths wide.
I really, really, really messed up the tiller... but after almost 400 shots... i think it isn't gonna break.
i really need to fix the camera. Mom isn't home(or more accuratly she doesn't bring her camera home) during the day... and I am not home in the evenings.... out biking or slinging...
i do have a gorilla tape backed bow. pics when i get a camera...

[rossfactor]

How long is  your bow?

2" wide is good inner limb width for most ash bows, especially the less dense ash such as Oregon Ash (could even go wider). You're bow won't be too thin to be stable.

While I personally like a slight convex belly on my 'flat' bows, you don't have to worry about being "too flat," so long as you round your edges to avoid lifting a splinter.

Locust is excellent in tension, and can be successfully made into a flat bow design.  Its generally denser than Ash, and I think it performs better with a narrower limb design than Ash.

Please don't back your wood bow with gorilla tape.

Gabe

[Thesquirrelslinger]

too late- but i did it to hide some glass....

[mikekeswick]

Squirrel - I'm not trying to be rude but when you give people advice it's generally a good thing if you know what you are talking about and have experience in the area  To people who have made a few bows your advice is obviously mostly what you have read somewhere. Don't forget that there isn't exactly a wealth of books on bow making out there and most of the people on here have all read the same books as you.  Just go and make some bows - we've all got to learn somehow. 

A thinner bow is actually 'safer' and more stable than a narrow/thicker bow. Strain goes down as the thickness goes down (same width) and a bow will only bend in its weakest plane so wider/thinner will track truer.
Ash likes to be flat with either a nicely crowned back or a trapped back.
If you get it wrong with the locust you'll know!

[huisme]

Thesquirrelslinger:
I have some really narrow staves, only 1-1/2 inch across, that I'm thinking of making into ELB-esque bows, so I need to know if there's a chance it'll hold up in compression if the draw weight is low enough. I've made several wide designs with BL and they're some of my best bows, including my current favorite http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41186.msg551040.html#msg551040

Sounds like I'll have to just try it and see what I can pull off 

Thanks guys, that's pretty much what I wanted to know about my ash. I've just never done anythign a whole two inches wide through the working limbs  It shouldn't be long before I post this one