white oak backed ipe dimensions

[arachnid]

Hi Guys.

I found a board of Ipe with straight grain and I have some white oak left over
so I decided to go for a white oak backed ipe reflex deflex bow.

The Ipe board is about 61" long and 1 5/8" wide.
I`d love some suggestions about the optimal dimensions (if there are) for that bow please.
I`m shooting for 40-45lb bow.

Thanks in advance.

Dor.

[blackhawk]

How long do you intend to draw it?

[arachnid]

Oh sorry... I forgot.. my full draw is  26"

[arachnid]

anyone?

[ionicmuffin]

anything backed ipe is going to be thin, you dont need much ipe to make a bow, Often people suggest 1 1/8" width or less if you dont want much weight, you could probably do a pyramid taper from 1 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch and then the last six inches of tips could taper from whatever width to like 3/8ths or even 1/4.

[arachnid]

Thanks a lot.

[bubby]

go 1 1/4" with a 14" center section then taper to 1/2" tips

[DarkSoul]

61" is pretty short, even for a draw length of only 26". Make is bend through the handle and a tad wider than normally with ipé. I like Bubby's suggestion of 1¼" wide. Glue it up wider of course, but the final width should be around 1¼". Don't glue in an excessive amount of reflex/deflex. A little goes a long way. I just finished a BBI R/D with a mild profile (picture to come this week).

[Cameroo]

I think somewhere between bubby's and muffin's dimensions will get you close   Just keep an eye on your thickness while tillering - if it starts getting too thin, start tillering from the sides.  It doesn't take much ipe to make a bow.

[arachnid]

The problem with this board is that after 61" the grain starts to run  off.
I can make it a bit lighter (mabye 35-40lb)/ For the handle, thought of gluing several laminations
to make the handle bend a bit.

My plan so far is:
61" total length- 7" bending handle + 2 limbs, 27" each
deflex-reflex design
Pyramid taper, width of 1 5/8" tapering to 3/8" or 1/4"
Limb thickness tapering from 7/16" to 1/4".

Is this any good?
Any suggestions will be most welcome.

P.S
How long should I make the reflexed tips?

Thanks.

Dor.

[DarkSoul]

For the handle, thought of gluing several laminations to make the handle bend a bit.

What do you mean by this? If the ipé is thick enough, you don't need to add more wood to it. If the ipé is thin, like 7/16" or so, then a powerlam glued between the ipé and the bamboo, will add sufficient thickness to make the handle a bit stiffer. Only if you want a stiff handle (which I don't recommend given the short overall length), you should consider glueing down several laminations. A little bit of additional thickness goes a long way in stiffening up the handle! What thickness is your ipé lam?
A limb thickness tapering to 1/4" is way too thin. You need about 7/16" total (boo included) at the tips. The width can be 1/4" though.

How severe is the grain run off after 61"? You could perhaps make the bow 64" or so, since the last 3" with grain run off are in the stiff tips anyway, so a bit of grain run off won't matter nearly as much. But it's hard to judge without seeing a pic of the grain run off.

[blackhawk]

A stiff handle is very doable still for your stats given its the correct design,and more importantly the execution of the design...it all depends on you and what you want...you can do either stiff handled or bendy/semi bendy handle with it...plenty of examples out there showing you what can be done...do some Google searches for ideas...I know David Knight and plenty others nave made some sweet bbi's with the length you have to play with and stiff handles drawing 28"...

Can you post some close up pics of your ipe please,and show the runouts and be specific as to where it is on the board? Like jorik says you might have more length than you think? Which in case if you do I'd def go stiff handle

[arachnid]

I hope you can see it clearly in these pictures:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/p206x206/1380135_581903881899340_727286735_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1620903_581903911899337_1994406329_n.jpg

The first one shows the runout, the arrow points at about 61".
The second one show the rest of the board beyond 61".... looks nasty!
Its the  first straight grained Ipe I found, so I really want to do something with it.

DarkSoul- I meant gluing 2-3 laminations, 1/8" thick each and get a semi-bendy handle. Will it stiffen the handle
so much?
And about the limb thickness, you meant 7/16" all over (uniformal thickness)?

[Wooden Spring]

I've made a hickory backed ipe bow a while back. It was 68" tip to tip, 1 3/8" wide tapered down to 1/2" at the pin nocks, and 1/2" thick at the fades tapered to 7/16" at the nocks, and it came in at 30# draw at 28". I hope this helps!

[blackhawk]

IF I'm seeing things correctly I'd think you can eek out at least 3 more inches out of it... and in that case I'd def go stiff handle if that's what ya wanted, or bendys still fine...64" is plenty for a 40ish pound bow at 26"...and with that length either stiff handled or not I'd lay it out 1 1/8" wide at the fades and run that length anywhere from 6-10-12" out  or to mid limb(pending on quality of wood, n how severe n extreme of a design) and then taper to 1/4" tips...and use tip overlays so you can get your tips that narrow...its crucial you do with woods as dense as ipe...if ya lay out your handle section parallel thickness a half n inch all you'll need is a powerlam(1/8" at its thickest)to make it a slight bendy or bendy handle bow..and that leaves plenty of meat for what ya want...or if you have more than a half inch thickness start a hair thicker thru the handle section...how thick is that board? Can ya rip it into two and get two bows? Lots you can do with this..up to you what ya want?