general recurve question

[Bearded bowyer]

Hi everyone
I'm still banging way at the recurve thing 

I have a question....
Sometimes ( but not always) you see a little 'chock' or extra piece of wood/ material stuck onto the recurve section of the bow that raises the string off the belly.
Why?
Is it to reduce the stress of the string striking the limb.
Recurve number two is coming along well, but again I've used rather skinny wood so she is a bugger to keep straight. she is about 2cm wide with a taper just in the tips, too skinny to be stable laterally I think, but so far so good.
Thanks again
Matt

[huisme]

It's generally to keep the string in alignment. If a recurve is really skinny it can be tricky to align it well enough that the string doesn't slide off to the side, which then twists the lever, lowers brace height, etc, and might even happen during shooting.

[Bearded bowyer]

Where about should it be situated on the limb?

[huisme]

Where about should it be situated on the limb?

I believe it goes right at the base of the recurve, but honestly I've kept all my strings in place by carving grooves down the belly any don't know for sure.

[PatM]

There is no rule  as to where a string bridge should go. Some place them at the apex of the curve while Chinese bows often had them up the siyah a bit more.

[Bearded bowyer]

Very interesting.
Are they normally made of the same material as the bow, ie hard wood? do people pad them with leather to cushion it a bit?
I assume they are concave or shallow V cut..........

[Del the cat]

Only time I did 'em I used Ash and was careful to keep 'em fairly minimalist... I've seen some that seemed to be modelled on the ACME Anvil as used by Wylie Coyote
Del

[huisme]

Only time I did 'em I used Ash and was careful to keep 'em fairly minimalist... I've seen some that seemed to be modelled on the ACME Anvil as used by Wylie Coyote
Del

Well, there you go. Can't argue with Wylie.

[PatM]

They are made of any material with little regard to the actual weight. Wood, bone, antler, stacked and glued leather.

[BL]

I've only made one bow with bridges and am no expert builder like some of these folks, but here's a link.  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,45051.msg609482.html#msg609482

I tried to place them just close enough so that the string wouldn't wrap around the recurve from the nock.  It ended up adding about 1/4" to the brace height as well.  With this particular one you can see the shape of the belly of the recurves is fairly narrow and rounded.  The string was just sliding off the side without the bridges.  It was recommended that you've basically always got room for a string groove as a better alternative with good alignment, but I had fun shaping the anvils  and it was a learning experience.  These are little chunks of mulberry.

[PatM]

[Bearded bowyer]

Thanks guys
I cant tell you how good it is to have access to such a wealth of experience.

Thanks again
Matt