Could I get a little design help with an Osage Flatbow?

[jesswprater]

I have my ring chased on a good sized Osage Stave, but have been staring at it for 4 days now unable to make a decision. I was going to make a Osage sized Meare-Heath style bow 1 3/4" W and 68" ttt then started double thinking the design. I don't think I could stomach those wide heavy tips. I want this bow to be heavy 64-68lbs @ 27 1/2, but don't want an inefficient design. Another thing that strikes me about the design are the fades, 5.5" with the 74" original design. Extrapolated to 68" that would be 5". As you can see, I have some knots on the edge close to the handle issues with this stave anyway. In my thinking, the long fades are not a problem. I kind of like that triangular cross section. I still tentatively plan 4-4.5" which seems very long for fades. The length of 68" ttt is also a long flatbow, but this is my second bow. Does this sound reasonable?

[mikekeswick]

Length isn't a problem at all, make it full length if you want, all you have to do is make it narrower to scale. I would rough it out at 1 1/4 inch at the widest, then as tillering progresses to around 20 inch or reduce the width if necessary eg. if you have no set. Remember you can take it off but it isn't easy to add!

[bubby]

I would go 1 1/2" wide from fade to 15" from the tips with a straight taper to 1/2" 68" ttt 4" handle with 2" fades

[alwayslookin]

I would go 1 1/2" wide from fade to 15" from the tips with a straight taper to 1/2" 68" ttt 4" handle with 2" fades

x2

[PatM]

 You need to decide if you want to make an excellent bow for today or one that someone will find 2000 years for now and  say "what was that dude thinking?"

[jesswprater]

I really appreciate your thoughtful, encouraging advice guys. I will stick to dimensions that I know work for Osage. I was in the middle of a big pile of stink-in thinking. I guess I need a mentor rather than going solo, which is why this on-line community is here. Wrong wood and wrong design. At 1 1/2" instead of 1 3/4" I can bypass a couple of the knots on the edge and hopefully deal with the other two. PatM, your second scenario is tempting, but I think I will get a few more under my belt now before venturing off into radical design.

[JW_Halverson]

Looks like your head is back in the game again, Jess.  Going down to 1.25" can eliminate those pesky knots, so go for it.  With the length you got, you still have a fair amount of safety in that narrower width. 

Calling your draw 28" by rounding up (call it worse case scenario) and adding 4 inches for a handle and even three inch fades gives you a total bow length of 66" plus whatever runs out after the nocks.  You got all the length you need! 

[Pappy]

What bubby said is what I do on most, you can always narrow a bit later if you want, that should get any weight at your draw you want if all goes well. It don't take a lot of Osage to make a good weight bow but I would rather start out a little over built than under built at least to start, and you have the wood to do that.
   Pappy

[jesswprater]

Thank you JW and Pappy. I know the dimensions you mentioned should be adequate. My first bow, like a lot of beginners is underweight. My first bow is 66" ttt. I am keeping them long for my first few bows. This first bow is 1.4" wide out of the fades to 0.4" at the tips. The thickness is 0.6" at the fades down to 0.46" close to the tips. That bow is pulling 45# @ 24" (my draw is 27 1/2") which tells me the bow will not make a weight in the mid 50s (what I was aiming for). Those dimensions sound adequate to make that mid 50's weight which causes a lot of confusion on my part.

Could that 66" length be causing the weight to be low?

This is the reason I was about to overcompensate in a big way on my current bow.

[Pappy]

the 45@24 will be close to the mid 50's 52 or 3 at least I would bet. 
   Pappy

[jesswprater]

Ok Pappy, that is adequate. I still need to do some tillering on it though. It's fine if this first bow does not make it to 50#. It is still fun to shoot. I don't have a feel for what quantitative amount of action results in what reaction. That will only come from building, which is why I was going to overcompensate.

Jess
Pap to my grandchildren.

[bubby]

The only reason not to make weight is taking off too much wood, the dimensions i gave will easily make a seventy pound bow, isn't this your second bow baby steps brother baby steps