what to do next?

[sailordad]

    Hi everyone,
I've been working on this hickory stave. only power tool I have used so far is the band saw to take away some mass from the stave. most of the reduction work has been done with a draw knife,sureform and rasp. I have the stave down to 2.3 inches thick at the handle and tapers to the end of the stave which is 1.3 inches thick yet,the width is a fairly even 2 inches down the entire length.. It is not floor tillered as of yet,which is where my question comes in: at this time do I want to narrow the width to the rough shape of the bow now,or do I want to continue with achieving floor tiller first? I don't really know what design I'm trying for other than I want it to be about 1.75 inches wide and to start to taper to the tip about 9 inches up the limb to a tip width of about .563 or 9/16ths of an inch. with a length of 58 inches noc to noc.
I'm looking for a draw weight of about 45-50 lbs @ about 26-27 inches. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 I would post pics,but can't seem to get it to work at this time,and I am pretty ignorant when it comes to this computer thing.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

                                                                              PEACE,
                                                                                    Tim

[Pat B]

Tim. I usually start a bow's limb at about 3/4" thick at the fades and reduce the thickness by 1/8"(mol) and test by floor tiller, then a little more off and floor tiller, etc. I prefer a farriers rasp until I get to 4" of floor tiller then I use a long string and the tiller tree to see how well the limbs are bending and are they bending the same. After that I use only a Nicholson #49 rasp(and half round rasp will do fine) and scraper.   Pat

[Lost Arra]

>>he width is a fairly even 2 inches down the entire length.<<

Mark the center line from tip to tip so you can get the string centered.
I would get the outline of the bow cut: handle area, fades, limb taper to the tips.
Leave it a little wider than your final dimensions to allow for rounding and sanding. By tapering the limbs you will have started the wood removal process to get the limbs bending.
Then I do just like Pat B

 

[Justin Snyder]

>>he width is a fairly even 2 inches down the entire length.<<

Mark the center line from tip to tip so you can get the string centered.
I would get the outline of the bow cut: handle area, fades, limb taper to the tips.
Leave it a little wider than your final dimensions to allow for rounding and sanding. By tapering the limbs you will have started the wood removal process to get the limbs bending.
Then I do just like Pat B

 

Me too.  Get the bow roughed out before you start to floor tiller. If you floor tiller first it will be whip ended. Justin

[Ryano]

like Pat said, your limbs are going to be pretty thin on a short wide limbed bow like that, I wouldnt be afraid to take it right down to half a inch at the fades and taper 7/16" at the tips.