51" board bow... draw length?

[manysteps]

Sorry, probably might seem like a dumb question, but since I can't find any info, here goes...

I have a "random piece of wood" (I'm 90% certain it's hickory)... 1 1/4" wide at the handle... pyramid design to 1/2" wide at the tips... I'm hoping to tiller this into a kid/small adult bow, but before I just go and break it by going too far... what draw length should I expect to get out of this piece of wood?

[Del the cat]

Theoretically 25.5" is do-able with decent wood.... but it depends on too many other things.
The real question is what draw length do you want.
If you want low draw weight and say 22" you should be ok... but it's always about the wood,
Del

[stuckinthemud]

I've only made a few shorter bows but I don't much like the way they can stack at the end of the draw; if you are looking for more than a 24" draw, you could consider splicing in some statics.

[George Tsoukalas]

20" if unbacked. If backed (silk, linen)  you may get 23". The grain must  be straight.
More on my site.
http://traditionalarchery101.com
Jawge

[Jim Davis]

Draw length also depends on limb thickness/weight of pull. Thin limbs will bend farther without taking set or breaking.

[joachimM]

if it's 2" wide, you could get away with 24" and 40-45# without taking too much set (1 to 1.5" is feasible). But since it's only 1 1/4" wide, the draw weight should go down to c. 25, 30# at the most.
Mind you, that could make a very nice kid's bow.

[manysteps]

if it's 2" wide, you could get away with 24" and 40-45# without taking too much set (1 to 1.5" is feasible). But since it's only 1 1/4" wide, the draw weight should go down to c. 25, 30# at the most.
Mind you, that could make a very nice kid's bow.

Definitely going to be a kid bow.

[LittleBen]

With a circular tiller the string angle is 90 degrees when the draw length equals 1/2 of string length.

That is draw length as measured from the grip to the string. So in term she of AMO draw length it would be slightly more than 1/2 of the string length. So in your case, say 48" string ... probably around 25.5" AMO draw length assuming you do a preferct circular tiller and bend through the handle.

You can obviously draw a bow farther than that, but it will start stacking and performance will suffer.

[bradsmith2010]

or it will blow up,,