Typical radius of a recurve

[PatM]

But what about recurves??

[FilipT]

What are good radii for a bow of length 66" ntn? Also do I need to put some backing during bending and clamping?

[simk]

But what about recurves??

while tillering the limbs started to break out sideways - made m too slim probably... had to shorten it then about 5" to 59"- shoots nice 

[PatM]

What sort of recurves were on it?

[Chippintuff]

I love all this informative discussion, and a big thanks to Willie for pointing me to that other thread. I do not know how I had missed it.

Now may I inject another question that is obviously coming from a beginner? If a bow is to have recurves, how should they be situated with the tapering width of the limb?

WA

[BowEd]

It can be variable,but most times the working limb stops working at least a couple of inches or more below the base of the recurve with the transition of narrowing and thickening starting there for statics.Making them wider than finished dimensions to begin with for alignment reasons,then refining and narrowing them more after tillering the bow.Many leave it the thickest right at the apex of the bend of the static too.There are many pictures of bows on here that show that.I'd suggest studying them for use of your own if you want to do it.
To me a true recurve has the string touching the belly of the recurve at brace.Everything else is just working recurve or just flipped tips a bit.They also take quite a bit longer to make than a regular straight tipped bow.
Upsides:
The looks of course right off the bat on all bows.They can raise draw weight on a bow but at a cost to the working limbs with strain unless inner limbs are deflexed a bit which helps.That's a judgement call after monitoring the condition of your working limbs while tillering.Naturally deflexed bows suit them fine.Useful on very short bows to lower string angles usually bendy handle bows and keeping the string on the tips good at full draw.Some extra performance is gotten from them too if done properly.
Downsides:
More time consuming especially making them for the first time.Dangers too.Risks of splintering them while bending.The more extreme the recurve the more critical the string alignment is.More strain on working limbs.String humm noise increases because of more string tension if not deflexed on inner limbs a bunch.More early string tension so shooting them can require more concentration to shoot them accurately compared to a straight limbed bow.
I'm sure I may have left out others too but these are the majority in my mind.All in all you might like them and a person should try one sometime to see after making a number of straight limbed bows.

[Springbuck]

To my mind, it's about like everything else in wood bow construction; a question of balance between features.  What you want is limited by imagination.  What you can MAKE work is often down to skill.   What you can get away with is usually limited by the material itself.

  All my BEST recurves were wide-limbed, laminated, 62" to 64" long, with large diameter curves taking up a lot of limb length, curves big enough to net me incredulous sputtering from some skilled and experienced bowyers. For one I used the rim of a 12" bike wheel with a strip of masonite wrapped around it. 

 BUT, they were also deflexed proportionally at or near the handle, with tips only about 2" in front of the handle when shot in.   This design allows for a lot of string/limb contact and thus a lot of lift off.  The limbs barely move or bend to take the string, so limb strain is minimal, but early draw weight is high.   The deflex improves the stability of what would otherwise be an impractially large recurve.   The wide inner limbs can take the strain, with the added benefit of mild Perry reflex in much of the limb.  Reverse tip wedges allow narrow, but stable tips.........

AND, I am a huge fan of string bridges.  They just KILL the vibration and dampen the shot.  Additionally, if properly situated you can "cheat" the amount of angle the recurve has by lifting and centering the string, causing it to lift off later in the draw.

But, this would never work if the bow wasn't deflexed, for instance.  If you start with a straight stave and want it straight then small, tight recurves are the only ones that would work.