narrowing sapling questions

[Matt A]

the same HHB sapling as in my "knotty questions" thread i was going about laying out how the limbs will taper to the tips last night and i ran into a dilemma.

one end is the base of this tree and is over 2 inches wide for about a foot. the other end is under 2 inches wide.

do i narrow the base limb side a larger distance down the bow than the other side? or can i take my hatchet and make this sapling a desired width all the way down the stave and make it easy on myself?

[mikekeswick]

Make the wider  (base end) the same width as the smaller upper limb. You're limbs must be the same width or else you will end up with different weight in each limb. So measure your narrower limb and transpose the measurements onto the other limb. This is important!

[Pappy]

What Mike said,love limb bows,fun to make and shoot. Looking forward to seeing the progess.
   Pappy

[Matt A]

ok so it's fine for me to violate grain on this HHB stave?

and i also read in TBB I that high crown staves should be narrowed, think this would apply for this case?

[Gus]

Matt,

You Should Not Violate the grain on the Back of the stave.

You should lay out the Limb/Tip width to on the Back of the stave to correspond with the narrow limb, then remove wood from the sides of the
Large Diameter Limb to leave the Front profile that matches. Then you remove wood from the belly, passing through the core/pith of the tree as needed
to make the limbs relatively even in cross section.

You don't remove wood all around the circumference of the tree/stave to make the size match.

On some sapling bows I've made, the bow wound up with a channel on one limb, the large end of the sapling,
where the pith was removed. In the other limb, the top of the sapling, the center/pith is still buried in the limb.

-gus

[Matt A]

by violate i mean not going through rings, but cutting the sides to match the width of the thinner limb is this what you meant?

[Gus]

Yes Sir,

As long as you don't cut into the back for the full width and length of your bow's front profile, the sides are fair game.
Lay down your centerline, then mark your limb width to match the narrow limb, then remove the wood outside the outline of your limb
on the large diameter limb. Go Slow, make sure you don't angle into your Limb-to-be when removing wood.

When you are done cutting out your front profile the limbs should look similar from the Front of your bow.
Then you can layout the thickness taper to match the smaller diameter limb.

-gus

[Matt A]

ok thanks much!!!