new member from south africa making my first bow from black locust

[bhululu]

hi there I am making my first bow from a 4" black locust stave which I split once, the sapwood has been removed and the rough bow is a basic pyramid  shape, 75" long and 2" wide at the fades tapering to about .75" at tips, it is about 9/16" thick at tips and about 3/4" at the fades. I would like some help with adjusting draw weight and length, I am 6 foot tall and draw length is about 30"ani I think I can comfortably pull about 50-60# my big fear is to break the bow. at this stage with a loose string it feels very heavy and not bending much. the bow looks good on the tillering stick but just feels to stiff to safely pull the loose string more than about 8".any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.as soon as I am a bit more confident I will try to post some pics.

Thanks

Bhululu

[blackhawk]

Welcome to pa....dont worry about its thickness for your first few tries...worry about a even bend more than anything else. Pics wood help folks here help you with that...judging by what you stated it sounds like the fades area might be too stiff as thats too much of a thickness taper for a pyramid profile...good luck n have fun

[bowandarrow473]

Welcome to PA!

Blackhawk is right, it seems to be to much thickness taper for a pyramid.

[bhululu]

Thanks guys
 should I be aiming for an even thickness from fades to tip, and will a steep angle from the handle into the limb not be a weak point?

btw don't you guys sleep over there?

[JoJoDapyro]

Thanks guys
 should I be aiming for an even thickness from fades to tip, and will a steep angle from the handle into the limb not be a weak point?

btw don't you guys sleep over there?

Sleep? No, not much. Too busy building bows.  You are between 6 and 9 hours ahead of us.

[bhululu]

hi again I have so many questions I don't know were to start, the BL (rubinia pseudocacia) that im using has very thin growth rings(it probably grows differently in our climate very hot in summer and quite cold winters) so I realy battled to get down to a single ring and I am still not sure that I have got it right, any advice will help.

Thanks

[JoJoDapyro]

I am working on a black locust bow right now. A bright light above your work area really helps. Here in Utah we have an average high summer temp of 32.4 and an average low winter temp of  -.06. The stave I am working on has pretty good rings. Just go slowly. You will get it.