help me save this one....

[TurtleCreek]

  Well, I really messed up a perfect ash board on the table saw.  What I was able to salvage is a piece of white ash, 1 and 3/8 wide, 9/16 inches thick, and 64 inches long.  On the original piece, which was 66 inches long and 3/4 inches thick, I was hoping to make a bow with a slightly working handle in the 40 to 45 pound range at my draw of 27 inches.   With the reduced dimensions of the piece I was able to save, could I still get a 40 to 45 pound D bow out of it?  I do have sinew and rawhide to back it with if that would help, just trying to use what I have rather than a wood backing strip.  Any advice on design ideas would be great, it's just too nice of a piece of wood to toss in the fire.

[Matt S.]

I think you'd have just enough right there. I've made a couple of bows in the 62-64 inch length, 1.5 inch wide with working handle and in the 40s for draw weight. They usually are just under 1/2" thick or thinner.
You'll have to nail the tiller early on without removing too much wood.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[TurtleCreek]

  I definitely will.  I have made quite a few mistakes when I started and I have learned from all of them.  I have better luck sticking with a rasp, scraper, sand paper, and a chain saw file for the nocks,- no more power tools for me anymore.  I started on the white ash to stay busy while I wait for my current hickory D bow to dry after the backing was applied, I plan on posting that one as it is coming along perfectly so far.

[HighEagle]

Go for it Turtle,
 Like they say Listen to the wood, if its only 1 3/8 wide and 9/16" thick, make the best bow you can with the wood you have,  Like Matt said get your tiller early without removing too much wood. You can do it ... Chuck

[TurtleCreek]

  Would a pyramid limb profile be suitable, Or would I be more likely to get the weight I want if I left the limbs parallel for most of their length and just tapered the last 6 -8 inches or so to the nocks?

[Matt S.]

  Would a pyramid limb profile be suitable, Or would I be more likely to get the weight I want if I left the limbs parallel for most of their length and just tapered the last 6 -8 inches or so to the nocks?

Just a guess here but I think you'll have better luck making target weight with parallel limbs. Here's one of my bows which is sort of similar to these dimensions http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,27282.msg364898.html#msg364898. Obviously there are a few differences, like this bow has a semi-rigid handle and stiff tips.

Here's another thought, you can start with parallel tips and then slowly bring the taper back towards the handle as tillering and weight gets close to target, so it may start with the taper starting at mid limb but end up with only 1/3 of the limb being parallel once finished.

[mikekeswick]

You'll definately be able to get more weight with a parallel width then 8 inch taper to the nocks.
The only problem might be not enough thickness at the handle.
You are a little narrow for ash but heat treating will help the belly. Also remember that ash is way stronger in tension than it is in compression - it's a good idea to heavily trap the back like have it 1/2 inch narrower than the belly again this will help to take load off the belly and you WILL get less set than if the back is left the same width as the belly.

[George Tsoukalas]

No on the pyramid. Leave it full width to just past mid limb and tiller. Leave the handle 9/16 thick and 1 3/8 wide. Mark off a 4 inch handle...2 in on either side of the exact center. The handle will bend a bit. If you do your job you'll get 45#. Board info on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[TurtleCreek]

Would sinew help at all?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Sinew may crush the belly. Its the belly you need to be concerned with on ash bow Ryan, not the back's strength.

[mikekeswick]

I think he means to add draw weight which it certainly would. However 64 inch is getting a bit long for sinew - sinew and glue is heavier than wood so you need to STRAIN IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO OFFSET THE EXTRA WEIGHT IN THE LIMBS. oops must have touched caps lock....anyway yes sinew will work just fine. I've never seen a bow whose belly has been 'crushed' by sinew? Sinew has quite low strech resistance so it's in no danger of damaging the belly wood.
If you do decide to sinew the bow you need to reflex it a fair amount 3+ inches to get the most out of the sinew unfortunately doing that makes tillering a little harder if you haven't tillered any reflexed bows.