Need help!

[whitefeather]

I need some help.I want to build a hickory selfbow. I have a bow blank.It is 67in and limbs are 1 5/8 in wide.I want about 6olb bow . What should the thickness of the limbs be. And thought about backing with sinew.Good idea or no? TB3 or hide glue for glueing sinew. Should it be 3/4 in at tips or 1/2 in. Thanks

[Weylin]

First off, you dont need sinew and i dont recommend it for your first few bows. hickory is as bullet proof as you get and you have plenty of length and width for the bow you want.  What is your drawlength? I would make a pyramid style bow if you have enough thickness for a handle. If not i would do a simple bend through the handle D-bow that doesn't narrow in the handle. Keep the tips at 3\4" for now, you can narrow those at the end of the process but it is nice to have some width to make adjustments with as you go. I really recommend that you do some research so that you have a fairly clear idea of how you are going to lay the bow out before you remove any wood. the best thing you can do is find an experienced bowyer in your area have them give you some pointers. What area do you live in? It's likely that someone on this site is nearby.  As for your thickness,  once you have your design laid out you should start removing wood from the belly evenly and carefully until the bow is just starting to bend when you press a tip into the floor. From there you keep  carefully removing wood from the belly and checking the bend frequently against the floor. This is called floor tillering.

[crooketarrow]

  He's right sinews not the way to go for your first bow. I went that route on my first 2 bows. STEPS YOU CAN SKIP,With HICKORY you don't really have to. I 've made at least 25 or 30 all wood HICKORY BOWS. It is one of the better white wood bows but it's far from bullet proff. MAYBE BREAKABLE. But I've broken high poundage HICKORY BOWS.
   HICKORY'S ONE OF THE WHITE WOODS thats really exceptable moisture which caused set and string follow exspecailly with longer draws. Longer the draw wider the limbs should  be to help even out stress which helps with set and string follow. When I build a HICKORY BOW I LIKE TO PUT THE BOW IN A HOT BOX for 5 or 10 min's before I been the limbs. But not so long that the limb become BRITTLE. This removes the relitive humity (surface moisture)  that HICKORY picks up between tillering secions. This helps keep set and string follow down. Hickory really sucks up surface moisture.
   But if you where the hummity not a factor skip this step.
  DEMENTIONS only get you close WOOD IS WOOD it's all different.
  Build a pyimid bow, I build all my HICKORY BOWS  56 to 64"s long with a simi flat belly. Since it's your first bow keep it as long as you can but not over 68"s. After that mass starts taking over with HICKORY. Keep the last 4 inchs of your tips stiff and 1/2 at the nocks.
    The lighter you can make the last 4 inchs without bending the less hand shock your bow will have. My bows have 0 hand shock. I DON'T GO DOWN below 3/8's with HICKORY. I only build stiff handle bows. Unless someones want's different, this design is for stiff handled bows.
 This is stave bows I've never builded board bows.

[blackhawk]

He doesn't have enough limb width IMHO for a pyramid. I wood make a standard american flatbow and run that 1 5/8" width half way,then start the taper to 1/2" tips.

Also what's your intended draw length with it?

[SLIMBOB]

Agree with Blackhawk.  1 5/8" wide to mid limb, taper from there to 1/2" tips.  The thickness of the limbs will vary so much from bow to bow that you can't easily say the limbs will be "X" inches thick with much accuracy.  If you do a flat bow design as recommended, your limbs will have a thickness taper from fades to mid limb.  Start way to thick, and scrape until it bends during floor tiller. 

[Weylin]

Please follow blackhawk's advice on the design. he has much more experience than I do.

[Tom Leemans]

Yep, start tapering from mid limb to 1/2 nocks. 1-1/2 to 2" long fades. As for limb thicknes, each piece of wood is different. Just don't ever pull the bow past the intended draw weight during tillering to avoid excessive limb set. For new bowyers, I recommend getting a copy of "The Bent Stick" by Paul Comstock and/or a copy of "Hunting The Osage Bow" by Dean Torges. Also, make yourself a tillering gizmo. http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,19540.msg269943.html#msg269943 and your tillering will be practically painless.