5" of backset in roughed out hickory stave question.

[beartail]

I am planning a eastern woodlands style bow out of this piece of wood.its 63 1/4" long and im planning on 1 3/8" wide tapering to 7/8 or 3/4 at the tips from mid limb.i have had bad luck at tillering wood with a bunch of back set. I always come out way under weight.i want this one to be 50 55lbs with a d tiller.should I try to heat out the back set or what? leave about 2" of the backset?
Another question.how do these type bows shoot? do thay jar your teeth? I think if the natives used it thay gotta be ok right? I make most of my arrows from cane and thay used it so probly be ok huh?

[Badger]

   That is pretty narrow for hickory especially with that much backset, have you considered maybe a slight bend through the handle?, if the back set is on a gentle arc you might consider deflexing the center portion of the bow and bringing the back set down to maybe 1 1/2" or so. I usually buidl a 50# hickory bow at about 1 3/4 wide with 2" max back set.

[SLIMBOB]

Agree with Badger. I would go 1 3/4 if it were me.  Lots of natural backset is both a blessing and a curse at times, or it has been so for me over the years. Makes great bows when you can keep them together and great BBQ wood the rest of the time. Might even go wider with that much backset. Good luck with it.

[RyanY]

I made these hickory bows a while back that were about 1/4" wider than the stave you describe but also substantially shorter. Might be tough but I bet you can achieve what you want if you give it a good heat treating. It's possible that the heat treating will shrink the belly wood and will take away some of the reflex in the process. Just remember that reflexed bows tend to feel heavier than they actually are. 

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,36314.msg477916.html#msg477916

[bradsmith2010]

what Badger said