width question

[upstatenybowyer]

How skinny do you think one could go with a boo-backed ipe D/R that's 72" long (62" of working limb)?

[DC]

Having never made one I'm going to say it depends. The deflex makes the bow more stable but the reflex makes it unstable. The straighter the bow and the better the string alignment the more stable it is. I don't think I'd try less than an inch. How wishy washy an answer is that

[Bayou Ben]

As skinny as you want.  3/4” no problem.  Anything skinnier than that and it becomes uncomfortable to hold. 
This one was .75” wide.  About 58” working limb.

[Woodely]

Try 1 1/2" width.
I normally measure working limb on one limb only.  From non bending fade area to Nock.

[upstatenybowyer]

Thanks guys. The bow has a little more than 2" of reflex, but there's a good amount of deflex and the string alignment is perfect. I really would like to avoid taking any more off the belly. It's currently 1 1/8" wide and needs to loose about 10 pounds. Wish me luck!

[PatM]

Richard Saffold used to routinely make  bows of this type in very narrow widths.  You can browse Paleoplanet and see all kinds of bows he made with narrow Ipe/Boo combos.

 Anyone know if Rich is still at it?

[leonwood]

I made a few ipe/boo rd's at one inch wide, no problems at all.

[Pat B]

The first hickory backed ipe bow I built years ago was 1 3/4" wide x 62" long and by the time it was tillered out to 55# the 1/8" hickory backing was thicker than the ipe belly. I wouldn't make a backed ipe bow wider than 1 1/2" and 1" to 1 3/8" is plenty for a bow of hunting weight.

[Stick Bender]

I had no idea that you could make these Boo backed bows that narrow would that thickness apply to osage or hickory core ??

[Pat B]

Osage almost that narrow but not hickory. 1 1/2" or wider for hickory. IMO

[Eric Krewson]

I have made several bamboo backed hickory bows, I made them 1 3/8" wide. With the bamboo glued in a reflex they perform much like a bamboo backed osage bow.

If you make any bamboo backed bow too wide you end up with more bamboo back than wood belly. I made several oak and hickory ones that turned out this way early on, I called them red oak belly bamboo bows, they were mostly bamboo.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I wouldn't go a lick over 1" wide. If you go wider you will end up with more boo than ipe left over. 

[ohma2]

Take my word for it Ben knows what hes talking about on this one.

[Badger]

   I like to go about 1 1/4 wide on 50# stiff handled boo backed ipe bows in the 66" long range.

[Marc St Louis]

I kind of like 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" wide for Ipe as well.  I did work on a BBIPE many years ago that was 7/8" wide, Steve had glued it up for me.  That thing was a bit of a nightmare to tiller out but that's mostly because Steve had left the Bamboo nearly 1/4" thick.  It had major lateral stability issues.  You can see how thick the Bamboo was in this pictures