Recurve string grooves

[DC]

Do you cut your string grooves to help guide the string to the middle of the limb or do you cut the grooves where the string sits at brace? Just wondering what other people do.

[Pat B]

That depends on the bow. With some character staves you need kind of go with the flow. On a "regular" bow I trace the string at first brace so I can get everything lined up.

[Eric Krewson]

I have posted this before, this is only for bows with tip overlays but it puts your string angle perfectly placed at brace.`

[Eric Krewson]

For recurves I put a groove right down the middle of the limb at the tips, if the string doesn't lay in this groove at brace height I get out my heat gun and bend the tip sideways until it does.

[bownarra]

Only down the middle. I can't imagine any reason to do otherwise. Heat gun to correct allignment.

[Eric Krewson]

The sideways bend is often just a little tweak. I put the heated tip loosely in my padded vise and give the bows handle a quick little twist. I remove the tip from the vise and let it cool. After it cools I string the bow and check my progress. It usually takes several tweaks to correct the problem, sometimes I go too far and have to go back the other way.

[DC]

Thanks guys. I've been thinking about this and realized that if the belly of the recurve was convex the string would slip off the side. The groove isn't a groove as much as just making the belly convex so the string doesn't slip off the side. So really the "groove" should be the width of the bow to make the "catchers mitt" as wide as possible. And of course the string should be as close to the center as possible

[Tommy D]

This is just a theory ... but seeing as most recurved by default add mass to the tips ... if you can make your string grooves wide enough and deep enough to reduce mass but not influence their strength/ stability then it’s a win-win...

[DC]

... but seeing as most recurved by default add mass to the tips ...

I'm not so sure about this. "Most"(a lot of ) bowyers leave the last 6-8" of the tips stiff anyway so as far as mass is concerned they can be the same.

[Tommy D]

... but seeing as most recurved by default add mass to the tips ...

Maybe I wasn’t clear. I meant that a recurved tip will add mass at the ends of the limb. If one can find a way to reduce this mass without making them weaker then it will improve speed. A deep wide string groove might do this to some degree in the same way a channel section beam can use less steel for a given stiffness than a solid square steel bar...

[Pat B]

By leaving the tips thick and reducing the width of the recurve tips there can easily be less physical tip weight as compared to a straight limb bow. Wood is 8 times stronger in thickness as it is in width. 
Tommy, the last part of your last sentence is saying this. 

[Pat B]

Maybe I should have said a thick narrow tip is stronger and lighter than a thin, wide tip.