Possible length for a narrow, bendy handle red oak recurve?

[Obese Mongeese]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I really like the look of narrow, cherokee style D bows. The ones that don't narrow out at the handle. However, I'm gonna use red oak, which I know isn't ideal for this. So, I would trap/crown the back and roast the belly. I'm hoping this could make a short, 60" long, 1.5" wide, 50# at 28 inches bow, with static recurves to compensate for the string angle. Is this viable at all?

[mmattockx]

I'm hoping this could make a short, 60" long, 1.5" wide, 50# at 28 inches bow, with static recurves to compensate for the string angle. Is this viable at all?

RyanY is the guy you want to reply to this thread. I am sure he will be along shortly...

I am more conservative than a lot of the guys here in terms of how much I will stress the wood and I think you will never get 50# out of 1.5" wide red oak without a lot of set being involved. Your length is reasonable for a bendy handled bow drawing 28" and I don't think you would need to flip the tips. Adding recurves will help a bit with your string angle, but it will also add extra stress to an already highly stressed design and significantly increase your chances of running into problems with set.


Mark

[PatM]

You can probably do it just leaving it straight. String angle should  still be fine.

[JW_Halverson]

You can certainly get that draw weight at that length with red oak. I've done it several times. Mark is right about taking set. The lighter the board that you start with, the more set it takes. So as you are picking through the stack, set aside all the boards that have straight grain on all four sides, then go through and pick the very heaviest one of them all.

Secondly, I have found that heat treating the belly of an oak board bow like this can prevent a fair amount of permanent set. Wait until you are almost done tillering before heat treating, or else you could tiller away most of the heat treatment.

[RyanY]

Seems too narrow for that draw weight in my experience without taking a good amount of set. Recurves will increase stress and aren’t needed to compensate for string angle at that length. Heat treating would help.

[Digital Caveman]

I agree with Ryan. 
If you don't have much experience you are not leaving yourself much leeway.  A lot of my early bows where from red oak, and each one fretted or chrysalled.

[willie]

I looked up a eastern woodlands bow, almost straight sided, with the majority of taper in thickness, that I made years back. the bow length was 2.6 times the drawlength.

so keeping the width at 1-1/8" and going for a 50#@28" draw., the bow should be 74 ntn.  7/8" thick at the handle tapering to 11/32" at tips.  no flipping or trapping needed. a straight taper between these dimensions should give a nice bend, slightly stiffer in the handle. the outer third should be narrowed to 3/4" width.

 

[bownarra]

Trapping is a very good idea with these tension strong/compression not so strong woods.
The set is because the bow is being forced to work too hard in compression eg. past its elastic limit. So to avoid sthe excessive set make it work harder in tension
You should crown quite a bit too. Like 20% of limb width off each edge.

[Obese Mongeese]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'll stick with a classic AFB for now, and I'll keep this design for when I have access to better wood, and more experience.