Author Topic: How thin can osage recurve tips be?  (Read 4000 times)

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Offline Susquehannock

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How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« on: January 29, 2008, 09:29:50 am »
I know that an osage bow tip can be really narrow when the tips are flat. My question is, does the amount of width need to increase slightly if the tips are recurved? I guess my thought process is that the recurves would be less stable the narrower they get at the tip and be more prone to twist, etc. I am working on an osage recurve right now (my first with any sizeable recurves) and I would like to see pics of anyone elses osage recurved tips.

Thanks, Jason

Offline tom sawyer

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Re: How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2008, 12:10:17 pm »
Static tips or working recurve?

Somebody with more experience will be along shortly I'm sure, I would only throw out that any time you have wood that is thicker than it is wide you might see it start to want to roll over.  If its a stiff static tip it would probably be OK to push this limit, especially if you design the bow so the string only lifts off the static at mid-draw.  At that point the string angle will be pretty good and you will have less of a tendency for the tip to want to roll.  I think the twisting/rolling is probably worst when you are first drawing the bow and the string angle is low.  At that point the limb isn't sure which way you want it to bend and it might go off to one side as a shortcut.  Just thinking out loud here, I don't have much actual experience with this design and most of it has been bad.
Lennie
Hannibal, MO

Offline Badger

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Re: How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2008, 12:25:29 pm »
I have to make my tips a bit wider for a recurve but i have seen Mark St Louis bows that had super narrow tips on recurves. I never could get away with it but his bows do just fine. It depends o the bowyers level of skill I think. Steve

Offline Susquehannock

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Re: How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2008, 01:17:23 pm »
The recurves will be working. Here are some pics of the profile. I realize that the curves are not as dramatic as some of the bows on this site, but it is new territory for me. Right now this bow is pulling about 55# @ 18" and the tips are about 5/8" wide. Anyone have pics of their finished tips?

Jason




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Offline Marc St Louis

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Re: How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2008, 01:42:10 pm »
I make mostly static recurves but here some pictures. These 2 are from an Osage static recurve





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Offline Ryano

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Re: How thin can osage recurve tips be?
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2008, 05:39:40 pm »
I can get away with really narrow tips on my static recurves. Working recurves usualy need to be a little bit wider, the more string contact you have at brace the more critical tip alignment, and side twist is. The way that bow looks I doubt if it will have much if any string contact at brace, so you shouldnt have much to worry about.  Narrow them babys up!

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