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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: T.L on February 09, 2018, 01:50:00 PM

Title: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: T.L on February 09, 2018, 01:50:00 PM
Hi all. Odd question perhaps but here goes.

I was able to pick up a Big Rock recurve bow for a good price, with the goal of reshaping the riser and just playing around in general to work on my bow shaping skills.

The limbs are pretty wide, around 1.75" almost all the way to the tips. I wanted to narrow them down a bit, to make them closer to 1.5".

The limbs are bamboo. And i figured worse case scenario I could get a pair of longbow limbs if i screw these up.

Is this a bad idea?
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: JamesV on February 09, 2018, 04:49:00 PM
I build all my re-curve limbs 1.5". I only narrow the last 6-8" to the tip.
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: yard dog on February 09, 2018, 08:46:00 PM
I narrowed a generic recure to reduce weight for bowfishing.... It was easy....
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: mikkekeswick on February 10, 2018, 03:06:00 AM
Yes it is 'easy' if you don't remove unequal amounts of material.... :)
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: T.L on February 10, 2018, 10:03:00 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions. I am going to use a pair of Sebastian Flute limbs as the general template and will go slow to make sure I keep things even.
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: kennym on February 10, 2018, 10:23:00 AM
If you mark with 1.5" limbs, stop before you get to the line and check tiller and for twist. All limbs are not equal side to side or thickness....
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: Holm-Made on February 11, 2018, 08:10:00 AM
Leave the tips wide until the end.  Then you can tweet them to make sure the string falls into the groove.
Title: Re: Narrowing a factory recurve bow
Post by: T.L on February 11, 2018, 12:20:00 PM
Thanks for the additional input.

Turns out my limb width guesses are pretty bad - the limbs are 1.5 but because the taper is pretty close to the tip they look much wider.

Less work now to slim them down which is good since I'm doing this in my basement. Good practice for when my longbow blank from Kenny arrives!

Thanks!