I have a hickory backed/cherry belly board bow that I built - is it possible to boil and bend board bow tips to give a bit of recurve?

If it is already backed probably not.  The heat will not be good for whatever glue you used to glue the back on.  Why do you want to recurve it now, did it not make weight?

I've done it with tip overlays already on (using TBIII) and haven't had a problem.  Never tried one that is already backed....  

When I did mine, I boiled the last 9" or so for about 30-40 minutes then bent them (quickly) on a caul.  I had to do one at a time obviously, but it worked out pretty well.  

 

 

I wouldnt have bet a dollar TBIII would hold up to a half hour of steam! WOW

Yeah, I'm about 10# under the desired weight thanks to some finnicky cherry that kept hitching on me..

QuoteOriginally posted by PEARL DRUMS:
I wouldnt have bet a dollar TBIII would hold up to a half hour of steam! WOW

I figured it would give out too since everything I hear says it releases at 150* but it survived a full submerged boil...

If not recurving the tips, any other advice on increasing poundage in a board bow? I don't really want to make it shorter as my nocks are finished.

You could just make another, a man can't have too many bows.

Good answer Sal.  How did the bamboo backed yew turn out?

i have seen some real nice belly laminations added on after the bow was finished- to help bring # up a bit. thin lams glued on the belly and bent up the fades - looks kinda like the belly on a glass bow- real neat for a board bow- in fact i think it often finishes a board bow off real nice.- as apposed to a belly lam in the layup under the handle- just different i geuss!!!

Unfortunately my belly has a bit of a radius so I doubt that would work, it's no biggy.

I've already moved onto my first tri-lam  

Put up your bandsaw fence so you'll be cutting your bow down the center from side to side.  Now turn the bow on it's side and make a 10-12 inch cut down the center.  Do this on both ends.  Now get tapered laminations where the thin end is the tickness of the kerf cut with the bandsaw.  Put glue on both sides of everything and glue up & clamp in the shape of a recurve.

A kerf recurve, that's a great suggestion Mike.

You don't have to worry about steam or glue lines either.

Just make sure the thin end of the new lam being glued is the same thickness as the kerf so you get a good glue up.  The more tapered the new lam is the more static the recurved part will become.