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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: razorback on March 06, 2009, 09:00:00 AM
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I am getting close to finishing a board bow that has a flat belly and back. How much should I round the edges of the limbs. Should they just have the edges eased off or should the whole limb have a radius pu on it.
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Just knock the sharp edge off. I run an orbital palm sander down my limbs lightly to slightly round off the sharp edge and leave the side of the bow flat.
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I have hears to round them to the radius of a pea. I don't always go that much but at least half that. Probably anything is better than a sharp back corner.
I'm working on an osage bow now that will have a cherry bark backing I have purposely left the back corners sharp so I get a good coverage with the backing and I will round them off when the bark backing is cured. I'm shooting this bow 100 times before I back it and I keep holding my breath with each draw. I'm almost sure the back edges are sound but one never knows.
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Several years ago, Jim Hamm (or maybe it was Tim Baker) answered this question something like this, "Round the edges about the radius of the period at the end of this sentence."
I don't like sharp edges so I ignored him :)
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Eric, John and Pat. Did you three get together and conspire to confuse me, :smileystooges:
So what you are really saying is that from knocking the edge off to completely rounding the limb edge is ok. Just like most everything else with a selfbow, personal taste plays as much a roll as specific design.
Thanks for all your help guys, I hope to be able to give as much help in the future as you guys do now.
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Even rounding it off to the radius of a pea is removing dead weight wood and should not effect the tiller or draw weight of your bow. The rest is personal preference. A sharp corner (or edge) makes splinters more likely. By rounding them, it is less likely for a splinter to lift.
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Thats kind of what I was thinking. I knew the sharp edges had to be removed and was just wondering what the consensus was on how much should be removed. This is fairly heavy wood so i will probably go with a full radius down the length of the taper. The smooth rounded lines are more appealing to me as well.