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An experimental warbow

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Marc St Louis:
I don't think you have enough width to go really heavy. It will become unstable laterally and try to flip flop

markinengland:
Marc,
I'll find out what kind of THING I have created when I take it out the clamp and rubber wrap tomorrow. Flip flop bows aren't fun.
Mark

markinengland:
Well, it broke.
It cleaned up OK. Looked like it would be a goer.


Basic bend even looked good.

I was reducing the limbs to get it to near weight, stringing it to a no brace height to get a feel for how it was bending and how the weight was dropping. I guess I rushed things as it broke while being strung.

markinengland:
So what have I learnt from this experiment?
I am embarrassed to say I have learnt some of these things before!
1) With Ipe a little relfex goes a long way - still.
2) Long narrow Ipe bows with reflex are bad news - Mark, you know this! Repeat one hundred times.
3) Don't rush - once you have it is too late to unrush.
4) Believe your eyes. It doesn't matter how much you would like the shape to be something else. Go with what you see - it really is there!
5) You can't force a bow to be something it isn't. If the bow wants to be 70lbs and you want it to be 110lbs, it will either be 70lbs or broke! - look at the broken bits if you doubt this Mark.
6) Over a certain draw weight the beey stave needs to be over a certain thickness. With the wood I have I need a central lam even if only in the handle area.
7) A second lam apparently really really ups the draw weight.
8) Using resorcinol bamboo doen't glue too well to horn and not that well to hickory.
9) Using the layout I experimented with and a central lam in the handle area a LITTLE reflex at the tips could produce a good fast bow with stiff light tips, but the middle of the bow needs to be adjusted to compensate.
10) There may be potential in a bow with two seperate backings, but the extra stress means that glue lines are critical and the bow must be designed with this in mind to begin with, not as an after thought.
11) The s econd backing must go under the nock/nock overlay.

As with most learning experiences I guess it was useful, but I wish I didn't keep doing this to myself.   ???

Mark

SimonUK:
Sorry to hear that mark, I was looking forward to seeing the finished bow.

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