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Gardner's mass theory and 100# + bows

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JNystrom:
I have been thinking this for sometime and i think this is better place to open a conversation than the FB platform.

In TBB4, there is a superb section about Steve Gardner's mass principle, which shows you how to track a proper mass for your bow is it a longbow, shortbow, perryreflex, ipe or juniper. With this mass table, there is some extra rules to get finer estimates including this one:
"On the ELB designs calculate them out as normal and then multiply the answer by the following factors: 100# X 0.90, 90# X 0.92, 80# X 0.94, 70# X 0.96, 60# X 0.98."

First of all, where does this -10% mass on 100lb elb come from? Will the factor be even lower when you go over 100#?

There is one australian guy in fb group that i conversated with about his 75" osage warbow, which is quite heavy in mass for its poundage which made me think the mass principle further. He is aiming for a 150# @30" and the mass for this kind of bow should be around 37oz (1050g), while many of these to-be osage warbows of different bowyers are whopping ~50oz (1400g).

JW_Halverson:
I get the feeling that a badger is coming along any minute now....

JNystrom:
More thinking: could it be that the unordinary length of elb somehow lowers the projected mass? Or is there some updated view on this...
Would be nice if Mr. Gardner could share some dimensions and mass of his self made 100+ pound bows.

Badger:
  The mass theory could use a little work in the heavy longbow dept but still surprises me how accurate it works out. It was not really intended at first to project out past about 80# but I have been using it with regularity up to about 120#. On the extra long bows which I don't make a lot of I think it tends to add a bit too much mass, most of mine are 74" and under. Yew bows also tend to do better a bit lighter like 10% or so. As for osage, I have only made one really heavy osage bow and it was a slug, I think it was 150# and about 76" long, it should have come in about 38 oz and came in at 44 oz. It didn't take any set and I could not test shoot it but the early weight was surprisingly low and it was quite easy for me to brace. I can't normally brace a bow that weight and length without using my jig I have set up. I chalked it up to the wood not being dry, I ended up cutting it into a regular stiff handled 50# bow and it was fine.

JNystrom:
What is the method to estimate the mass of over 100# elb's? What factor do you use? Just that 0.90?
Have you figured out why elb's tend to come out lighter in mass?

Seems interesting that yew elb would be 10% less in mass, well we see how favorable yew has been for longbows for ages.

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