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Arvins Design - 68"ttt - 45@28" - heattreated elm

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Juan Ant. Espinosa:
What a beautiful bow!
Very narrow. It seems you eyeboled very well limits of the wood on this stave when designing. Congratulations!
Video show a very fast bow and a good archer. Very nice fotos and video.
You talk about intense heat treating; have you had wood damage problems with this technique like for example compression cheks at brown too much heat treated segments?
I guess it is european elm. I had some problems making bows with the staves of som sort of Ulmus minor X Ulmus pumila hibrid trees here in Spain. Could you identify the elm specie of your bow?.

simk:
Thanx guys!
Juan Antonio, I have no idea what kinda elm this was; the only thing I know is that it was a small diameter sapling with no heartwood, harvested in Switzerland. I have not had problems heattreating this wood but I have witnessed chrysals on to strongly heattreated maple - probably overdried. Elm has big variance from sort to sort and tree to tree. Imho one should heattreat slow and deep. I either do it with my quartz radiator or with the heatgun always moving along the wood - never stop moving the heatgun. I typically move along the limb 4 to 5 minutes per session with the heatgun 1/2" away from the wood. stop when the back gets too hot to touch with your fingers. a too strong treatment can weaken and ruin  the wood. using oil or solved resin helps for a better heattransfer and avoids charcoaling.

this particular bow received maybe 5 sessions of heat. I did induce reflex as well. In the beginning there was around 3 or 4" of reflex. The reflex got lost over time and many arrows shot. It also lost around 5# of drawweight since.  It still has 1" reflex left now. It's still a very good bow and I hope its stable by now.

cheers

Aksel:

--- Quote from: simk on July 03, 2023, 03:42:21 pm ---Aksel,  I just had to measure, its 1 1/2" wide at the fades. To be honest, apart of the length of 68" I dont know anything about Arvins bows, no measurments or proportions. I just saw a few pics and eyballed my own Arvin-bow. Dunno how accurate my copy is but I did and do still like it. I just call it Arvins design because he is doing it all the time 🤗 interesting point is, i had been reading in different books about the optimal length of a wooden bow being 68"...until I tried I was convinced that this was too long for a real quick stick.
Cheers

--- End quote ---

Thanks!

I guess Tim Baker proved very long straight bows can out-shoot shorter recurves. In own my experience long narrow elm bows can feel a bit spongy shooting even with narrow outer limbs, so I usually make mine 58"- 64" for a 27" draw. But maybe I must try the Arvin design :)

Are you sure it´s elm btw? I´ve never seen an elm sapling without heart wood. But maybe you have other varieties in the Alps?

bjrogg:
Nice bow. Good team work I say. Nice blend of both your styles

Bjrogg

Selfbowman:
Smik that’s real close to my side profile once it’s shot in. 67” seams to be the best length with a 8-10” handle depending on the draw length. I’m for over building the limbs In width from fade to mid limb. Then light as possible from mid limb to tips. The bowyers bible was spot on with the osage build in BB1. I just added reflex in the last 9” of the limbs and narrowed the tips. Not anything new guys. They are smooth and fairly quick. Arvin

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