Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: loefflerchuck on April 03, 2020, 11:10:54 pm
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I made this bow from a hickory stave I got off ebay 5 years ago. Had a perfect natural reflex and planned for years to try to make a flight bow from it. Started on it last spring and and by late summer had a competitive bow to take to the Bonneville flight shooting event. At that time the bow was tillered perfect but not finished and still had some tool marks on it. I finished it this month and sealed it with a few coats of home made turpentine and pitch, then a few coats of tung oil.
I learned much of what I know about flight bows from Steve Gardner(Badger). He has said the most important thing to getting the best performance out of a bow is a slow tiller on a perfectly seasoned stave. If you do this right you get very little to almost no set. This is a old school flight bow design in that it is short and has a long draw. Here in Utah hickory is one of the best bow woods. It can function at a lower moisture content and thrive more than any other wood I know.
This bow is contact recurve 57.5" and has a draw of 67# @ 28". It took almost no set through tillering and shooting. It was my first time making and shooting flight arrows. It holds the world record for 70# primitive self flight at 325 yards. The first shot I took I used a 8 strand linen string that broke. My backup string was 16 strand linen but it did the trick.
Arvin(selfbowman) held the previous record. I have no doubt he has the talent to build one of his osage bows that can beat this record. Hope to see a newcomer show up with a bow that can take it too. I'll show up with new bows and arrows to try and top this shot.
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more photos
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Full draw. I'm not quite in shape to draw 70# so The bow is tilted and I'm a little strained.
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Congratsiolations on the record, its a Nice looking bow. What is the purpose of the groove in the middle of the tips/belly side ?
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A well done congratulations Chuck.Amazing bow.Good old heat treated hickory.Thought it might be some of your siberian elm up there.I remember that bow you showed some time ago.A real smoker.What grain was the arrow?They look bamboo.
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what a great looking bow...love the way you made the tips/string grooves... very nice. The unstrung profile shows how well you tillered it... congrats on the new record. It will give Arvin something to strive for again... :)
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Congratulations. I love hickory, but my climate doesnt.
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shoot
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nice bow, and nice of you to post the pics
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That is a very nice bow! Definitely worth an ATTABOY! And 2 bowyer. :OK :OK:BB :BB. Congratulations on the record!
Hawkdancer
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Congrats Chuck!
Great bow for sure and I bet it was a fun at that salty place.
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Congrats... great achievement, nice pics and good detailed story :)
Del
PS Arrow spec's ? Or if you tell us will you have to kills us? :o
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Congratiulations to your world record! That´s a really nice bow.
I´d like to ask you a couple of questions: How broad is the bow at its widest part and what is the mass of your bow?
Thanks in advance!
lonbow
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Congrats on your bow,,and your shooting,,,thanks for sharing
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Congratulations! Good looking bow!
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Real nice work, Chuck - as always. Congrats on the win!
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Nicely done! Looks like you really maximized the limb length with that short handle and fades section. What’s the width/taper and mass for this bad boy?
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Congratulations on your own and a great looking bow!
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Great work as usual Chuck. Congrats on the record
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great job sir. congrats
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Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment. Great profile & tiller.
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Wow what a winner. Congratulations!
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Lovely tiller. Congratulations on the shot.
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Wow! Congratulations and beautiful bow. Jawge
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This is a old school flight bow design in that it is short and has a long draw.
Very sweet, congrats on the record. Would this be considered a stiff handle or semi-bendy handle or what? The pictures make it look like a stiff handle, but there is so little extra wood at the grip that it seems like it should bend some to me. Perhaps just an optical illusion to my eye.
What is the purpose of the groove in the middle of the tips/belly side ?
They keep the string aligned while it is in contact with the recurves.
Mark
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That’s tremendous! Great post and congratulations, Chuck.
I’d really enjoy going and participating in that one day.
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Congrats on the Record Chuck! That is an excellent looking bow. Well Done.
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Woot woot! Very cool.
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Good on ya Chuck. Is a "slow tiller" just as it sounds? That's puzzling me a bit. It can't just mean more coffee breaks :D
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Thanks everybody. Ed, I tried all kinds of arrows for the flight shoot. Fir, cedar and bamboo. The bamboo shot as well as any arrow. They weigh about 260 grains. I for sure have room for improvement making flight arrows.
I have one nice piece of Siberian elm to try out. I think that wood is a contender.
DC- Haha! yes, a slow tiller is taking your sweet time getting the bow to full draw. Lots of gradual bending over the span of weeks to slowly train the bow to bend and not shock the wood cells on the belly.
Mark- The handle is stiff but only for about 3.5" in the middle. Wanted to spread the load of the bend as much as possible with a short stiff grip. Good observation by Ryan.
Ryan- 1 3/4" widest tapering to 5/16" below the nock. weight of bow with string 18.5 oz.
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Nice work, Chuck. It would be interesting to see what you could do with a shorter model of the same bow shooting the minimal length legal arrow. Especially if you tried the slight overdraw which is permissible (I believe) in some classes.
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Good point Pat and I have thought about that. Have the rest of my life to try things out.
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That’s really cool man congrats!
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Congrats... that bow just looks like its ready to throw an arra .
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Beautiful bow Chuck! Extremely impressive 👍🏻
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Congratulations! Great looking bow. Really like the looks of that unstrung and full draw! Thanks for sharing.
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It's good that a member of the PA holds the world record currently contended by another member for this spot.There's a history of PA members or their bows dominating that part of flight shooting.
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Congrats Chuck. Impressive record. Like Ed said cool it’s still held by a PA member. Most not be to bad at making those flight arrows to.
Bjrogg
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Congrats. The bow looks great
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Chuck congratulations ! I also am a bit weak for 70# bows. I don't think I got the flight arrows or my broadhead arrows all the way back. Pat might be right about bow and arrow design. I haven't been able to get my flight arrows to go much past 300 yds out of any of my 67-69 " Bows.
I again thank you for the competition and congratulate you. Wish we could get more folks
Interested in flight shooting. I am still chaseing Dan Perry's 340 flight record. Arvin
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Awesome Chuck! As usual
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Congrats and beautiful bow. :)
Pappy
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Thanks again Arvin. It was nice to see more people out there last year. Most from your home state of Texas. See is we can keep that number growing.
Most of my flight arrows flew similar distances, but the bamboo ones flew as well as any. I got more shafts on ebay a few weeks ago from China. They are actually high quality. Small diameter and high spine. I start sanding them down to as small and light as I can get and keep checking them on a spine tester till they have about 50# spine. Still stiff for a flight arrow but under 300 grains. Like I say I have much room for arrow improvement too. No easier than making a good bow.
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Chuck,, Thank your sharing your success with us. Beautiful bow. Congrats on your accomplishment.
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Chuck,
Is this the same bow you used for your Broadhead flight record? It was nice having you there for both the regular flight and Broadhead flight competitions. Congratulations on the excellent results!
What kind of linen string were you using? I remember you making a string or two, but can’t remember what you were using.
Alan
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Absolutely amazing achievement (and Bow!)
Hats off to you Sir! :)
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Alan,
I made this as a flight bow. I tries it out with broadheads but it came up 20 yards short or so of records so I did not use it in the broadhead shoot. I figured it may be due to the much reduced limb tips and nocks. Just not enough to carry the heavier arrow. The sinew backed juniper Ishi style bow was the one I used to set the simple composite 70# flight and broadhead records.
The first string I used for this hickory was 8 strand 5 ply linen and it broke 1st shot. I shot the rest of the arrows with a 16 strand string that shot just fine.
I hope to be able to make all 3 days this year and try some new fields.
Thanks again for all the work you put in to get this event off. It would not happen without you. :)