Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: darwin on May 22, 2012, 01:31:00 pm
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My dads birthday is coming up and his very expensive rarely used compound bow was recently stolen from his garage, my brothers and I have been into primitive archery for a while now ( I recently made them both bows for their birthdays also) and we thought this would be a good time to get dad involved to .when I first started building he was very negative about the whole idea he didn't think I could produce a working bow, after looking at the ones I made for my brothers he said that if I ever made him one he would want a light draw weight bow that was still fast shooting that he could use for Target practice, given his earlier negative attitude I take this as a challenge however I am still new to building this being only my 3rd bow so I turn to yall for design advice, in your opinions what's the best way make a bow fast and fun to shoot but still have a low draw weight?
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Lots of reflex and a fast flight string.
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I agree with Pearly ;) if it were me I'd put 4" of reflex to start, be sure and make light tips when I finished it up and put a 4-8 stand D-10 sting on it :)
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That's good advice, what about limb design? And what would be your choice of wood? Would it need a backing? Any other advice ? I'm up for a little bit of a challenge on this one
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Here's a few suggestions for what it's worth. Some have been suggested already. These will all depend on the wood chosen.
1) Low outer limb/tip mass
2) Flat/reflexed unstrung profile (dry heat and oil for a selfbow, form-induced for a laminate)
3) Recurved tips (may be hard to do since you're new to the game, but gotta learn sometime! :) )
4) Temper the belly (selfbow only)
5) Low strand count, low/minimal stretch string (i.e Fast Flight)
6) Low draw weight to arrow mass ratio (something like 7 or 8 grains per pound; although this can shorten the life of a bow)
7) Properly tuned arrows (more mass up front, feathers just big enough to impart enough drag, correct spine, etc.)
8) Be sure you have minimal arrow contact along the rest/hand and strike plate, and that the material reduces friction
9) Use a cordovan or similar finger tab.
10) Purchase a kit or U-finish bow from one of the sponsors (you could get an all-wood laminate kit and avoid a lot of the fabrication work)
Hope that helps at least a little :)
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I'm likeing all the ideas so far I appreciate the help what about limb length would short limbs be better or long ones? Also what about a backing? And what about wood I live in the city so I'm limited to boards (at the moment) but given a choice what would yall choose for this build?
Also would someone post dimensions for the jig they use to flip tips? got scrap I'd like to experiment on first.
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Limb lengh depends on what wood you choose,and design choice. Backing depends on how good of a stave or board you get. For a fast shooting dependable bow i would go with a pyramid design mildly reflexed. Sarting deminsions all depend on wood choice and quality. What ever you decide on i wish you luck and am sure you will get plenty of help from here.
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Since it is only your third and since you said you wanted a light weight board bow, Darwin, look for a straight grained board, rip it to 1 3/8 inches and make a straight limbed bow. Let it bend in the handle with no glued on pieces. Leave the handle 1 3/8 by 3/4 in. Don't narrow the handle. Leave the limbs full width out to mid limb and narrow to 1/2 inch tips. The design is capable of 45-50 #. I recommend B-50 for a string. There's info on my site. See Board Bows. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
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I'm with George, nice simple bendy handle bow. But, if ya really wanted some recurve, it's fairly simple. I just got done with a hickory board bow with a little flip in the tips. It was a piece of cake to steam bend some recurve into those tips with hickory, and it was my first attempt at bending any wood. Keep us posted, would love to see some pics of Dad's new bow. ;)
Tattoo Dave
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Jawge, He's not the only newbie here but didn't you mean to say tips?
Leave the handle 1 3/8 by 3/4 in. Don't narrow the handle. Leave the limbs full width out to mid limb and narrow to 1/2 inch handle.
I'm working on another new one to and don't want to mess it up. My first endeavor at osage didn't turn out as expected and am trying a red elm stave for the 2nd attempt.
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Oops! Thanks, Fred. Yes, I did mean "tips". I changed it. Hope the bow turns out well for you. Jawge
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My first two successful bows turned out great, so I think I'm going to practice flipping tips on some scrap red oak I have. And if I get it to work then I might do it on his. His birthday is July 11, so I have some time. I will probably keep coming back to this thread between now and then, to ask for help and keep yall updated.
He mentioned he wanted a dark wood, I prefer not to stain, any good ideas for a dark wood that would work good for a self bow ?
If it needs to be backed with silk or rawhide I can do that to.
And it would be great if I could find it in a lumber store.