Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Thesquirrelslinger on June 12, 2013, 05:50:16 pm
-
I have a short 1 1/2 inch diam stave of honeysuckle, a LONG 2 inch one, and 2 highly reflexed 1 1/4 ones of middle length(50" or so).
One has nearly 7" of reflex. How on earth can I make a good bow from it? The others all have 3-6" of reflex. The 2 inch has a knot.
-
add deflex to the handle, aim for light weight on them, in my honest opinion if you have a high crown stave thats only 1.25 inches wide you will basically end up with a kids bow, same with the first one you mentioned, the second, the 2 incher might make a good bow in a higher weight range.
-
Thanks for the advice. In my experiance(my first bow was a 24" honeysuckle... looking back I wonder how it didn't break) honeysuckle is quite tension strong. I can decrown them if needed... maybe...
So make one of those deflex-recurves?
thanks for the advice.
-
with high reflex on high crown staves you will have a TON of stress on the back of the bow, this could create an issue--->explosion my solution is to reduce the initial strain of the bow, it also, as far as i know, will reduce the weight of the bow. Try it out on your worst stave of the stuff, see what it likes and what it doesnt like. Those 1.25 inchers, see if you can get a 45-50 lb bow with heat treating or something, if not then it will need to be lower on the wider ones. Much of bowmaking is testing what works and what doesnt. Some of the learning can be accelerated by watching others, but most will be on your own.
-
I wouldn't even invest time into small diameter pieces like that at best you will get a 30 pound bow
-
I wouldn't even invest time into small diameter pieces like that at best you will get a 30 pound bow
This is an experiment... I am only aiming for such stuff. I want to get a fast low poundage little bow out of this...
So pretty much decrown it?
Heat treating might just work.
-
Here are the staves-
(http://s20.postimg.org/ovc2uboul/113_4059.jpg)
-
I'm sure you could get some decent weight out of that size of wood, does the honeysuckle seem dense?
-
I'll be watching this one closely. I have tons of honeysuckle bushes on my farm.
-
Here are the staves-
(http://s20.postimg.org/ovc2uboul/113_4059.jpg)
The two on the right I think would make some nice arrow shafts
-
Split? Honeysuckle doesn't like to split straight.