Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: vinemaplebows on April 01, 2015, 03:10:06 pm
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So this question has baffled me for some time.....Why do some people believe a billeted bow is not equivilent to a stave bow??? Specifically why do those that don't like billeted bows...not like them?? Are you scared of failure? Is it to hard to splice? Don't trust splices? Many of the bows on here look billeted to me.....Marcs bows look billeted, not all, but looking where the handle comes together I would guess they are....Marcs bows just came to mind...are they billeted bow Marc?
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Can I tell you why I like them Brian?
I love working each 36" section at a time. Its just easier than hustling a full 64-68" stave around. I dont think they make a better bow.
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I'm certainly no authority, but I have made a handful of two-piece bows. I believe people who have made them are very comfortable with them. Shooting quality will be what ever you want it to be. They're more portable, store more easily, and a slip up in construction typically only costs you the price and work of 1/2 a bow. Mike Yancy encouraged me into two-piece bows sometime ago and I've never regretted any of the pieces. Also, it's typically not as hard to find a nice 3' piece of material with just the right shape as opposed to 6' of straight wood.
I'm curious to hear how the others reply, but I think the indexing of the handles might be intimidating for some-it was probably one of my bigger hang-ups. Also, I somehow felt that the take-down apparatus was kind of a "gimmick", and made my bow less traditional. However, if you research the literature, they've been around for a long time, well back into the 1800's. Fred Bear spent a great deal of energy and resources developing take-down hardware, and I believe pattened more than one device. I think when a bowyer creates the first, they're a believer. My son is just finishing up on his first, but he wouldn't touch one until he saw that mine have been good, solid, hard-hitting bows. He was very cautious to keep the center of the backs lined up, and his current project will probably shoot as well as any of mine.
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I have no idea, doesn't bother me a bit, some folks are probably intimidated by the splice i guess, they are easier to add reflex or deflex
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I have never seen the prejudice. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other.
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It means you gave up on looking for a perfect full length stave. Once you do that there's no telling what you'll stop at. >:D
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I've never made a billet bow or take down, I plan on doing both, one day.
Splicing is a little intimidating for someone's who's never done it, and I have lots of
full length staves so I just keep grabbing those.
I like bows bending right up to the handle, so maybe billet bows are not for me.
I know lots of guys disagree, spliced staves and one piece staves are not in the same class for me.
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I've never made a billet bow or take down, I plan on doing both, one day.
Splicing is a little intimidating for someone's who's never done it, and I have lots of
full length staves so I just keep grabbing those.
I like bows bending right up to the handle, so maybe billet bows are not for me.
I know lots of guys disagree, spliced staves and one piece staves are not in the same class for me.
Do you realize how many English war bows were spliced? ??? ???
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Wizard,
For you working handle guys I understand completely. I also believe in the old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it!" If things are working well with one hunk of wood, why monkey with two? It's all a mater of taste.
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I've never made a billet bow or take down, I plan on doing both, one day.
Splicing is a little intimidating for someone's who's never done it, and I have lots of
full length staves so I just keep grabbing those.
I like bows bending right up to the handle, so maybe billet bows are not for me.
I know lots of guys disagree, spliced staves and one piece staves are not in the same class for me.
Do you realize how many English war bows were spliced? ??? ???
Do you?
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i work with osage mostly,, so no problem to get a stave,, if i need to splice i will ,but dont need to very often,, some of my best bows were spliced,, i just do what i need to do to make the bow,,and have fun,,i have never really noticed any prejudice,, i have been making bows more than 20 years, maybe that was before my time :)
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I've never made a billet bow or take down, I plan on doing both, one day.
Splicing is a little intimidating for someone's who's never done it, and I have lots of
full length staves so I just keep grabbing those.
I like bows bending right up to the handle, so maybe billet bows are not for me.
I know lots of guys disagree, spliced staves and one piece staves are not in the same class for me.
Do you realize how many English war bows were spliced? ??? ???
Do you?
I am not exculsively talking Midieval longbows, the older bowyers would much prefer a one piece stave, no arguement here on that. ;)
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I've probably built more billet bows than I have stave bows but don't really have a preference or prejudice for either. I try to build the best that the wood will give me. The first splice or two was a bit of a learning curve but after that it's just part of the process. The great thing about billet bows is that you can often get a quality piece of wood that is 36" or 40" long out of a tree or log but may not be able to get a good stave. It just gives you more options to utilize your resources.
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I've never made a billet bow or take down, I plan on doing both, one day.
Splicing is a little intimidating for someone's who's never done it, and I have lots of
full length staves so I just keep grabbing those.
I like bows bending right up to the handle, so maybe billet bows are not for me.
I know lots of guys disagree, spliced staves and one piece staves are not in the same class for me.
Do you realize how many English war bows were spliced? ??? ???
Do you?
I am not exculsively talking Midieval longbows, the older bowyers would much prefer a one piece stave, no arguement here on that. ;)
When you said "war bows were" I assumed you were talking about bows legitimately used for war.
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I'm with Drewster. I'll splice em in a heartbeat. I brought a truckload of osage home two weeks ago and not a single log is long enough for full length staves. So what? Splicing gives me options.
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I usually billet and the reason I started doing it was because I read in many posts that the wood on each limb will more closely match. It is true. It is significantly easier for me to tiller out a billeted bow than a full length stave . Sometimes the grain is actually bookmatched (mirrored) and looks totally beautiful when completed. I am always a bit hesitant internally of a failure in the splice, but as of yet, that has never once happened. I don't even bind the splice. Even a simple V-splice, when long enough and glued well is more than sufficient to work as a splice on a higher poundage bow. Plus, if you are into collecting your own wood from the forest, you have SO many more options for finding and utilizing wood. My suggestion to every archer is: Learn to billet. It can even be done with hand-tools if you practice a bit (that's how it was done for ages anyway before the advent of the bandsaw).
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A lot of my bows are spliced especially when they have a deflex handle. Straight bows not so much
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I've never made a spliced bow or takedown, but I have lots of billets drying. And I'm ready to give it a try.
So no prejudice here.
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I guess i was never aware of any prejudice. ???
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I have never seen, in the 3 years I've followed this site, a post deriding or "talking down" two piece bows. I may have missed the ones that are but I can't remember any in that time.
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There is a prejudice, I hear it quite frequently....not here so much, which is good. :)
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I only hear it from people who have their heart set on a 'proper' old style English self Yew longbow.
Which is fine if they don't mind a long wait or they turn up with a stave for me to work on.
Del