Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: RyanY on February 27, 2021, 04:14:56 pm
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In Shawn's "the Ante" thread he challenged me to throw in so here it is. The bow has been finished for a few weeks but I just got the chance to shoot it through the chronograph. I made this white oak recurve with an old piece I had lying around from years ago after I worked it when the wood was still too green and it took some set. It was already laid out to be a longbow but I thought I'd see what I could do with it. I have to give Marc all the credit as I referenced his work and his article in PA on building a high performance recurve as a guide. Turned out 41#@28" and is 64" ntn. Just after unbracing it holds 4" of reflex and slowly returns to just under 6" of reflex. Starting reflex after heat treating was just over 8". This was my third time shooting in front of a chronograph and man do I suck! (lol) Consistently short drawing at least an inch. Best I could get was 174fps after about 30 shots shooting a 438grain arrow with 4" fletchings. Easily averages around 170fps with my slow and short draw. I'd like to see what it would do with someone who can actually shoot. String is 10strand D97. Brace height is around 6". Turns out there's a reason I don't build many recurves as it took me about 20 tries to align the tips! :fp I'll definitely be trying another one of these at some point without a piece of scrap. Fades were too long and it wasn't as wide as I would have liked. Hopefully by that time I'll be a better shot. Thanks for looking.
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More pics. The recurve is a trapezoidal cross section with a slight groove on the belly.
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I didn't realize during the process just how strong the limbs would feel getting it braced for the first time. By the time I got it braced it turned out I was under weight! Saved it with another heat treat but tiller feels a bit wonky to me. Also thought I would try and get a bit of reflex in the fades but it turned out asymmetrical resulting in an oddly positive feeling tiller. First try at the leather grip was too loose so I cut it in half on the belly and sewed it back together. This whole thing was a bit wonky. (lol)
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Very nice bow, Ryan and beautiful tiller. :OK Well done.
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Beautiful bow.
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Ryan,,That tiller doesn't look bad to me. Nice job. And it shoot very nice. Congrats..
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looks great... copying one of Marc's bow can't be bad... :) :OK
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Looks really nice to me. Great job.
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Nice bow!! Bet it was fun to string the first time. Great full draw picture
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Thanks for the kind words all. When you hold the bow while it’s braced the tiller feels very positive. Maybe more so than it actually is for some reason. Bottom limb seems a bit stiff mid limb. I was surprised seeing these pics because it looks better than it did on the tree.
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Looks pretty darn good. I never made that type of bow out of anything other than HHB and Elm. Also I was snap shooting to get 180+
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nice work, congrats,, :)
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Fantastic work Ryan! Looking super elegant and fast. Impressive profile, got my vote (-S
what's the physical weight of that bow?
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What an awesome looking weapon! Just love the look of that oak, and I bet it rips 'em in person. Well done!
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That's some impressive work right there Ryan. beautifully tillered and clearly a performer!
Jaap
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the amount of reflex is unbelievable
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Thanks guys. I really appreciate the feedback. Turns out white oak is some good stuff! This is only one of two bows I’ve built with it and both from the same tree. Mostly sapwood.
Marc, I’d be interested in hearing what you think could be done better. I’m amazed that you would put 10” of reflex in your bows. 8” seemed monstrous!
Simk, the mass of the bow is 18.4oz with the leather grip.
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Looks great. Tons of white oak around me. Your making me want to try it.