Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => English Warbow => Topic started by: Ian. on May 21, 2011, 04:22:33 pm
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Hi Everyone
To keep the momentum going from the last two monster Elm bows that were posted recently I though I would share this bow with everyone, it marks a bit of a mile stone I set my self a goal a few years ago to one day pull my bodyweight, I have struggled to make a bow of this weight, a mix of poor design and poor timber has made hitting 130lb difficult let along anything over 140, after changing a few things and by chance buying some very good maple in a pile of Elm I managed it. Pictures of me drawing it will be posted in a few days when my arms feel up to it.
Specs Maple/Ipe/Hickory 160lb at 32 about 76" long.
(http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/iansturges/160lb.jpg)
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WHOA! :o Thats awesome! Great job Ian! How wide is it at the handle?
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160lbs???
Rather you than me :o
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Thanks
The handle is 37/31 tips about 14/14
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Thats a very nice tiller there!
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GREAT!
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great job, hopefully once i order the ff and short string tiller mine i will also keep the momentum going, along with a osge warbow im working on ;D
again great job
noel
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Very good tiller on that one!
-And impressive thing to be pulling your own body weight. If I did that I'd get close to 230#, so I guess I'm not even... You, Eirik, and I'd guess Joe. Anyone else pulling their own body weight?
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Nice. Very well tillered
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nidrinr im in the same boat as you, although hopefully that will change :-\
noel
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Great looking bow, looking forward to the full draw. I never could figure out how not very big guys can draw so much weight. I was always very strong when it came to lifting weights even though I never worked out but I could never draw a very heavy bow, it's like I hit a wall.
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very nice work.
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Update, my arms felt up to the challenge today,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvUM3r8AnEg
It seems fast
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Well done man! That is truly a great accomplishment!
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Nice!
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Excellent work.
Craig.
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Very good tiller on that one!
-And impressive thing to be pulling your own body weight. If I did that I'd get close to 230#, so I guess I'm not even... You, Eirik, and I'd guess Joe. Anyone else pulling their own body weight?
I pull 175 lbs, and weigh 160
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Whoa! Nice :) -You're over by a good margin :)
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Hi Celtic archer you'll have to post a picture of the bow I would love to see one of Richard Heads warbows, they don't come up often
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Likewise, I thought Richard only made Victorian target bows, I'm gagging to see one of his warbows.
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Beautiful tiller.
Del
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Perfect tiller on that bow. Wery nice work congrats!
Schould we see some more pics and more specs? Did U heat treat the belly lam before glue up?
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Yes, indeed, very nice tiller. How did you determine the final draw weight? Is it actual, tillered with a scale, or are you estimating?
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Thanks, I will try to get a few better pictures up, I didn't do anything special to the woods prior to the glue up next time I may well do, the weight is measured on a scales so its fairly accurate.
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Hey Ian. How did the bow perform at Batsford this weekend?
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Hi Dag Not that great, I ended up only putting a 1/4 pounder off it as the weather wast that good I wasn't expecting much ending up falling short of the EWBS record by I think 7 yards, when the weather clears I will put a standard off it,
I am working on heavy lam V1.2 ;D
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Ahh, well still and impressive bow nonetheless. Lookin' forward to V1.2!
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Hi All
Nice bow Ian.
I have two bows that Ian made for me a 80lb training bow and 110lb warbow. they are very nice bows.
I can shoot the warbow at full draw now but it has taken some time.
Regards
Rum
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Thanks Tony,
If I see you at a shoot your are welcome to try it.
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What are the materials and the brace height?
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Material as in wood? Its Maple belly, Ipe Core Hickory. The brace height is about 5.5"
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Pulling your own weight? In my case that is a constantly moving target! I must train more or eat less, or is that the other way round!
Seriously, great acheivement. A serious bow and you make pulling it look easy!
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Update
This bow was taken apart due to a knot in the Hickory backing that and the fact it started to take set made me decide to have another go with it. The current state of this bow is that it is now in 3 parts, I am going to replace the Hickory backing and glue the bow back together with reflex. The end result I hope will be a good distance, though I do not expect the bow to last.
Pictures of follow.
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If it has taken set and you try to glue in reflex it will probably take even more set. I never undo a bow. I give it away or push it to failure. You can learn so much more from failures than you can from success.
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Nice bow. I could pull tthat about 10 inches.
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If it has taken set and you try to glue in reflex it will probably take even more set. I never undo a bow. I give it away or push it to failure. You can learn so much more from failures than you can from success.
Justin's right... once the wood has taken set as a result of crushed cells, it's virtually impossible to reverse it. I don't take bows apart either. Give it away, shoot it, sell it... whatever.
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Oh I don't think the bow would have lasted but I don't think there is harm in trying. The result of this bow was a quick glue failure, nothing left to salvage. I also don't believe in giving bows like this away, the warbow community is pretty small everyone knows everyone, if I gave a bow away that wasn't any good then it would look pretty bad.
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160 pounds?????!!! Who's gonna shoot it????? King Kong??????
I would love to see a video of this bow being shot. That would be totally awesome! 160 pounds should rival the power of some firearms, certainly a muzzle-loader.
I wish I could shoot a 160 lb. bow. That would be a thrill. The heaviest I can shoot is around 100 pounds (but bear in mind, I am 53 years old).
Sorry to hear about the set. But every failure is a learning experience. Try again. I'd love to see this thing shoot.
Just out of curiosity, are you shooting wood arrows? Where do you find shafts spined for 160 lbs.?
Outstanding job.
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Look at the rest of the thread, I posted a video of the bow being shot. The best this bow ever did was 260 with a standard I have a fair few on the go still that should be pretty good.
And yes always wood, with heavy bows its less about spine and more about weight, I shoot arrows that are 52-70 grams and they seem to go fine.
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I also don't believe in giving bows like this away, the warbow community is pretty small everyone knows everyone, if I gave a bow away that wasn't any good then it would look pretty bad.
True story and it definatly speaks to your integrity. I would feel absolutly awful if I gave away a compromised bow and someone ended up getting hurt due to a catastrophic failure. Any bow you produce and sell or give away is basically a buisness card and nobody wants do deal with a buisness with a shotty record ;) Meh, live and learn I guess.
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Awesome! Eventually I'll get around to making one of those long war bows.
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Get to it, but remember they don't have to be especially 'long'.
MrWarSpoon - Very true I tend to sell the best wood and keep the 2nd quality stuff for myself, and just generally put more effect in bows for other people. The nicest bow I have was one that was sold but ended being too heavy for the chap that requested it.
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If you folks would like to view a great series on making a laminated ELB, go to the tube site and search for "How a Bickerstaffe bow is born". Pip put together a great video.
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Yes, there's already a post on this video.