Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => English Warbow => Topic started by: Ian. on May 21, 2011, 04:22:33 pm

Title: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Ian. on May 21, 2011, 04:22:33 pm
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)
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Dag on May 21, 2011, 04:30:39 pm
WHOA! :o  Thats awesome! Great job Ian!  How wide is it at the handle?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: HatchA on May 21, 2011, 04:31:48 pm
160lbs???

Rather you than me :o
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on May 21, 2011, 04:53:15 pm
Thanks

The handle is 37/31 tips about 14/14
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: toomanyknots on May 21, 2011, 05:43:48 pm
Thats a very nice tiller there!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: medicinewheel on May 21, 2011, 06:00:33 pm
GREAT!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: fishfinder401 on May 21, 2011, 07:46:42 pm
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
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: nidrinr on May 21, 2011, 10:21:25 pm
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?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Marc St Louis on May 21, 2011, 11:41:17 pm
Nice.  Very well tillered
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: fishfinder401 on May 22, 2011, 01:04:23 am
nidrinr im in the same boat as you, although hopefully that will change :-\
noel
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Badger on May 22, 2011, 04:57:06 pm
     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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: ErictheViking on May 22, 2011, 06:22:39 pm
very nice work.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on May 24, 2011, 01:42:29 pm
Update, my arms felt up to the challenge today,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvUM3r8AnEg



It seems fast
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Dag on May 24, 2011, 01:47:04 pm
Well done man!  That is truly a great accomplishment!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: nidrinr on May 24, 2011, 08:56:48 pm
Nice!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: CraigMBeckett on May 24, 2011, 10:46:31 pm
Excellent work.

Craig.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: CelticArcher on May 25, 2011, 11:33:16 pm
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
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: nidrinr on May 26, 2011, 05:39:50 am
Whoa! Nice :) -You're over by a good margin :)
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on May 26, 2011, 05:41:40 am
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
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: peasant1381 on May 26, 2011, 06:42:09 am
Likewise, I thought Richard only made Victorian target bows, I'm gagging to see one of his warbows.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Del the cat on May 26, 2011, 12:05:44 pm
Beautiful tiller.
Del
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: fusizoli on May 27, 2011, 06:09:53 pm
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?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: adb on May 27, 2011, 08:44:23 pm
Yes, indeed, very nice tiller. How did you determine the final draw weight? Is it actual, tillered with a scale, or are you estimating?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on May 29, 2011, 04:14:48 pm
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Dag on May 30, 2011, 06:06:15 pm
Hey Ian. How did the bow perform at Batsford this weekend?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on May 30, 2011, 06:52:04 pm
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
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Dag on May 30, 2011, 07:23:25 pm
Ahh, well still and impressive bow nonetheless.  Lookin' forward to V1.2!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Rumcelt on August 06, 2011, 09:19:06 am
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
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on August 08, 2011, 12:14:45 pm
Thanks Tony,

If I see you at a shoot your are welcome to try it.

Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Prarie Bowyer on September 07, 2011, 02:41:10 am
What are the materials and the brace height?
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: Ian. on September 08, 2011, 11:02:16 am
Material as in wood? Its Maple belly, Ipe Core Hickory. The brace height is about 5.5"
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished
Post by: markinengland on September 08, 2011, 07:49:58 pm
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!
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Ian. on May 08, 2012, 06:04:06 pm
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Justin Snyder on May 08, 2012, 06:10:38 pm
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: ol dog on May 13, 2012, 02:13:15 pm
Nice bow. I could pull tthat about 10 inches.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: adb on May 14, 2012, 11:30:58 am
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Ian. on May 14, 2012, 12:49:01 pm
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.

 
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: gigmaster on June 02, 2012, 03:38:55 am
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Ian. on June 03, 2012, 06:09:28 pm
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: MrWarSpoon on July 09, 2012, 12:15:54 am
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Christian Soldier on July 09, 2012, 10:17:52 am
Awesome! Eventually I'll get around to making one of those long war bows.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Ian. on July 09, 2012, 08:27:44 pm
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: Tom Leemans on July 11, 2012, 09:00:29 am
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.
Title: Re: 160lb Laminate bow finished - Update page 3
Post by: adb on July 11, 2012, 11:33:44 am
Yes, there's already a post on this video.