Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Flight Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on December 02, 2011, 02:07:03 pm

Title: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Marc St Louis on December 02, 2011, 02:07:03 pm
I had a request from Ivar Malde (Kviljo) a couple months ago for a flightbow.  He wanted something in HHB so I made him this bow.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/HHB/HHB%20Flightbow/HHBFlightbow.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/HHB/HHB%20Flightbow/FullDraw.jpg)

The bow is 52" N to N with 1 1/2" wide limbs and pulls just under 70# @ 25".  It is similar to the flightbow I wrote about in a previous issue of PA mag.  I heat-treated more than 4" of reflex into the bow and it lost most of that only keeping a little less than 1".
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Shaun on December 02, 2011, 02:16:49 pm
Sweet tiller Marc. That looks like it would send a flight arrow out of sight - maybe into orbit.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: nativenoobowyer86 on December 02, 2011, 02:17:20 pm
hmmmmm lost 3 inches of reflex eh? maybe because its #70 and only 52" long!!!! amazing work as always Marc :D Ive got the elm flightbow article out on my workbench next to some maple billets,  after i read it a couple more times i think i will give it a shot :P
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: blackhawk on December 02, 2011, 02:44:00 pm
Thanks for posting Marc ;)....it sure is nice to see your work on the board again...it always gives me inspiration. :D
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: dragonman on December 02, 2011, 03:06:37 pm
thats a short bow for a 70# white wood self bow, but looks like you pulled it off ,very nice bends in the full draw shot.....good tiller, bet its fast......
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: druid on December 02, 2011, 03:38:36 pm
As always- amazing bow Marc...so short, so strong, so good.... masterwork. You are like some bowmaking machine- always fastest bows, always flawless tiller....
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Parnell on December 02, 2011, 04:57:07 pm
Phew, thats gotta be a shooter.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Elktracker on December 02, 2011, 05:19:13 pm
thats a short bow for a 70# white wood self bow, but looks like you pulled it off ,very nice bends in the full draw shot.....good tiller, bet its fast......

I agree! and great bow! Would love to try one of these!

Josh
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: mullet on December 02, 2011, 06:48:46 pm
That's a sweet looking, litle hot rod, Marc.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Gus on December 02, 2011, 06:56:58 pm
Yes Sir!

That looks like a Hum Dinger!

WoW! Very intense looking profile.
The bow looks a lot bigger in the first photo, lacking any external size reference.

Regards!

-gus
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: mikekeswick on December 02, 2011, 07:33:11 pm
That bow looks very nice Marc.
I notice that the belly only seems to have some 'dark' patches from the heat treating left? I persume you treated it when still too heavy and removed the coloured wood as tiller progressed..my question is do you think it's worth heat treating it again once final tiller is reached? Or is one treatment enough? Have you noticed any differences between the two methods.
Did you narrow the limbs any time during tillering? At only 1 1/2 inches wide that must be pretty dense hhb?
Would you mind explaining the reason for the deflex near the handle.
Sorry for all the questions!
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: soy on December 02, 2011, 09:11:40 pm
Wow, that is one I'm going to try! What did you use to bend the tips it looks sharper than say a coffee can.great job ;)
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: gstoneberg on December 02, 2011, 09:16:23 pm
Beauty Marc! 

George
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Catahoula on December 02, 2011, 09:17:05 pm
Mark,
That is one neat bow!

Rand
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Badger on December 02, 2011, 09:20:04 pm
   I think you have a winner their Mark, flight bows don't need a ton of reflex. At 52" long it should be able to deliver a lot of energy to a very light arrow. Looking forward to hearing how she does.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Hrothgar on December 03, 2011, 12:02:34 am
Very impressive bow Marc.  Is that a 2 vane arrow?
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Keenan on December 03, 2011, 12:35:52 am
Marc you really have them little rocket launchers down. Great craftsmanship as always.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: zenmonkeyman on December 03, 2011, 01:08:42 am
Really love that asymmetrical handle!  Sooo... How fast is it?  Cmon we know you too well don't pretend you didn't run a few through your cronograph!  ;)
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Del the cat on December 03, 2011, 05:31:25 am
Sooo... How fast is it?  Cmon we know you too well don't pretend you didn't run a few through your cronograph!  ;)
Yup, that's what I was thinkin' but I din't want to appear too excitable :)
Del
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: medicinewheel on December 03, 2011, 06:31:05 am
Very nice bow Marc!
Is that upper recurve longer/different from the lower??
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Marc St Louis on December 03, 2011, 10:13:52 am
Thanks guys.

I thought it would keep a bit more reflex than it did but there's not much working limb for a 25" draw.

The arrow is just something I use for tillering

I did not run it through a chrono but I did shoot it a few times.  I'll let Ivar do the real testing, on the range.  Winter up here and it's hard to do any testing like that indoors.  Plus bows like these don't have a long competitive life span.  The more I shoot it the less time it will have its competitive edge.

They can't use a shelf in Norway but he wanted something close to center shot so that is what I came up with.

The 2 recurves are not quite the same

Heat treating it again won't make any difference, done that before.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: George Tsoukalas on December 03, 2011, 10:38:14 am
It's a beauty! That'll toss an arrow a looong way! Jawge
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: PatM on December 03, 2011, 11:00:14 am
Nice little bow. Even broken down these bows can still go on to a second life. The degraded performance is still pretty good if you don't kow what they were like in their prime.
 The handle will feel pretty familiar to Kviljio since it's pretty much what he used on that great Ipe/Boo flight bow he used for hitting close to 400 with.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: coaster500 on December 03, 2011, 12:56:00 pm
Wow 52"s,  70#s!!!  ,,, all I can do is scratch my head and wish for that kind of skill.

Amazing!!!
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: PeteC on December 03, 2011, 01:54:19 pm
Very nice bow Marc.I would love to see it perform.Hard to beat EHHB.Great job. God Bless
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Arrowind on December 04, 2011, 01:08:40 pm
Amazing bow.   Everything about it....I gotta read that article...
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Marc St Louis on December 04, 2011, 01:59:06 pm
Thanks guys

At 70# @ 25" it's quite the handful.  Ivar didn't want any more than that as he figured it would make it too hard to shoot
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Pappy on December 05, 2011, 10:29:57 am
Very nice work Marc ,that should spit an arrow for sure.  ;D ;D
   Pappy
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Justin Snyder on December 05, 2011, 11:21:45 am
Very nice Marc. I really like spliced handles for adding deflex. This is a great example of how to do it.
Title: Re: HHB Flightbow
Post by: Marc St Louis on December 06, 2011, 10:56:11 am
Thanks guys

Justin:  That type of splice is a bit more work to make but as far as I'm concerned well worth it.