Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: upstatenybowyer on October 05, 2019, 07:12:25 pm
-
How skinny do you think one could go with a boo-backed ipe D/R that's 72" long (62" of working limb)?
-
Having never made one I'm going to say it depends. The deflex makes the bow more stable but the reflex makes it unstable. The straighter the bow and the better the string alignment the more stable it is. I don't think I'd try less than an inch. How wishy washy an answer is that ;D ;D
-
As skinny as you want. 3/4” no problem. Anything skinnier than that and it becomes uncomfortable to hold.
This one was .75” wide. About 58” working limb.
-
Try 1 1/2" width.
I normally measure working limb on one limb only. From non bending fade area to Nock.
-
Thanks guys. The bow has a little more than 2" of reflex, but there's a good amount of deflex and the string alignment is perfect. I really would like to avoid taking any more off the belly. It's currently 1 1/8" wide and needs to loose about 10 pounds. Wish me luck!
-
Richard Saffold used to routinely make bows of this type in very narrow widths. You can browse Paleoplanet and see all kinds of bows he made with narrow Ipe/Boo combos.
Anyone know if Rich is still at it?
-
I made a few ipe/boo rd's at one inch wide, no problems at all.
-
The first hickory backed ipe bow I built years ago was 1 3/4" wide x 62" long and by the time it was tillered out to 55# the 1/8" hickory backing was thicker than the ipe belly. I wouldn't make a backed ipe bow wider than 1 1/2" and 1" to 1 3/8" is plenty for a bow of hunting weight.
-
I had no idea that you could make these Boo backed bows that narrow would that thickness apply to osage or hickory core ??
-
Osage almost that narrow but not hickory. 1 1/2" or wider for hickory. IMO
-
I have made several bamboo backed hickory bows, I made them 1 3/8" wide. With the bamboo glued in a reflex they perform much like a bamboo backed osage bow.
If you make any bamboo backed bow too wide you end up with more bamboo back than wood belly. I made several oak and hickory ones that turned out this way early on, I called them red oak belly bamboo bows, they were mostly bamboo.
-
I wouldn't go a lick over 1" wide. If you go wider you will end up with more boo than ipe left over.
-
Take my word for it Ben knows what hes talking about on this one.
-
I like to go about 1 1/4 wide on 50# stiff handled boo backed ipe bows in the 66" long range.
-
I kind of like 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" wide for Ipe as well. I did work on a BBIPE many years ago that was 7/8" wide, Steve had glued it up for me. That thing was a bit of a nightmare to tiller out but that's mostly because Steve had left the Bamboo nearly 1/4" thick. It had major lateral stability issues. You can see how thick the Bamboo was in this pictures
-
That is some serious glued-in reflex on that bow Marc!
I am not a fan of bamboo as a backing, but for hickory-backed ipe bows I gravitate to 2.5-3 cm wide, which translates to 1 inch to 1-3/8 inches wide. I also round the hickory back and sand it down to under 1/8 inch thick.
-
That is some serious glued-in reflex on that bow Marc!
Honestly! thats amazing! its braced is identical to its unbraced when flipped to its other side!
-
These are all very helpful replies guys. Can't tell ya how many times I've tried a boo backing only to end up with too much boo and not enough belly. I'm really trying to avoid that with this one. Sounds like the key is the right balance between boo thickness and width.
The thing that scares me about going too narrow is the lateral stability thing. Especially when combined with a good amount of reflex.
-
Can I stick a question in here? Take the bow that Marc posted. It looks like it could be a bear to brace with wanting to twist. Once it's braced is it still more unstable than a straight bow?
-
That was the reflex after I had tillered it out. The bow had some very high string tension and that has a tendency to make a bow a bit unstable at brace. Before tillering it was down right dangerous
-
The one, and only Bamboo backed Ipe bow that I made was 3 piece take down , 40 lbs. at 26 inches draw with straight limbs. It is 1 1/4 at the fades to 1/2 inch at the tips. When I first built it I shot it a lot. Now, not so much.The Bamboo back was thin so I had more Ipe than Bamboo for thickness.
-
I will be gluing up a boo backed ipe in the morning. One method I like to use is I apply the mass principle before glue up. Ipe can be hard to push into shape on the form so I like to get it as thin as possible before glue up. I also like to leave the boo just a little thicker than normal so I can make my ipe thinner. I will be building a 67" long 50#@28". The finished mass will be 21 oz, so if my bamboo comes out at about 8 oz I will rough my stave down to about 16 oz before glue up. This leaves me a bout 3 oz for tillering, quite a lot of wood really.
-
I made this 54 Lb IPE Bow 1" wide. Between the narrowness and the delicate tips, it is difficult to string without it twisting.
Knocker