1
Bows / Re: 2025 Junior Bow Trade
« Last post by stuckinthemud on Today at 06:40:39 am »Fabulous bow, stunning
Recent Posts
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Flight Bows / Re: First flight arrow.
« Last post by Del the cat on Today at 06:38:30 am »I wish you luck!
There are so many variables and it is almost impossible to get good reproducible results.
Seems to me like you are in the right ball park.
I'd suggest the quickest/easiest area for experimentation is size of fletching.
I don't think you can get too light, a bare shaft provides plenty of weight.
There is much discussion about FOC/balance point, my personal view is you want the balance point about 1/8 - 1/4" towards the tip.
With a non-shoot-through bow, the tuning of the arrow pass for clean flight from the bow and getting that elusive clean loose off the fingers is vital.
IMO the front half of the arrow is only there to stop it falling off the shelf/hand/whatever, as the arrow doesn't need to flex round the bow in the early stages of the loose and there is little sideways force on it. So stiffest and fattest at the back.
A simple V spliced hardwood footing is a good way to increase tip weight and minimise breakages at the tip.
As has been said already, if you can see the arrow go, it's not a good shot.
Some info on my arrows shot from an Osage self bow, here :-
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2018/03/new-pb-for-distance.html
Del
(terms and conditions apply. I reserve the right to be wrong!)
There are so many variables and it is almost impossible to get good reproducible results.
Seems to me like you are in the right ball park.
I'd suggest the quickest/easiest area for experimentation is size of fletching.
I don't think you can get too light, a bare shaft provides plenty of weight.
There is much discussion about FOC/balance point, my personal view is you want the balance point about 1/8 - 1/4" towards the tip.
With a non-shoot-through bow, the tuning of the arrow pass for clean flight from the bow and getting that elusive clean loose off the fingers is vital.
IMO the front half of the arrow is only there to stop it falling off the shelf/hand/whatever, as the arrow doesn't need to flex round the bow in the early stages of the loose and there is little sideways force on it. So stiffest and fattest at the back.
A simple V spliced hardwood footing is a good way to increase tip weight and minimise breakages at the tip.
As has been said already, if you can see the arrow go, it's not a good shot.
Some info on my arrows shot from an Osage self bow, here :-
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2018/03/new-pb-for-distance.html
Del
(terms and conditions apply. I reserve the right to be wrong!)
3
Flight Bows / Re: First flight arrow.
« Last post by willie on Today at 05:56:18 am »As it sits now the spine as at 50lbs. This is pegged at 22” not 26”. The weight is quite light at 230grains.Dave, can you explain the math behind 50lbs if you are measuring at 22" centers?
perhaps citing deflections. weight of the load and distance between centers is easiest for most as those three are "raw" data and not subject to formulas or derived units.
Quote
I’ve been told by guys in the know that less spine is better to a point.
good problem to have! max diameter can always be reduced
4
Bows / ipe warbow dimensions
« Last post by lonbow on Today at 04:17:52 am »A customer asked me to build him a laminated warbow (ipe and hard maple backing). The target draw weight is 120 lbs @ 30". Do you have any suggestions for dimensions?
Thank you!
lonbow
Thank you!
lonbow
5
Bows / Re: 48" osage shorty bendy handle recurve build
« Last post by superdav95 on Today at 03:01:01 am »Sweet looking bow there Bob. Ya it doesn’t take much wood to get a hunting bow.
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Flight Bows / Re: First flight arrow.
« Last post by superdav95 on Today at 02:57:38 am »Hey guys. First flight arrow here. I’m just going to do a range of similar arrow at varying spines and then test them out locally here before flight shoot. This arrow is spruce shaft from surewood shafts in the 50-55 range. I’ve had these for a while and glad I kept them. I’ve tapered the shaft down to roughly .180” at the tip tapering to fattest section about 1-1.5” rear of center where thickness is .310”. This then tapers again towards the nock about .245”. I used antler nock and will still shape it a bit more. The fletchings will be goat skin parchment. Very thin yet tough. As it sits now the spine as at 50lbs. This is pegged at 22” not 26”. The weight is quite light at 230grains. I’ve been told by guys in the know that less spine is better to a point. Some would say that this arrow is spined correctly. I guess I show up with a bunch of arrows at varying spines and see. I’ll of course do some testing here before in a buddies field but climate and wind and other factors there cannot be entirely counted for. Any suggestions to raise the weight a bit?
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00aCz3INlZ0OVYCs1w9RANT_A
Ok Arvin just reminded me that no minimum weight on sorrows for flight. So I’ll take a bit more material off to get the spine down a bit more. I’ll see if I can get it closer to 35lb spine. Or .743” deflection. My next few arrows I’ll make at 1” deflection and then do one at 1/2” deflection to test em out.
Just make sure its no less than 22 inches from INSIDE the nock to the point.
Roger that sleek!
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Flight Bows / Re: First flight arrow.
« Last post by superdav95 on Today at 02:55:07 am »Funny seeing you post this because I’ve just started working on my arrows. I also got some surewood shafts to use. Going to start practicing on some poplar for shaping. Going to go for a Turkish style arrow. How are you going to attach the parchment? I was going to use the same gifted to me from Alan. I might try to make a jig to cut some slots into the nock end.
I’ve been watching your flight bow build with the z splice thinking well he will need arrows for that bow so it’s no surprise to hear you are in arrow mode. As for the parchment fletching I was gonna just measure the placement and draw a thin magic marker line and cut into it with an exacto blade to slip the fletch down in the slot. At least that’s the plan. If I like the placement and alignment I’ll glue them down in. I’ve also got some hawk feathers from a road kill I found years ago. I may try an arrow with these feather too or goose or owl feathers maybe. A jig sounds like a good idea. I’ve been thinking on this too. I was thinking of placing a blade into my fletching jig instead of a feather and press it down a tad to make the shallow cut then rotate to the next spot and so on. I could just cut these deeper depending on how deep is needed.
8
Bows / Re: 48" osage shorty bendy handle recurve build
« Last post by Bob Barnes on February 07, 2026, 10:03:20 pm »Another cool bow Dave. About 20 years ago I made a 50" 50#@27" sinew backed osage bow that even had a non-bending grip, but I hunted with it for a couple of successful years. It was one of my favorite bows. It always amazed me that so little wood and sinew could make such a great shooting and tiny bow. Good luck!
9
Primitive Skills / Re: Life is good
« Last post by bjrogg on February 07, 2026, 09:58:45 pm »Yeah had a neighbor who had one and they fixed it pretty easily. He said it was instant relief.
Bjrogg
Bjrogg
10
Flight Bows / Re: First flight arrow.
« Last post by sleek on February 07, 2026, 09:46:14 pm »Hey guys. First flight arrow here. I’m just going to do a range of similar arrow at varying spines and then test them out locally here before flight shoot. This arrow is spruce shaft from surewood shafts in the 50-55 range. I’ve had these for a while and glad I kept them. I’ve tapered the shaft down to roughly .180” at the tip tapering to fattest section about 1-1.5” rear of center where thickness is .310”. This then tapers again towards the nock about .245”. I used antler nock and will still shape it a bit more. The fletchings will be goat skin parchment. Very thin yet tough. As it sits now the spine as at 50lbs. This is pegged at 22” not 26”. The weight is quite light at 230grains. I’ve been told by guys in the know that less spine is better to a point. Some would say that this arrow is spined correctly. I guess I show up with a bunch of arrows at varying spines and see. I’ll of course do some testing here before in a buddies field but climate and wind and other factors there cannot be entirely counted for. Any suggestions to raise the weight a bit?
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00aCz3INlZ0OVYCs1w9RANT_A
Ok Arvin just reminded me that no minimum weight on sorrows for flight. So I’ll take a bit more material off to get the spine down a bit more. I’ll see if I can get it closer to 35lb spine. Or .743” deflection. My next few arrows I’ll make at 1” deflection and then do one at 1/2” deflection to test em out.
Just make sure its no less than 22 inches from INSIDE the nock to the point.