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Bows / Re: Medieval Irish bow and crossbow drawings
« Last post by stuckinthemud on January 31, 2026, 06:49:08 am »
Recent Posts
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Bows / Re: Medieval Irish bow and crossbow drawings
« Last post by jameswoodmot on January 31, 2026, 04:56:47 am »Thanks for posting that, got a link to the original paper?
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Bows / Re: recurve or longbow tips
« Last post by Hamish on January 31, 2026, 12:39:42 am »I was typing ,but SDave answered first... so its pretty similar.
It depends upon what style of recurve you make. A static recurve, none of the recurve appears to bend, because its left stiff on purpose. Active recurve, the recurve will appear to bend, straighten out a little, but not fully. Static has no set in the recurve, whilst active recurve will take a little bit of set, but still look recurved.
Most straight bows do well with 4"- 12" of non bending tips, depending on the style of the bow. If you tiller the bow whilst its strung, the string effectively stops you from working too close to the tips.
You know you are working too close to the tips because the string will get cut.
A Bowyer's Edge type scraper is a great tool for tillering. You just need to wrap the opposite side of the blade that sticks up with electrical tape, that will stop it from accidentally cutting the string.
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Bows / Re: recurve or longbow tips
« Last post by superdav95 on January 31, 2026, 12:35:22 am »Shorter recurves whether static or working have less mass and can contribute to better cast. Stiff recurves can focus more bend on working limb and increase draw weight. Anywhere from 3-6” tips work good depending on the type of bow you want to make. Shorter tighter recurves on shorter bows and longer sweeping recurves or flipped tips even on longer bows. There are benefits and drawbacks to each. Working recurve tips are a little trickier to do but give a silky smooth draw with good performance too. Hope this helps.
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Arrows / Re: Fancy Eastern Woodlands style blunt with Buzzard
« Last post by Aaron1726 on January 30, 2026, 11:47:22 pm »Absolutely awesome! I've tried one arrow like that before, whittled down from a larger shoot, it wasnt anywhere near that nice. Takes a lot of work to make one of those. Well done
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Bows / recurve or longbow tips
« Last post by Stickbow Felty on January 30, 2026, 11:37:38 pm »How much of the tips do you leave non bending on a recurve and a longbow? TIA Greg 
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Bows / Re: bamboo self bow build
« Last post by superdav95 on January 30, 2026, 10:38:26 pm »That’s coming along very nicely Dave. Can’t wait to see how it performs for you. Im betting it will be a good one.
Thanks brother!
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Bows / Re: bamboo self bow build
« Last post by superdav95 on January 30, 2026, 10:37:12 pm »Dave are the ends working at all know? I know you are more familiar with what you are doing but I would try parallel for 8-9” then straight taper to the tips. That’s assuming the bamboo is thick enough on the ends. But make all but the last three inches not bend. But that’s me . IM watching and learning. Like it so far!
You must be in my head Arvin. I just did that! Anyway this makes me feel better the get the outers moving a little more. These bows tend to have more of a circular tiller. This also should lighten it up a bit too. Good call! I’ll post a few pics of it when closer to 55lbs.
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Bows / Re: Madake-horn, 57#@28"
« Last post by bentstick54 on January 30, 2026, 09:35:22 pm »Absolutely stunning.
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Bows / Re: bamboo self bow build
« Last post by bentstick54 on January 30, 2026, 09:17:40 pm »That’s coming along very nicely Dave. Can’t wait to see how it performs for you. Im betting it will be a good one.