Primitive Archer

When I lived in Maine, BL was the best wood I could easily get.

My first use of it was from a small tree that only allowed a 1-1/2" wide stave. I made a pyramid design bow that was nearly perfect tiller at #35. It had about 3 inches of  reflex. I shot it a lot and it performed well. Then I discovered that the belly had a parade of frets from one tip to the other--the whole belly.

With nothing much to lose, I just kept on shooting it. Eventually, I over drew it and it broke.

For the next few years, I made all my bows with backs narrower than the belly. But my subsequent research found studies that indicated that wood only stretches about 1% before breaking. SO, narrowing the back does not make the tension wood stretch more to accommodate the compression of the belly.

We all know that if we bend any piece of wood far enough, it WILL break. The balance for bowyers is in making the limbs thin enough to not yield (take set) at the amount of bend (draw length) we want. At the right thickness for the bend, the weight will be determined by the limb width.

My best locust bows were pyramid design, a little under 1/2" thick, 2-1/2" wide at the fades, 68" NTN and about #40 at 28".