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« Last post by sleek on January 10, 2026, 06:08:27 pm »
Short bows... my favorite 😍
Im decently studied up on them and have made a few over the years. A couple are pretty fast. Ill tell you a few bullet points on short bows.
Short bows are not limited in their draw length and weight by nature of their length alone. Their width and amount of recurve at the tips make up for the rest of the equation.
A 50 inch bow can pull all the way to 26, even as a stiff handled bow if the handle is its smallest size, the tiller is good, and the tips have enough recurve to keep the string angle down from stacking.
It can have any draw weight you desire as long as there is enough wood in the bending section to absorb the bending stresses. This is controlled by how wide the bow is made to be. By nature of how things work, a 50 pounder will need to be twice as wide as a 25 pounder with all things equal, because two 25s equal a 50.
So, your stave width will be your primary limiting factor.