American Flatbow Dimensions

[Wooden Spring]

OK, As I'm about to start my 5th ELB, the previous 4 having committed suicide of some varrying degree, my wife suggests that I try one a LITTLE easier to make. I whole-heartedly agree... OK, so I found these dimensions for a flatbow on vintageprojects.com...   I'd like to know from you folks who do this all the time if these are legitimate dimensions, or if they were drawn by a kindergarten art class.

Incidentally, I'll probably be making the thing out of hickory or ipe. And the intended purpose of this bow is hunting - so it's got to be accurate and powerful enough at 20 yards to get the job done on deer and the occasional black bear in North Georgia. Thanks!!!

[Pat B]

I can't read the dimensions but the design looks very good. I'd say go 66" to 68", 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" at the fades for hickory but only 1" to 1 3/8"(max) for the ipe. I like the way the tips are narrowed on this design. That should make for a sweet shooting bow.   You could easily hunt any North American animal with this bow.

[blackhawk]

Pats got ya Pays ....it looks like that print is for a backed bow when I zoom in on it. Id make a hickory backed ipe then,but make the fades to mid limb 1 1/4"-1 3/8"....and I wouldn't cut to those exact thicknesses ....you'll have to leave a lil more meat to tiller it. Id make the handle section on the ipe a half inch thick parralel,then taper thickness to 3/8" .and make your hickory backing an 1/8" thick parralel. But if glue ups intimidate you then just make a simple hickory board bow with the dimensions pat gave ya.

[Wooden Spring]

Pat B thanks for the quick reply. Hey, you're from Brevard! My wife is from Etowah... You're probably the only one on these forums who actually knows where that is!

I'm sorry about the dimensions being hard to read, I just quickly threw it together in autoCAD without realizing legibility problems...

Handle: 7/8" wide, 4" long (3" below center line of bow and 1" above)
Limb (upper): 1 1/2" wide at 2 1/2" from center, then straight for 1'-1" then tapers for 10" to 3/4" wide, then tapers for 7 1/2" to 1/2" wide at 1" from the end
                      11/16" thick at 2 1/2" from center, then straight tapers to 3/8" thick at 1" from the end
Limb (lower): 1 1/2" wide at 4 1/2" from center, then straight for 9 3/4" then tapers for 10 1/2" to 3/4" wide, then tapers for 8 1/4" to 9/16" wide at 1" from the end
                     11/16" thick at 4 1/2" from center, then straight tapers to 3/8" thick at 1" from the end

NOTE: The limbs are offset to put the center of effort at 1/2" above the bow's center line. This is the arrow pass.

[Wooden Spring]

Oh, and I drew a backing on it out of habit... Not necessarily because it's the best way to go - I had been drawing ELB with a hickory backing, so if the backing in that drawing for that particular bow won't work, I've got an erase button.   

[Pat B]

Hickory backed ipe makes a great bow. I've never made an unbacked ipe bow so I can't talk to that. A hickory selfbow would work with this design too.
  Etowah is just down the road. I think a few others here know where it is but not many. Where do you guys live now?

[Wooden Spring]

Pat:
Yeah, we live in Cleveland, GA now. We started out in Raleigh (she's from Etowah, I'm from Morehead City) thinking it was good middle ground, then we wound up here following wherever the work was... You know how that goes! I bugged her for a number of years while I went through my "I wanna build a boat" phase (Hey, I'm from Morehead, so I've got salt in my veins), now that we're too far from the beach to warrent that passion, I got into building bows. It's going great so far, as long as you consider 1 broken bow, 2 bows too heavy (WAY too heavy), 1 bad glue-up, and 1 bow in process to be "great." One thing I've learned about bows, and I'm sure this goes as a "no-duh" thing for all you folks that have been doing this forever - this is NOT a science, it is an art form. Which, admittedly, is probably why it has such a draw for me.

At any rate, thanks for the help, I'll probably get started on this flatbow after Christmas. I'll be sure to post "in-progress" pics.