My first flightbows

[Lukasz Nawalny]

I never made flightbows before but we have in Poland in April 2014 first flight tournament. I want make 2 flightbows in 70 lb class - Molly style and turkish hornbow. I just finish 2 bows , but both too light draw weight - about 55 lb at 26 ". I work now on next, stronger bows I hope I can make it on time. 

Molly 59 " ntn and 54 lb at 26" - ipe/maple/sinew . 5 mm ipe 5 mm maple. Snaky handle give centershot. On handle white ox horn on tip water Buffalo. 50/50 rate , 2" wide working part on tip only 4 mm. With 25 "  250 grain arrow and 24,5 " draw about 200 fps. It maybe not impressive on flightbow but second bow will be shorter 3-4 inch and stronger , I expect
much more speed.



turkish bow - 55 lb at 27" , 45 NTN , mass only 290 gram before leather cover. Arrow speed similar . Next will be stronger and 3 inch shorter

[Postman]

Beautiful bows! Love the handle on the molly.

[Badger]

  Great to hear that your country is getting into flight shooting. If you have a chrono shoot many arrows in front of it with any kind of bow practicing your release. Keep your bow arm just slightly bent and learn to rip your fingers off the string while pushing with your bow arm. The bows you show should be hitting at least 220 fps, I suspect you are loosing a bit in your release somehow. A little practice you will see what I am talking about.

[dwardo]

They look great. Would be nice to see more photos.

[Lukasz Nawalny]

When you click on photo you must click in "nastepne" and see more photos. You have rigth Badger, I must practice release. On Chrono test I use simple light arrow not tipical flight arrow, so I think dedicated flight arrow will be faster in thesame mass, what do you think ?

[blackhawk]

Looks nice....I went and looked at the rest of your pics of the molly,and i think you can remove quite a bit of thickness and depth off of your levers...here's a link to a good example of just how extreme you can go with a 50/50 ratio molly stylle bow....notice the levers are not only slightly narrower,but also considerably a lot less thicker(and Osage is less dense than ipe),and you can barely distinguish that my levers are much thicker than the working limbs in the pics......normally I don't jump in and criticize,but since your trying g to make flight bows and get every ounce of energy you can I'll share what I think you can do to make it slightly better....and in flight shooting that slightly better can be the world of difference

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,32585.0.html

[Del the cat]

Nice looking bows. I had my first flight shots a couple of weeks ago. It was such a great feeling watching those arrows go I want to do some more. I'll have a go at building a flight bow next year (longbow classs).
Good luck,
Del

[Lukasz Nawalny]

Im sure you have right Blackhawk, there is a lot of mass to reduce on molly. This one is to light draw anyway , next time I make something more extreme

[Badger]

  Your 55# bow could compete wit the 70# in flight if your arrow is matched well to the bow. Arrows are the real trick with flight shooting. I tried a new design this year and they flew like crap. I borrowed a very well designed arrow from a friend and set a new record. There was close to 80 yards difference in the distance the distance from his arrow to mine and they were the same weight arrows.

[adb]

Hey, Steve. Care to share the difference in the arrows?

[Badger]

  Instead of a bullet nose on the arrows I used a long thin tapered needle tip. My theory was that the dynamic center would not recognise the long tip of the arrow as arrow length. I also used turkey fletcing cut way down to the right height but way too thick for little flight arrows.

[Marc St Louis]

When you click on photo you must click in "nastepne" and see more photos. You have rigth Badger, I must practice release. On Chrono test I use simple light arrow not tipical flight arrow, so I think dedicated flight arrow will be faster in thesame mass, what do you think ?

If the arrows are the same mass then they will both have the same initial speed

[Peacebow_Coos]

Awesome bows, in stealth finish, good work!

[mikekeswick]

Very nice bows as always!
I agree with Blackhawk on the limb to lever transitions. It's really surprising how little extra thickness you need to make them stiff. Also try to blend the width taper more.
I await the next versions.
I'm planning a Turkish flight bow at the moment too, got the forms made, horn and sinew is ready but the search for perfect core wood goes on....

[Hrothgar]

Very nice bows. Good luck at your shoot.