"Ideal Bow"

[PatM]

I thought Tim's bow was much more willow leaf shaped in the limbs.

[Badger]

  Tim called it the Eifel tower I think.

[riverrat]

ive made semi bend through the handle bows like in your picture. they were short but very powerful. and i didnt always tiller them flat either. tried to match the natural curve of the back ring with the tiller on the belly. for a short powerful bow thats my favorite style for osage or locust.Tony

[Del the cat]

All my drawings of bows work perfectly
Del

[Onebowonder]

All my drawings of bows work perfectly
Del

All species of Human-kind are inferior to the Brits in one clear regard if none other, ...this being the innate aptitude for dry and sometimes biting witticisms.

OneBow

[mikekeswick]

Brits....cough splutter......English,Scottish,Irish or Welsh are the correct terms! Not of us call ourselves Brits.....
I do agree with your sentiment though!!

I agree with Badger once you get a straight bow design wired they all shoot about the same. Pyramids are easier to achieve this with in my opinion. Easier to judge tiller. Engineering-wise they do have a point. 170fps is what you should aim for with a straight selfbow. I've had my laminate elbs scrape 180fps. A couple of recurves have made 185fps.

[Aaron H]

I agree with Badger once you get a straight bow design wired they all shoot about the same. Pyramids are easier to achieve this with in my opinion. Easier to judge tiller. Engineering-wise they do have a point. 170fps is what you should aim for with a straight selfbow. I've had my laminate elbs scrape 180fps. A couple of recurves have made 185fps.

Is this with a 10 gpp arrow?

[DC]

Anyone know what the fastest wooden bows ever measured were? Lam and selfbows separately.And maybe *****glass too.

[Badger]

DC, I have measured my fastest at 188 fps, Mark St Louis bow I measured at 190 fps I believe with 10 grains. These are backed bows. fastest self bow I have measured is 184 which was mine and a bow of Marks at about the same. How a bow is tested and what type of string it has all make a big difference so accurate testing is really hard to come by. I tested an experimental bow a few months back that cracked the 200 mark but within a dozen shots it had broken down to about 157. Unless a bow is actually tested through a machine using identical strings and strictly measured arrow weights and bow weights test results cannot be taken as gospel.

[DC]

Thanks Steve. I wasn't really after accurate figures. I just wanted ballpark figures. Have you ever heard(rumours) of any in the 225 or 250 range or is that compound area?

[Badger]

  Shooting light arrows I have a bow right now that will hit 300 fps. That same bow shooting 10 grains per pound shoots in the low 170's. I think a few modern recurves may be exceeding 200 fps at 10 grins per pound but to my knowledge no modern long bows or primitive bows have gotten there yet. A few modern longbows have hit the 200fps but didn't last long enough to be considered a viable design. I think they will get there before too long.

[Jim Davis]

Klopsteag notes elsewhere in the text that since the limb tips are parallel for a ways, some of that length needs to taper in thickness, unlike the main part of the limbs. He also points out that the tips should never be narrower than their thickness.

"Pyramid" bows are addictive. Once a person sees how they are nearly tillered  as soon as they are sawn out, it begins to seem like that's the only sensible way to make a bow. I have made nothing but pyramid bows for the last 15 years. I have no interest in any other design.

Jim Davis

[PatM]

Klopsteag notes elsewhere in the text that since the limb tips are parallel for a ways, some of that length needs to taper in thickness, unlike the main part of the limbs. He also points out that the tips should never be narrower than their thickness.

"Pyramid" bows are addictive. Once a person sees how they are nearly tillered  as soon as they are sawn out, it begins to seem like that's the only sensible way to make a bow. I have made nothing but pyramid bows for the last 15 years. I have no interest in any other design.

Jim Davis

   Most people can  nearly have a bow tillered after it is roughed out anyway once they have made a few bows.
 The concept of easier doesn't generally cross the mind of most wood bowyers.

[bradsmith2010]

I am sure pyramid bows are a good design,,I like Native style bows and havent made a pyramid bow in 20 years,, you can glue a fiberglass bow up and it is tillered,,I like to carve a bow from a stave and enjoy the variation,,I know I am not sensible,,, hope to never be

[bowandarrow473]

I'm with Bradsmith, pyramid bows are great but I find them ugly. I prefer narrower bows like the AFL or Eastern Woodland.