Weight to draw to length ratio?

[bubby]

how about
bow 2" at the widest, deflex, short recurve hooks, 53" ntn, little to no overall reflex, draw 30.5"? sinew or... bamboo backed?
 61" D bow with a little asymmetry?

That gives you a 27-28" max draw and prolly would stack to high heaven and that's bendy handle

[PatM]

I don't think bows need to be anywhere near as long as people are suggesting to reach 30 plus inches but they do need to be over 58".

I realize a bow can be shorter pat but he asked for a rule of thumb and that was what i gave him

 I know but having shot his 58" for a year before breaking it in the cold it seems he could think about shorter than the rule of thumb. There does seem to be some sort of twilight zone for people between 28 inch draws and over. Nobody bats an eye at the bows on here 62" -64" drawing 28' but everyone seems to want to add nearly a foot to go beyond that.

[bubby]

Pat we didn't see the bow at all no fd no brace and don't know how the tiller was, could of bent mostly in the fades, even badly tillered bows will last a while. That would also give a longer draw. There are many ways it could of worked right?

[PatM]

Pat we didn't see the bow at all no fd no brace and don't know how the tiller was, could of bent mostly in the fades, even badly tillered bows will last a while. That would also give a longer draw. There are many ways it could of worked right?

 Sure, but if the weight is anywhere near accurate I'm not so sure it would hold up for long with a crowded tiller.

[George Tsoukalas]

Jim, I don't like short bows ( I like smooth drawing bows) so I build in a little more length.
Also, perfect staves can  be shorter.
The presence of knots, twists, etc mean a little more length might be justified.
Jawge

[bubby]

Pat we didn't see the bow at all no fd no brace and don't know how the tiller was, could of bent mostly in the fades, even badly tillered bows will last a while. That would also give a longer draw. There are many ways it could of worked right?

 Sure, but if the weight is anywhere near accurate I'm not so sure it would hold up for long with a crowded tiller.

So we agree this is all conjecture 😉

[bow101]

I draw 28" and have a 60" recurve,   a wee bit of stack and finger pinch but not much because I shoot it 3 under always.  But I will retire it and get at least a 64" bow.  For my wooden bows I prefer 66" and even better a 67".  Lots of guys using 68" glass longbows.

[Del the cat]

Simplest approx' ratio is 2:1 to give a minimum bow length (wooden bow).
BUT that's for good wood, well designed made by a top level bowyer.
Del

[loon]

I draw 28" and have a 60" recurve,   a wee bit of stack and finger pinch but not much because I shoot it 3 under always.  But I will retire it and get at least a 64" bow.  For my wooden bows I prefer 66" and even better a 67".  Lots of guys using 68" glass longbows.

I draw 31" and have a 50" glass recurve... korean though. Doesn't feel too bad for me with split fingers to 27". I don't get why it can be drawn more or stack less than a bow deflexed rather than reflexed at the grip.
even the olympic recurve guys with 70" glass bows thought it was smooth... but it has a good amount of reflex. probably also the static recurves
don't know, are such things just too hard to achieve with wood bows?
guess I should shut up and try.

A 62" bendy D bow would only have 2" more sticking out to get caught on brush. could be mitigated with asymmetry if one wanted? so maybe that'd be good to build.

[Del the cat]

I draw 28" and have a 60" recurve,   a wee bit of stack and finger pinch but not much because I shoot it 3 under always.  But I will retire it and get at least a 64" bow.  For my wooden bows I prefer 66" and even better a 67".  Lots of guys using 68" glass longbows.

I draw 31" and have a 50" glass recurve... korean though. Doesn't feel too bad for me with split fingers to 27". I don't get why it can be drawn more or stack less than a bow deflexed rather than reflexed at the grip.
even the olympic recurve guys with 70" glass bows thought it was smooth... but it has a good amount of reflex. probably also the static recurves
don't know, are such things just too hard to achieve with wood bows?
guess I should shut up and try.

A 62" bendy D bow would only have 2" more sticking out to get caught on brush. could be mitigated with asymmetry if one wanted? so maybe that'd be good to build.

Sheeesh... you can do anything with glass or carbon, (spits on floor) they are relatively unbreakable and have no relevance at all to wooden bows.
You can take any old glass bow and overdraw it by 50%...
Shouldn't even be talking about 'em on this board.... (hacks up hairball onto floor)
Del

[bentstick54]

I'm with Del, thread is getting off track. Back to OP about selfbows.
I am still learning, only experience is with Osage, but like the starting point of 2x draw length +10%.
My shortest has been 63"ntn, 1-1/2" at fades,straight taper to 1/2" at tips,with draw length of 28".
Most of others have been 66" to 68". Not sure I can tell any performance difference between them. All of them around 50# draw weight.

[EdwardS]

I have a 48" hornbow that will pull 34" all day long.  Deep string grooves and a lot of recurve.  Skinny little thing too.  A 72" bow will pull 36" if you tiller it right.  I have another all hickory at about 64" with static recurves and deflex I built that'll do 36" as well.

Nobody told me that rule, so I simply made what I needed from what I had.  I will say my hickory was perfect though.  My tiller may not be, but at least my wood was.

[George Tsoukalas]

Edward, true but we are talking about selfbows.
Jawge

[PatM]

Pat we didn't see the bow at all no fd no brace and don't know how the tiller was, could of bent mostly in the fades, even badly tillered bows will last a while. That would also give a longer draw. There are many ways it could of worked right?

 Sure, but if the weight is anywhere near accurate I'm not so sure it would hold up for long with a crowded tiller.

So we agree this is all conjecture 😉

 Yeah but my conjecture is better than yours! lol

[SMeeres3030]

hi guys sorry for the delay this is the bow that blew up!!