Bow Design

[Del the cat]

It's a matter of marrying what you'd like to build with the materials available if possible... and sometimes when it's not! 
Del

[SLIMBOB]

+1 Del....Exactly.

[DC]

When I design a bow I just use a simple formula I choose a design that gives me the best posible early draw weight with the best string angle at FD really pretty simple

How do you do that? Would that mean you're building the same bow other and over?
To start you off easy, what is there in a design that causes early draw weight?

[Stick Bender]

 Don there are a lot of designs that would ilistrat early draw weight but a good example is the Turk composite horn bows , they have crazy early draw weight even the long bow composites that Bowed made over on the horn bow site have crazie early draw weight but also some of the BBO tri lams made here have great early draw weight & some of the reflexed sinew bows made here , also some of the carbon/FG /DR highly reflexed bows have insane early draw weight but what they all have in comon is there all holding the most reflex they can for the material used , I don't think I have ever made the same bow twice the next is always a different up graded version of the last , In Adam Korpowicz Turk bow book has a excellent chapter on this topic that apply's to all materials , I think designing bows and making design concepts is one of the most interesting things in bow making regardless of material used !

[Selfbowman]

DC when I design a bow I try to achieve low- no set period. That is going to help speed and durability in my opinion. Second I put as much reflex in the outer limbs as they can stand and not pull out. R/D bows will help on set if tillered properly but I find long straight limbs with 3” of reflex perform better. Light arrows or heavy arrows.  Chronographs are sometimes misleading to me. You shoot light arrows thru one and they are real fast . But some times a heavier arrow will carry farther. My bows have been taking set on the inner limbs for years. When I went to wider inter limbs in form of a pyramid design it added mass an cut down on set. The bows improved in performance. Speed is not everything in a hunting or target bow. So I become less concerned about performance. Flight bows are a different bread. Arvin