Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Hopefullbowyer on July 10, 2009, 07:07:53 am
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Just stared in bow making. Had a cherry limb not good bow wood; to many knots curvey grain. Broke while working the bend. Sons brought two 8ft walnut limbs home about 3in taper to 2in. I cut one limd in half diaganoly start working on one piece. It is 59.5 " long and 1.75 approxamately wide at widest point. being a short bow was not sure how much draw length I should expect. Have been reading bowyers bible, but have not really seen anything relating bow length to max draw length. This is my second attempt at making a bow so try to keep help in simple terms. Will try to include pictures later I am at work, and new to message boards.
I think I managed to get pictures.
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I'm still a novice myself but so far a good rule of thumb seems to be that bow length should be at least double the maximum draw. I'm not saying that with skill you can't produce bows of shorter lengths and longer draws, just that it is an easy place to start. Good luck with all your bowmaking. I have 5 successes and 6 broken ones so far (usually because I was trying to cut corners).. Take your time bowyering is one of the best relaxing and focusing activities I've found.
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tsk, tsk......another life pi$$ed away making shavings......how sad. Join the club, brother.
I'll be the first to tell you.......go slow, don't get in a hurry, pay attention to the wood. Read about a million old posts here, look at the build alongs and pics. ask lots of questions.
Other, lots smarter guys than me will advise you on the physics of overall length and draw length.
have fun, make lots of bows, piper
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let's see of we can help you. What's your draw length? Board or log? There's info on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
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i have to agree with islandpiper on this one. i have yet to get tillering down well enough to make shorties. there are many on here more experienced than I that can help you with that. I have not determined when the addiction started, with the first shavings or once i got tiller out to full draw length.... i think as soon as you send the first arrow from a bow you made yourself, your doomed to make bows forever! >:D welcome to the addiction.
Dustin D
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o. k. working through tillering was able to get 27 or 28 inches of flex. not sure because I haven't built a tiller tree yet. After sanding to finish bow I noticed some chrysal and a small crack. The crack is about 11 inches up from center of handle looks about 8/64 deep runs diagonally 3/4 of in. The bow width at point of crack is about 1 1/4 in. depth is 1/2 inch. I probably need to take more off of tips to prevent more chrysals. My question is would this be worth scraping out to save the bow or should I enjoy shooting until it breaks. Draw weight is of little concern to me as long as it will shoot arrows 10 to 15 feet. Right now it is around 25 to 35lbs: no spring scale estimating by feel of two bows with known pull weight. original intention was to make a bow for my kids. they can only pull about 15 to 20 lbs.am trying to include pictures.
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I just finished a trio of kids bows
(I put them in storage as I am moving but will post pics once I'm settled and get pice of them with my three nephews) .
I find it strange that you would draw a kids bow 28 inches. Most kids bows only need to pull 20-24 inches. Overdraw is the main bow wrecker around my bench. I've wrecked a whole stack of nice osage bows by not being gentle and forcing them back beyond what they were ready for.
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I was not able to find any advice in my books for a proper draw length for a bow 59 1/2 inches ntn, and i wanted to be able to shoot as well since I own no bows.
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here's the deal, as i understand it...
bow length = 2 x draw length (one each limb) plus handle and fades.
that's a starting guideline. For better woods, you can reduce it somewhat. I think Nomadic Pirate said he made a 58" yew bow that drew 75# at 28".
that bow length = 2 x draw length plus a mere 2 inches. He really made those limbs work.
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radius thanks for the info on draw length. By that formula I have definately over drawn this bow. Still wondering if i can save this bow by filing out the 8/64 depth the crack appears to be. Should I maybe add a little fiberglass backing to improve saftey, since draw weight is not of major concern. I know fiberglass might be a bad word but it is inexpensive and easy to get a hold of for a newbie.
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Hopefullbowyer, I'd advise you to make a tillering tree as soon as you can. As you probably know it allows you to watch the limbs flexing, watch the draw-weight, and drawlength all at the same time. You can set out wanting a certain draw weight at a particular draw length and the tillering tree allows you to accomplish that. As has been said many times here...except for maybe giving a little safety cushion beyond the draw length you're after, you shouldn't draw the bow at any time beyond the intended draw weight. That is just unnecessarily stressing the bow...difficult to prevent without a tillering tree. I know you've already mentioned you planned to make one, I think that's a good idea! ;) Good luck!
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8/64!
dude, just say 1/8th!
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Double your draw and add 20-25% depending on the wood and your experience level and the wood so about 65 inches ntn for a 27 in. draw. That assumes and 8 inch non bending handle. There's info on my site and buildalongs. Already posted it. Jawge
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o.k. I tend to find it easier to just say the number when using a machinist scale than to reduce the fraction. Sorry. I have decided to go ahead and remove the material till the crack is no longer present. so I removed a little more than 1/8inch. the draw weight has been greatly reduced. My kids should be able to pull with no problem. I am ready to due some final tillering. I have taken pictures at a 24 1/2 inch draw.I think it looks like i have some bad hinges in the area just past the fade. Anyone have some thoughts. Once i have the final tiller I am going to probably put somekind of backing on to raisee the pull weight a little my youngst 8 can easily pull now.
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Darn good for a first bow! You need to take a bit more off near the hand hold. You're hinging about 4-5 inches out from your hand on both ends , you'll get more life out of that thing making it bend more smoothly. Be careful or you'll get to like doing this!
Tom
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i have made a osage bow that is 54" long and pulled 27" draw. working on another one now that is 541/2 long.
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o.k I found some old canvas used to make a flag for scouts. I would like to back the bow with this and have my wife paint some renassiance style markings for my daughters. my question is what type of glue should i use? I think wood glue would be to brittle. anyone have ideas.
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Wood glue is fine. Use a waterproof one. Congratulations on your bow. Here are some things to remember. There's too much non bending handle area. The bow needs to bend more closer to the fades. That is -it needs to begin bending where the fades end. Also, do I understand that you removed wood from the area that chrysalled. A chrysal is a crack on the belly that goes across the grain so across the belly. That's caused when a bow bends to much on one place in relation tp the rest of the limb. Removing wood from the area just makes it worse. You can fix it by retillering that limb to bend more where it is supposed to. Leave the chrysalled area alone and remove wood from above and below. Retiller the other limb to match. Hope this helps. Glad you got a bow. That's great. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
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since I had a crack I reshaped both limbs and retillered. The problem I have at the fade is a knot that is about a 1/8 inch from the edge, so iam afraid to remove to much material there. The reason for the canvas is the pull weight is so low my daughteters can only shoot from about 7 yds out. Hopfully that will bring weight up enough to shoot about 10 to 20 yards.