Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: NTD on September 07, 2009, 01:59:26 am
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I have a 1" wide piece of red oak from the board that I made in the post below. It has really straight grain and I'd like to make a low weight 25-30lb bow with it. Would it be safe to design it similar to that bow. 64-66" Full width to mid limb then taper to maybe 3/8" or 1/2" with a working handle? Or would it be safer for such a narrow piece of oak to have a non working glued on riser handle instead. I get the feeling that I would risk too much set in the center and maybe too much overall bend in the middle with a D bow design. Thanks for any input. It's only a scrap so I wouldn't feel much loss either way but it sure is a nice piece of wood albeit thin.
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1 inch wide is quite narrow for the oak wood, so it would be under more stress with non working handle.
Let handle bend, just like other bow you make, this design is perfect for it and spread stress evenly over bigger area.
I think longer is better, but it also depend draw length.
When tiller, you want make so bow is barely bend in handle at brace. (If put against wall, a 12" section should only deflect 1 mm or so)
Set in the middle of bow is biggest speed killer, more set caused more deflection at the tips than if the set were near the tips. You need to get your outer limbs bending before the handle to get this right, since the handle doesnt need to bend much, you can fine tune it during last stage of tillering.
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Tiller it to bend in the handle slightly. Go for an elliptical tiller. Check the tiller on this bow. What is your draw length? Jawge
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You've got the makings for a great Eastern Woodlands type bow. You'll get set for sure with an inch of width, no matter how little the handle bends. With a 64-66" length, you could reasonably make a bow up to 50lbs @28". You could go into the 50"s for length were you so inclined. A D-bow from a roughed out board could take you as little as an hour to finish too.
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This bow won't be for me. But I'm looking for a draw length of about 24". So it sounds like it will be possible. Thanks for the advice I'll keep you updated.
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Ok I started on the bow it is 64" long 1" wide till midlimb straight taper to 1/2" tips. I was going to go with 35lbs at 28" but have decide to shoot for 40lbs at 28" Here are some pictures at unstrung, short brace, and pulled to 19". Please let me know how it looks.
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l144/NDanforth83/036.jpg)
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l144/NDanforth83/034.jpg)
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l144/NDanforth83/035.jpg)
Nate
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Looks pretty good to me. Keep going.