Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on September 16, 2012, 12:44:58 pm
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Talk of fast traditional bows has made me decide to post pics of this bow that I have recently re-worked. I made this bow about 8 years ago as a flight bow. It was, still is, a Bamboo backed Black Locust recurve 62" long overall and it pulled just over 50# @ 24", what it was tillered to. I don't remember how much reflex I glued into the bow initially but it did have 6" when I tested it for flight all those years ago. Here is a picture of the bow when it was a flight bow
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Black%20Locust%20Selfbows/Bamboo%20backed%20BL%20Recurve/FlightBow0006.jpg)
And this is arrow speed I was getting using the 300 grain arrows shown in the second picture. The arrows at the bottom, the ones I was using, are 25" long and weigh between 280 grains and 300 grains and are made of HHB.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Black%20Locust%20Selfbows/Bamboo%20backed%20BL%20Recurve/Chrono0001.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Arrows%20and%20More/Flight%20Arrows/RegularFlightArrows0003.jpg)
The bow had been sitting on my rack for a few years doing nothing so I decided to re-tiller it as a hunting bow. I tillered it to 28" where it pulls 50# and it hardly lost any reflex while doing so. I'm sure it won't shoot a flight arrow at 230 fps anymore but it does shoot a hunting weight arrow quit fast.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Black%20Locust%20Selfbows/Bamboo%20backed%20BL%20Recurve/Re-Tilleredto28.jpg)
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Wonderful bow Marc.Like everything about it.Now I was just farting around with a friend of mine who has been making self and glass bows for quite a while and has a chronograph.We noticed about a 25 to 30 fps drop in speed each 100 grains less in arrow weight.Does that make sense to you?
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sweet bow. looks like a fast shooter to me. When I think of light weight arrows though I think of a 300 grain shaft with 100 grain point. But I know nothing of flight shooting the lightest arrows I have are 410 grain actually. have you tested it out with anything heavier? I wonder if there would really be much of a difference in your speed that thing looks like it is storing tons of energy. I think I might try out making a flight bow soon.
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I would have never thought to back Black Locust with bamboo, simply because of the reputation the BL has for chrysalling. But it seems some bowyers don't have to play by the rules and can get away with almost anything. Once again you raised the bar for the rest of us, Marc. Nice bow! Nice bow, indeed!
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your bows are always looking great!
really nice work, I never thought bl can handle a bamboo backing.
tiller and speed is awesame
simson
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Thank you guys.
Ed. I used to know pretty well how much speed you could expect with a 100 grain change in arrow weight, going down.
I haven't chronographed the bow as it is now but I have shot it quite a bit with arrows of around 550 grains and it is fast.
The bow is highly strained and I wouldn't want to do a lot of target shooting with but it should hold up to hunting use. I have made a few BBBL bows and it works quite well.
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That is a beautiful profile and tiller Marc. It looks very fast.
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Marc, that is a awsome bow! Didn't even know you could get away with backing Locust with BB. Always appreciate seeing your work.
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Clinic.
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Here are some pictures of the finished bow.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Black%20Locust%20Composites/Bamboo%20backed%20Black%20Locust%20Recurve/SideProfile.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Black%20Locust%20Composites/Bamboo%20backed%20Black%20Locust%20Recurve/BellyandTip.jpg)
As you can see, Black Locust is pretty good when backed with Bamboo.
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And tempered... ;)