Primitive Archer

I missed the part about you looking for a design that would be used as a kids bow that would be the same as shortened adult bow.

The kids bow and the adult bow won't have a similar design as far as width and length goes. Most of my kids bows would be an inch wide with a 3" handle section at the most. Because I use osage, all of my adult bows are 1 1/4" wide and 64" long for up to a 28" draw and have a 4" handle section, I may go to 66" long for a 29" draw and to 68" or more for a 30" draw. I had a number of bows that failed for the guys with a 30"+ draw so I stuck to making bows for the 28" draws and less because I replaced broken bows, it set me back a week or so to replace a bow.

One guy broke two of my bamboo backed osage bows, I made him a replacement for the first broken bow and refunded his money on the second one.  I found out later after more broken bamboo backed bows showed up that I had gotten a run of bad bamboo from Frank's, it looked good but wouldn't hold up.

You may find like I did that a kid's bow is the most difficult of any bow to make, when you get down to a bow in the 15# range you don't have hardly any
wood thickness left in the limbs and one too many swipes with your scraper will make the bow hinge, you have to have the tiller spot on to pull it off.

I think you need more reference material to study designs; I made up my own design which performs well for me and the people who own one of my bows. Some designs are fit for white woods, others work well for osage and yew.

Because you are using mystery wood to make your bows, make them wide, flat bellied and long.

People get hung up on trying to gain a few extra feet per second out of their bows, which is good because we all learn a little more from their efforts. I go for smooth drawing, stable and long lasting with very little set.

These bows span my 26 years of bow making before old age and injuries shut me down, the static with a little set has been shot so many times over a ten year period that if I guessed the number of arrows that had been though it would sound like a lie. The top bow is bamboo backed, I had it stored too close to the ceiling in my shop and the summer heat cause the bamboo to crack and the handle to pop loose, I am in the process of adding a new handle to the bow, I had already fixed the minor cracks in the bamboo 

 

how would you then take that kids bow to determine whether it would make a good adult bow. Are we just saying that a successful kids bow will definitely make a good adult bow just by the mere fact that it works as a kids bow? just trying to make sure i understand.

Quote from: JW_Halverson on May 30, 2025, 09:53:04 pm

Frankly I am very disappointed that all of them sleep without something warm to cuddle up against. Pick out some good stones and heat them slowly by the fire until you can barely handle them with bare hands. A big ol' flat rock under your lower legs and feet, and another the size of your chest inside the bag and up against the small of your back or clutched to your chest.

Timber was (rightfully) concerned about his one foot being completely numb and the other mostly numb. A rock slowly heated next to the fire will soak up a lot of thermal energy and slowly release it back to the environment. And unlike your partner, it's not gonna react all dramatic like and shout "GAAAAAH! GET THOSE ICY FEET OFF ME!"

On a cold and lonely night a nice toasty rock will rock you to sleep!

And a warm rock doesn't get mad if you bring another hot rock into the bed roll with you

And a warm rock won't care if you replace it with a hotter, geologically younger rock.

Frankly I am very disappointed that all of them sleep without something warm to cuddle up against. Pick out some good stones and heat them slowly by the fire until you can barely handle them with bare hands. A big ol' flat rock under your lower legs and feet, and another the size of your chest inside the bag and up against the small of your back or clutched to your chest.

Timber was (rightfully) concerned about his one foot being completely numb and the other mostly numb. A rock slowly heated next to the fire will soak up a lot of thermal energy and slowly release it back to the environment. And unlike your partner, it's not gonna react all dramatic like and shout "GAAAAAH! GET THOSE ICY FEET OFF ME!"

On a cold and lonely night a nice toasty rock will rock you to sleep!

There is a protocol of selfbow etiquette that few know, if you hand a strung bow to any guy they will try to pull it back instantly, it's a guy thing. Usually none of the people know what a selfbow is or that it was made to fit one person at their draw length.

The proper etiguette is to tell the guy" I draw 26", is it OK to draw your bow"? If your draw length is less than the bow is designed for he may say OK, if it is more the answer should be no.

I saw a friend with a 26" draw hand his elm bow to a guy with a 29" draw, the guy drew it back to 29" and the bow exploded. It was a bad scene.