ash Meare Heath dimension ??

[sonny]

 The drawing in TBB2 shows that the bow is 2.6" wide mid-limb, made from yew.
I'm thinking of making something similar in shape but made from a stave of ash that Steve Parker gave to me several years ago. My concern is if I go that wide then the limbs will likely be quite thin, so I think it should be somewhat narrower. Having never used ash before I'd like to hear your suggestions on how wide to make it.

It may be worth starting out at 2.5" wide, only narrowing the limbs when I get closer to final tillering....

I'm going to start out at 76" long but may shorten that to 70" or 72".
 

         

[Del the cat]

I think you'll still be faily thick even with that width.
It seems a sensible start point to me, especially with Ash which I think will be well suited to that sort of profile.
After all you don't want to start narrow and then wish you'd made it wider.
If you feel the draw weight isn't coming down quick enough you can always just run a plane down the edges.
It's a very long bow, so with all that leverage you should need some thickness despite the width.
I feel anything over 6' is likely to start getting sluggish.
Del

[Badger]

  I can't imagne a bow 76" long being 2 1/2" wide unless it is extremely high draw weight. Does the design call for an extreme elyptical tiller? Steve

[Hillbilly]

Glenn, I've made some good bows from that same tree with the limbs at 2" wide and the length about 68" or so. The bow that I usually bowfish with is a Meare-Heathish-design made from a sister stave to yours.

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[George Tsoukalas]

sonny, what's your draw length? Jawge

[sonny]

26"

I understand that a 74" bow would be significantly overbuilt for a 26" draw but I'd never have to worry about it breaking.

yesterday I narrowed the width a little and scraped the bark off of it to discover a few very tiny pin knots along the back which won't amount to anything...
cutting the wood to length was  a chore though, even with a fairly sharp bowsaw.
time to lay out the dimensions along the back and wait 'til I can take it to my buddy's and have him cut it out on his bandsaw.
maybe that'll keep me from getting any more splinters from that stave

[Del the cat]

26"

I understand that a 74" bow would be significantly overbuilt for a 26" draw but I'd never have to worry about it breaking.

That's bonkers logic..you'll just end up with a slow cumbersome bow...trust me I made an 89" longbow just to see how it would shoot....the answer is s-l-o-w.
Overbuild by 10% by all means, but with a 26" draw then even 60" is plenty.
Ok ok you want ultra safe so add another 10% that's 66", but 74 ...that's in the Simpsons mad cat lady territory!
Del

[sonny]

the Meare Heath is estimated to have been around 74" and how far was it drawn ?? we dont' know !

frankly I don't care about slow, just so long as my arrow makes it to the target....
 

[sonny]

[/quote]
That's bonkers logic..you'll just end up with a slow cumbersome bow...trust me I made an 89" longbow just to see how it would shoot....the answer is s-l-o-w.
Overbuild by 10% by all means, but with a 26" draw then even 60" is plenty.
Ok ok you want ultra safe so add another 10% that's 66", but 74 ...that's in the Simpsons mad cat lady territory!
Del
[/quote]

by modern standards then I suppose you're right but I'm not thinking about building a modern version of an age old bow.
This is Primitive Archer isn't it ??
trust me when I say that not all of us are into speedbows. If I were I'd still be shooting my compound.
(hmmm, now that should start some $*^%. )


   

[Badger]

    Sunny, don't think for a minute that our ansestors were not into high performng bows. I think we are just now catching up with them. If you study the designs they used with the woods they used their bows were well designed efficient shooting machines. With very long wide limbs on a medium to short draw bow your vibration will be excessive robbing most of the power out of the bow. Generaly speaking light low density woods lend themselves better to longer bows while dense heavier woods lend themselves to shorter bows. Most of the recognised bow woods we use fall between about sg 60 and sg 80 which is not all that much difference. Every established style of bow that I have looked at from out past had a design well suited for the job it did. Sometimes figuring out the job it did was not easy. A bow like you are suggesting might be ok for fishing for instance using extremely heavy arrows for very short distances. Steve

[Del the cat]

That's bonkers logic..you'll just end up with a slow cumbersome bow...trust me I made an 89" longbow just to see how it would shoot....the answer is s-l-o-w.
Overbuild by 10% by all means, but with a 26" draw then even 60" is plenty.
Ok ok you want ultra safe so add another 10% that's 66", but 74 ...that's in the Simpsons mad cat lady territory!
Del
[/quote]

by modern standards then I suppose you're right but I'm not thinking about building a modern version of an age old bow.
This is Primitive Archer isn't it ??
trust me when I say that not all of us are into speedbows. If I were I'd still be shooting my compound.
(hmmm, now that should start some $*^%. )


   
[/quote]
There is a difference between building a copy/replica and building something 'In the style of' to suit your drawlength.
I would think the Meareheath design was for a long draw length (30 plus?), so scaleing the design down to suit your 26" would seem entirely reasonable to me.
Del