HHB Warbow: A build along

[Ian.]

That is coming around really nice, is it holding all it's reflex up to this point?

[Marc St Louis]

No it has lost some reflex.  It has a bit more than 1" of reflex after taking it down but that bounces back up to more than 2" after an hour or so.  Makes it interesting to brace

[Badger]

  You have a great eye for tiller Mark, those long bows are so hard to brace I wince just thinking about it.

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks Steve.  I made myself a jig for bracing these bows several years ago so it's not hard at all as I just use my weight to brace them.  You do have to have a good hold of these reflex bows though otherwise they twist in the hand and that can be nasty.

[FAW]

Hi, Marc

One of your former students following along - looks great so far. I have managed to turn what would have been a Warbow into a (now) youth bow, after getting one end a little too thin. Very interesting Marc, and thanks.

[Marc St Louis]

Hello Frank.  How are you doing?  You have to go a bit slower on your tillering and don't try to get perfection out of your first few.  If you need advice then by all means e-mail me.

I was able to get back to this bow and do a bit more work to it.  Here is a picture of the bow drawn to 28"



You can see here that the drawn shape is good.  Very smooth and uniform.  The bow at this point is still holding an inch or so of reflex after taking it down.  On to the next level.

The next picture shows the bow drawn to 30".  Again you can see that the bow's drawn shape is good.  The outer limbs are working just a bit with the last 6" not working at all.  I tested the draw weight at this point and at 29" it's pulling just under 130#.  It's not going to make the 150# I was going for but it will be close. Being a white wood the draw weight will fluctuate with moisture a bit.  Right now the RH in my shop is between 60% and 70%, which you can actually see in the clock as the lower left hand dial is a Hygrometer.

[Ian.]

That is coming round really nice, almost at the 32". Looks like the weight is going to get pretty close to the 150lb mark as well. 

[Badger]

Outstanding as usual Mark, can the gentleman this is going to handle this weight or is he going to train up to it? I would really like to hear back on any distance shots he gets with it.

[Marc St Louis]

I believe he can handle the weight Steve and I also believe that he plans on using it for distance shooting.

Here is the bow tillered to 32".  It is quite the handful and I have to lean into it to get it back there.  The bow at this point has retained perhaps 1/2" of reflex after taking it down but it bounce back up to over 1" in a very short time.

[Ian.]

Looks real nice, what is the final weight?

Badger - I know you are pretty involved in flight shooting, do you know what the official American ELB flight record is? (if there is one)

[Badger]

  Ian, in 2008 Marlon Torres shot one of Marks bows 353 yards for a new world record, a few days later it was broken by a European. I believe Marlon could have shot much further with a lighter arrow than he used. I believe his arrow was close to 600 grains. With a 400 grain arrow he would have easily shot over 400 yards. My bet is that the bow mark is building now has more than 400 yards in it.

[Ian.]

The shot after Marlon was in the UK, was 414 yds which currently stands. It was unofficially beaten with a shot of 438 but that is not considered as the world record. 

600 grains is a pretty light arrow for what I image was a heavy bow if Marlon had it, can performance be gained by going much lower than that?
I sure would love to see a picture of the bow being shot if there is one.

[Marc St Louis]

Haven't tested the final weight yet Ian and unfortunately I have to go away for a week due to medical reasons

[Ian.]

Take it easy, heavy bows aren't something to be trifled with if your not 100%.

[gianluca100]

Hello Marc,

ammazing bow, as usual 

One question, how is the cross section? From one picture I suppose that it's a flat  back and somewhat shallow rounded belly. correct?

Good work!
gian-luca