80" White Elm Warbow Build-along

[Marc St Louis]

The lower limb is where the ones I made started to chrysal over time.  Yours is a few inches longer than the ones I tend to make so hopefully will not succumb to that malaise

[Yeomanbowman]

Yes a very good tiller indeed.  I'd be very surprised if the bow shot a standard arrow (6" x 3'4" fletches and 52g) any more than a furlong or 220 yards, not in the humid UK at least.  Not a criticism of the bowyery but based upon experience of heavy ash bows.  Please post the how you get on with it.

[Cameroo]

Well I finally got a chance to hit the field with Adam to launch some shafts with this girl.  I was able to yank her back all the way a few times before my back and shoulders crapped out on me.  The best shot of the day was from a 31.5" arrow, weighing 77 grams, that flew over 230 yards (our target pin was set at 204 yards with a rangefinder, and I paced the arrow off at 28 paces past the pin).  Although the bow has been finished for a while now, I can officially call it a shooter now.  Kinda funny that my first successful selfbow also happens to be the heaviest bow I've made

Adam caught a brief video of the trial run before his camera battery died.  Here's a link for anyone that is interested:

http://youtu.be/EvfeDyEM8u0

[criveraville]

Cool video!! Man that looks fun and painful all at once 

Y'all talk funny too 

Cipriano

[Del the cat]

Nice, it looks like you are drawing smooth and easy! But I know it's a heck of a strain on elbows and shoulders.
(I named my 100# Elm warbow "Dennis Elmbow" as in Tennis Elbow )
Del

[WillS]

What a beautiful bow.  Well done dude.

Y'know, you're drawing that by just pulling straight back, and it looks totally comfortable and in control.  If you were to step into it, with your weight forward rather than back, and roll the ol' shoulder, I think you could be shooting quite a bit heavier.  The really top guys are always going on about leaning forward, and down into the bow, which pushes it away as you draw back.  If you stand upright, or even lean slightly back you don't gain that advantage and you're fighting it the whole way.

I may be wrong, and you might be doing it perfectly, but when compared to Mark Stretton for instance who visibly leans forward with all his weight on the front foot, it's markedly different.

Hopefully Jeremy (yeomanbowman) will reply as he actually knows what he's talking about! 

Anyway, sorry to digress.  Lovely bow, great tiller and exceptional performance if it's chucking 77g arrows that far!

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice.  It looks like your shooting angle is pretty good.  There's quite a few things that can affect how far the arrow goes though, besides the bow.  Besides the physical size of the fletching too much helical can also have a big effect and center of balance also has an effect, too much FOC and the arrow will want to nosedive.

[VicNova]

Is the belly fairly flat on this one?

[Cameroo]

Cip, it sure was fun.  I just wish my back would have held out a bit longer. 

Mr. Cat, those first few shots might have looked easy, but they got pretty sketchy very quickly.

Will, I certainly have much to learn about technique.  I was just doing what felt natural at the moment.  I'm sure with practice the draw and release will improve. 

Mark - thanks.  Just FYI the arrows that I was using were a mix of oak and maple shafts, ranging from 71 grams up to 83, with fletching measuring 7.5" long, 5/8" high, and were fletched nearly straight (not helical).  The shafts were 1/2 at the heads and the last 12 inches or so are tapered down to 3/8".

Victor - yes, I would say the belly is flatter than most warbows I've seen.  I tillered it that way to hopefully prevent chrysalling.

[Badger]

  our angle and tecnique looked pretty good, if you could learn to come off that string while still drawing back just at the right moment without stopping you will add some yardage. Thats a good bow!

[Marc St Louis]

Why do you have the front end of the shaft bigger than the tail?  That would tend to make it front heavy.  Your 77 gram arrow comes out to roughly 1050 grains, which is pretty well 10 GPP.

[Yeomanbowman]

Yes a very good tiller indeed.  I'd be very surprised if the bow shot a standard arrow (6" x 3'4" fletches and 52g) any more than a furlong or 220 yards, not in the humid UK at least.  Not a criticism of the bowyery but based upon experience of heavy ash bows.  Please post the how you get on with it.

Sorry, I did read the draw weight and then forgot later on in the thread and read the 80 as the draw weight rather than inches.  Hence the estimate.
The technique looks good to me given that you are easily master of your bow.  The style Will mentions helps you draw a higher weight as you can use more of the body.     

[Cameroo]

Thanks Steve, I appreciate your input.  I'm still relatively new to warbow shooting so I don't really know what constitutes a "good bow".  I know from watching back the video that my release needs some improvement. I think part of my problem is that I will draw the shaft back, and then hesitate for a split second as I glance over to the point to make sure that I've reached full draw (and in the meantime I'll let off half an inch!  ).  That's something I'll have to work on.

Why do you have the front end of the shaft bigger than the tail?  That would tend to make it front heavy.  Your 77 gram arrow comes out to roughly 1050 grains, which is pretty well 10 GPP.

In my very limited experience with warbow shoots, I was getting better cast from shafts with that profile, as compared to barrel tapered shafts (haven't tried any untapered shafts yet).  Don't ask me why they seem to fly better, because I don't have a scientific explanation, but the difference was apparent.  Also, I already had some field points that measured 1/2" at the shoulders, and I just used what I had on hand.  But I do believe that this is a common design amongst EWB shooters.

The taper allows a lighter shaft without really affecting the spine.  Although I have a feeling that these arrows are spined too heavy for this bow anyway...  sometime I would like to shoot some video to see if I can capture the flight of the shaft right out of the bow.

[adb]

A very impressive bow indeed, and I felt like a proud papa that Cam could shoot it. I can shoot 100# no problem, but add that extra 15# and I hit a brick wall.

[adb]

Why do you have the front end of the shaft bigger than the tail?  That would tend to make it front heavy.  Your 77 gram arrow comes out to roughly 1050 grains, which is pretty well 10 GPP.

Because the arrows we're shooting are made to EWBS and CWBS specs. That particular arrow is over weight for a livery arrow 63g), but it's made to meet the specs for this type of shooting. If you're interested, go to either of their websites and check the details for yourself. And yes, they're front heavy... on purpose.