Inducing deflex/All reflexing/broke

[Stick Bender]

Nice profile Ed with that reflex if any body can do its you , looking foward to future posts !

[Pappy]

Looks good, as other have said that much reflex is sometimes[most times] hard to manage but if you pull it off it will for sure be a shooter. So you decided not to go with the deflex handle ??
 Pappy

[bradsmith2010]

ok heres my 2 cents,, reflex or deflex,, whatever,, there is going to be a sweet spot in the way the bow performs,, it may not be your preconceived draw length, that is key,, if you monitor the bow through a chrono as you shoot it in, it will reveal itself,, if you go past that,, it will pull more than desired reflex out of the bow and possibly be disappointing,, profile wise,, and in the performance you may expect,, if you go past the sweet spot, the longer power stroke is not gonna make up for it,,   that being said,, it is sometimes hard to let the bow be the bow it wants to be,, if its shooting great at 25 inches,, try shooting it like that a bit,,,, if I remember you killed a nice deer last year,, not  coming to your normal full draw,, maybe this bow is gonna be the new normal,,

[JonW]

Ed I see that you are partial to that horn belly/sinew back bow's profile!

[BowEd]

Normally I give bows a few inches of reflex and end up with a couple of inches after shooting in.My forms were for that type profile then and they all shoot fine.Above standard really.Self bows that is.I just really think the wood[osage] in this bow will handle it as long as I do my part in design and execution of that design.Without the deflexing of the inner limbs.I appreciate people following along.
Thought I'd try this once.I'm a hard head and make bows the way I want and know to be good performers and pleasant to shoot.You all are right in what the downside is and the upside too.Seen it happen both ways before too.I appreciate the encouragement and doubtful comments.
I always liked that reverse brace type profile to start with.Leaves the handle flat on stiff handled bows.Nice round full draw profile too.No problem to tiller really either nowadays.Most times it takes a little higher spined arrows to go with it.I would'nt try this type profile on some woods though.I have found that out.Osage is still king here too.I've heard 10" reflex is about the limit to start with before certain failure.Maybe slightly more.Wood only stretches 1% no matter what kind it is but some woods especially osage is so well balanced in both catagories of tension and compression it's worth the risk for me to try.If and when it becomes a shooter with at least 4" reflex resting after tillering/shooting in/hunting etc. like said earlier I will see if it holds up years down the line from use.If not it won't be one of my favorites that's for sure.I realize too this has all been done successfully before too.This is'nt something for new bowyers to want to try till they make enough bows but showing what can be possible is good too.
brad....For consistency I still can't bring myself to a shorter draw routinely.I have my routine that took seems like years to get and better keep it.I'd rather use a wood and design that accomadates to my style of shooting rather than the bow telling me what it should be.If it does'nt it is given away or sold or goes in the wood stove....lol.That's just me.Making a bow for someone else is different of course.
Slimbob....Got a pic of that screamer your shooting fish with there?....[the fish too]....lol.I bet you showed it years ago.I know I would of givin ya a that-a-boy response....lol.

[Badger]

        Ed, I still like to experiment also. Most of the time when I get aggressive on the reflex it doesn't always hold it, but when it does I sure get a thrill. Something I just figured out the last couple of years is that not all set is really set on a reflexed bow. Sometimes a little of the reflex will just leave because it wasn't hard set to start with. One way you can tell is how well the bow maintains its profile before and after shooting and unbracing. I used to like to see my bow recover its reflex after a few minutes but I discovered that. A bow that maybe only recovers 1/2" or so after shooting is better than a bow that recovers a full inch. If you loose 3" of that reflex and when you unbrace after shooting and it stays about the same you are good to go. The wood is still solid. Not all set is the same.

      Years ago I built a bow I used to call big hack. It was about 52" long and had about 10" reflex. The bow was made from hackberry. It held almost all the reflex I had put in to start with but did not have that high tension at brace we like to see. The limbs had become kind of rubberized. So this bow did not have visible set yet it was obvious I had really crushed the wood. The only real bottom line is how they shoot when you are done. We get lots if indicators of whats going on with the wood but they don't always hold true.

[SLIMBOB]

Here's a few.  The first 3 were taken upon completion of the bow March, 2014.  The last one I just took for comparison sake.  It's been to 3D shoots where I put several hundred arrow thru it, bow fishing where it's gotten really wet.  Point is, it's been shot a bunch, and still maintains it's profile.  Now it is fairly lite weight, 43 lbs at 27 inches and I think that helps it keep that shape, but when I want an all day shooter, this is the one I grab.

[SLIMBOB]

Just got one pic of the fish, but I shot 10 or 12 that day.

[Badger]

   Thats a good looking bow! I would rather drop the weight and hold the profile than ask for too much and loose it.

[BowEd]

Badger....Yes your right on par about bow limbs not showing much movement set wise after shooting are the best.Those are the more durable ones.Wider ranges of set movement are an indication of stress no matter how quick the recovery in the beginning of life on a self bow.Unless it's sinew backed.Ha Ha.This bow was a flat stave to begin with.I'll see once.I did heat treat the belly pretty good on this one.Not black but darker though.Even used a laser thermometer...Zoweee!!!!.380 to 400 degrees for a few minutes.The scenario I'm hoping for it is to hold the outer third of reflex where stress is less.Lose some on inner third to maybe midlimb [maybe 2"] to make it flat and that'll be it.It should leave me with 4" I hope.With it being a lighter draw weight bow should help too as mentioned.A person's gotta realize where a bow does the most work to be successful and leave enough wood where it works the most too.Actually SLIMBOB's bow is what I imagined final look to be.
SLIMBOB...Nice bow man!!!A real shooter and a keeper.I'll look it up as to the length of the bow.Goood summertime fun there.Good eating too.Love the loins on those fish.

[bradsmith2010]

that is a  beautiful profile,, are you gaining anything in performance that just a gradual reflex would not do,,,given the tips are same distance in front of the handle,,???

[FilipT]

American Pike?

Beautiful brace profile of the bow, SlimBob!

[SLIMBOB]

It had some reflex right out of the handle.  Off the form it had 6 inches.  The 2 inches it lost was all or mostly all mid limb back.  As far as performance difference, I cant say for sure.  I would suspect very little difference.  Most all of the self bows I have made with set back handles, or reflexed inner limbs, lost their reflex or took set mid limb after some time.  I went radical with this one just to see what it would do.  This one just went back to straight right out of the handle which is about was I was hoping for best case.

Needle Nose Gar.

[BowEd]

brad...A gradual reflex is what was introduced on this bow.Opposed to what other profile????I'm not understanding your question.Everything being the same with the tips being at the same distance in back of the handle the bow should shoot the same except or unless one bow has more weight on it's outer third or tips than the other.Pretty much moot at that stage unless it's extreme I'd say though.A few fps does'nt bother me any really.Just bragging rights.....lol,and those are just words that's all even though they may be true.....lol.
SLIMBOB...You got about 4 more inches of length on me there TTT.Now I'm getting worried....ha ha ha.A difficult piece you worked with there back in March of 2014..I took opposing propellers out of this one too.This one is 1.5" wide which would help for poundage but to combat set it's the length I want longer.Dead pan flat back though.We'll see.I'm letting it rehydrate at 50% humidity now another 12 to 13 days.

[bradsmith2010]

I just meant a straight reflex as opposed to the reflex deflex,, just what your thoughts were,, but I was really thinking about you were saying if it does not work you might give it away,,   so if it comes in shooting great at 26 or 27 could you send it my way  I would let that bow tell me how to shoot any day,,