how does this sound for a 120# bow design?

[mole]

My brother asked me today to make him a 120# bow.  He's about my size and build only a bit more muscular, so I figure his draw is about 29 like mine.  I figure 120# @ 30" would be close enough.  I'm thinking a hickory backed ipe pyramid design 72" long.  1 1/2" wide tapering to 1/2 tips with overlays and a built up, narrowed 8" stiff handle.  I'm thinking 2" of glued in reflex.  No powerlam.  Would this allow me to hit my weight or do I need to go a bit wider with 1 3/4 fades.

Thanks,
John

[Pat B]

You might get more replies over on War Bows where thay are used to building 120# bows. I'd have to build 2 bows to equal that weight. 

[Del the cat]

I should read the Question more carefully next time
Personally at 120#, I'want to see most of the bow working... dunno why you'd want to waste 8" of length in a stiff handle, may 4 or 6"
Del
(I'm sitting on the naughty step now)

[druid]

I have bow exactly in those dimensions, bl 125# pyramidal bow. It is not very comfortable for shooting. Some simple lb design is better choice for me. But this is just my personal opinion.

[Marc St Louis]

You may want to shorten that bow a bit for the width you are using.  I would probably go with a 67" bow for a 30" draw and 1 1/2" wide limbs, but then I probably wouldn't go with that width anyway.  If it was me I would go with a Bamboo backing and keep the width down to 1 3/8".

[toomanyknots]

"Personally at 120#, I'want to see most of the bow working... dunno why you'd want to waste 8" of length in a stiff handle"

I'd be scared of the handshock to make a wider pyramid bow that heavy and have the whole bow working. I think at this weight, if in anyway you could at least flip the tips it would alleviate some stack at the end of the draw, I think 120# is alot to pull at only 72" long. Or at least not optimal. Even though it is very popular to make warbows at that length, and everybody seems to have no problem with it. One thing I like that helps on heavier bows is to make the last 6 or even 8 or 9 inches of the limb non working, so it gives you a bit of leverage at the end of the draw to help you draw the bow, without being too excessive to cause extra set like a mollegabet does (sometimes).

[mole]

I don't have any bamboo for a backing and my hickory backings are 6 foot long.  The last one I made this heavy was a bbi elb 76" long.  I was just trying to work with what I had on hand.  One of the benefits of the pyramid design is the side tillering and often shorter length, so I was hoping that it would get narrower and be less cumbersome.  Like almost always the tips would be stiff and narrowed.  Any more suggestions?

Thanks,
John

[Marc St Louis]

The Ipe will make the Hickory backing work a lot more than a Bamboo backing.  You could make your bow 72" long and just pike it later.  If you want to start tillering this bow with 2" of reflex you will have to glue in quite a bit as the Ipe will pull out most of it when you take it off your form.  Even when using Bamboo, Ipe will pull out more than 50% of the reflex taking it off the form and it's a lot stronger in tension than Hickory.

I made a Bamboo backed Ipe longbow a few years ago that was 1 1/8" wide, 72" long and pulled 85# @ 32".  I could actually shorten this bow by a couple of inches and make it a better shooter.

The length of the bow has nothing to do with the draw weight but everything to do with the draw length.

[medicinewheel]

...
I made a Bamboo backed Ipe longbow a few years ago that was 1 1/8" wide, 72" long and pulled 85# @ 32".  I could actually shorten this bow by a couple of inches and make it a better shooter.
...

Marc how thick was that one, and how many lams; do you remember??

[Marc St Louis]

That was a 3 lam bow Frank and the bow was about 7/8" thick at the centre.

[medicinewheel]

Thanks Marc