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[armymedic.2]

so, now that my dad has seen my bow he wants me to make him one for christmas.  He shoots a compound now and wants to switch.  The issue is that his draw length is dang near 31", and it has to pull between 50-60 lbs.  He also wants it to be contrasted in color, so osage or something with a white back, or white wood with a dark backing, and so on.  My questions are
how long do i have to make a bow in flat bow design to acomadate such a long draw
and do i have to use a very strong wood like osage (which i have never used befor), or can i use hickory or oak and back it with....to get the dark contrast.
I would rather not use a stain.
let me know your thoughts please 

if flat bow is not the best option i am open to suggestion.

[Pat B]

AM, Once your Dad changes to a traditional style his draw length should shrink a bit. If you don't already have a copy of G. Fred Asbel's book "Instinctive Shooting" it is something both of you ought to read in my opinion. Fred goes into all aspects of his style of instinctive shooting for the hunting archer...a more fluid style than a compound or target style. When I shot a compound my draw length was 28" now its less than 26".
  To answer your question. You can build an excellent bow with hickory backed osage, ipe and many other darker heartwoods. An American long bow stile would be a good candidate for any of those wood combos. I made a hickory backed red oak(home depot) pyramid style a few years ago. It is 63 1/2" t/t, 2 1/2" at the fades and a straight taper to 3/8" tips. She pulls 53#@28" and I've seen her drawn to 30" with no ill effects.
  66" to 68" would probably work for him. Keep the limbs parallel out about 8" from the fades then taper to the tips.  Probably start with 1 1/2" wide limbs and you can reduce the width if necessary as you tiller.  Pat

[1/2primitive]

Well, uhh..... ditto!   
     Sean

[Otoe Bow]

AM2:  I agree with Pat.  I found that the draw difference between compound and traditional recurve is probably 2-3 inches, especially if your Dad uses a mechanical release with his compound.  With a release, my anchor was back between my ear and cheek bone.  Now, it's more towards the corner of my mouth.  I  know that some of that extra distance is taken up with the jaw mechanism, but it still works out to be a shorter distance for the traditional.

I've got to get busy.  Your up 1-0 on me and threatening to roll a deuce.  I'd better get busy and get the first under my belt.  I'm going to follow your lead and start with a board bow.  You did good on your first.

Good Luck

Otoe 

[armymedic.2]

thanks guys, pat i religiously read fred's book about 3 years ago.  i stil have it and will pass it on to him.  I have been hunitng with recurves for the last three years, and have taken a few deer, and many small game with them.  The primitive equipment seemed like the next smart challenge to embrace so here we go .  I would never have shot as well as i do now had it not been for fred's book. 
My draw shortened from 28 to 26 when i switched.  I will have to remeasure my dad's, but when he drew my martin mamba i cringed at how far it arced, so i know his is quite longer than mine.  I like the idea of osage, but i am a little intiidated.  i do all of my bow building inside so i am wary of ipe because i have heard the dust is toxic and i wouldn't want to expose my little girl to it. 

The 68 inch seems like a fair bet to me in flatbow.  thanks for the advice guys

[armymedic.2]

thanks otoe.-i found the very first i made "red oak board with sheetrock tape backing" worked a lot easier than the hickory, but it madd some wierd sounds after about 50 shots so i let it be a wall hanger.  plus the sheet rock tape is pretty ugly.  If you take your time, and use the board, nut and pencil routine the tillering seems pretty obvious.  you just scrape off the pencil lines, exercise the bow, and maerk it up again.   have fun with it, i know i did.  and only do about an hour at a time.  i saw a lot of things when i took a break tha i would have just blundered through without.

[armymedic.2]

okay, i decided the ipe was too atractyive, and ill use a cabinet scraper to keep dust down.  so i ordered wood for a 68" ipe with bamboo back, and ill try to do it like pat said on the american long bow.   after i get the wood i will do a buid along so yall can help me try the shorter style bow.   thanks to all

[Otoe Bow]

MS2:  Where did you order the wood and was does it already come backed?

I might order some to and truly "build" along.

Otoe

[armymedic.2]

i ordered my stuff form rudder bows online.  you can order a regular stave, backed stave, floor tillered, or u-finish.  the u-finish is not what you want because all of the work is done already, and  you apply a finish.  a good place to start would be with a backed, floor tillered stave.  i say that because you don't have to buy a band saw to rough it out (i know you can do it with a rasp), and all of the "talented"work still needs to be done.  you need to add the handle, tiller, and finish.  the only problem is it takes like 6 weeks to get your wood from them.  if you are not going to cut the tree yourself, you mine as well order it backed already unless you want to back it for experience.  backing is just gluing  the darn things together, so in my opinion there is no reason to feel bad about buying it already backed )assuming you are ordering backing strips).  like the bowyers bible says, tillering is the difference between a bow and a pretty expensive stick.   bowstick is on this website but i have never asked him about his staves.  he would be worth trying as well.

[a finnish native]

I'd go for 71.3 inches. I always calculate with dividing the bow's lenght with 2,3 and so I get the draw weight. so just multiply 31 by 2,3 and it's 71,3. with this lenght combo the string angle stays small enough and any bow wood can handle it if the bow maker knows what he or she is doing.

[armymedic.2]

i've already ordered the wood so we will have to see what the 68 incher brings.  hopefully it is not too much string angle.   neat idea on the formula though