Deflex-reflex versus deflex-recurve

[Eric Garza]

I've been inspired by the many deflex-reflex and deflex-recurve bows I've seen posted here. Although I've made a few recurves, most of my bows have been more or less straight. I've got a really nice osage stave that I'm planning on turning into a bow over the next few months, and am planning on deflexing it in the handle. My question is whether I should make a caul and reflex the limbs, or make a smaller caul to recurve the tips? What would be the practical difference between these two options, assuming that the bow, once shot in, ended up with the tips the same distance in front of the handle? I'd be shooting for having the tips end up 1-2 inches in front of the handle, so not too far forward. I'm also planning for the last 8 inches of the tips to not bend, which would make the recurves statics if I go that route.

[Badger]

  Just an opinion here Eric, I think if both designs were optimized the recurve would have a slight edge. The recurve is slighty harder to optimize than the reflexed bow. The recurve will store more energy and have a little smoother draw, the reflexed bow will still store a lot of energy but be slightly more efficient. On any given day you may do a better job on one than the other so I call it a toss up in general but for myself I do better with the reflexed.

[lostarrow]

Recurving is generally done to get a more even bend out of a shorter working limb . reflexing would be to bring the limb tips forward to get a higher early draw weight.  Depends on what you need to accomplish . If you are deflexing the handle  you will likely want to get those tips forward as you said(reflex)  . recurves would add a whole new challenge that isn't really necessary if you have a good amount of working limb. IMHO
   Good Luck! Looking forward to seeing some pics.

[Shamusrobert]

I have been wondering about this myself.

[mikekeswick]

The point of a recurve is that (all things equal!) it will allow you to bend a stiffer piece of wood for the same force on your fingers.
I think a reflex/deflex recurved profile is the fastest going.....but they aren't easy to tiller correctly.
Good luck anyway.

[Del the cat]

Errrr maybe I'm being thick here
Would someone care to expound on the difference between reflex and recurve?
Del

[lostarrow]

Reflex = the whole limb  (working)
Recurve = just the tips (working or not )

[Dances with squirrels]

I disagree Lostarrow. A reflexed bow can be made so that the reflexed area is isolated in the outer limb and can also be made non-bending.

[NeolithicMan]

Isnt that a recurve...

[Del the cat]

cat ... pigeons
Del

[adb]

Reflex = the whole limb  (working)
Recurve = just the tips (working or not )

+1. This is my understanding of the terms.

[PatM]

DwS, Why do you think that's not just a recurve?

[Badger]

  I think the biggest challenge with recurves is keeping the outer limb mass reasonably low. We have several on here that have gotten very good at this.

[Eric Garza]

I do agree that the difference between a recurve and reflex can be fuzzy. What I mean when I say recurve is the heated-in bend is focused in the last 8-10 inches of the bow limb, and the curved portion of the limb doesn't bend when the bow is drawn. What I mean when I say a reflexed limb is that the heated-in bend is focused throughout the limb, and while the tip might not bend there is a substantial portion of the reflexed portion of the limb that does bend when the bow is drawn. I'm not claiming this is the final word on the difference between these two designs, just defining them within the context of the question I started the thread with.

[Blaflair2]

U can still reflex a recurve, from what I understand a recurve is a steap bend on the end of the limb. Reflex is a gradually increasing bend from fade to tip. U can do both. The bow mikeswick made, my best stave so far . That's the one that stands out to me. It was black locust. I know osage could handle a design like that. But I don't know if it'd be that fast. BL is knarly.