what is a "D" bow?

[sailordad]

        I've been reading alot of post lately (old ones and some new ones) talking about "D" bows,but never really heard a definition of what one is.
would I be right to assume that this would refer to the shape of the bow limb as viewed from a cross section of the limb? As would be the shape of a traditional English long bow. Sorry for sounding so ignorant about such simple topics,but this is how newbies learn.

                                                            thanks,

                                                                     Tim

[leapingbare]

Yes sorta , a "D" bow is a bow that bind the intire length of the bow, through the handle.

[mullet]

  Tim, A "D" bow is what is typicaly called a bend in the handle bow. It is tillered with a slightly stiff handle area. You can feel the handle bend at full draw. The bow is tillered so it takes on the shape of a "D" at full draw if a line is drawn from tip to tip. Some stiff handled bows are tillered with a weak, slightly longer top limb and a stiffer bottom limb. The "D" bow is tillered with the center of the bow bending.

[DanaM]

Look at Gordons Hazelnut bow he just posted, See the shape at full draw.

[Hillbilly]

Like everybody else said, the D refers to the shape of the drawn bow. The ELB does have a D-shaped limb cross section, but it is also a D-bow tiller wise.

[duffontap]

This is the kind of thing that gets hard to define because of published exceptions.  Traditionally, 'D' bows would bend through the handle and in most cases the handle wouldn't be narrowed (see, 'perfect bow under 50# in the bowyer's bibles).  For some reason Dean Torges describes such bows as 'C' bows and bows with stiff, narrowed handle sections and elliptical tiller 'D' bows in his book 'Hunting the Osage Bow.'  I'm not completely sure if there is any historical precedent for Dean's definitions or if he was just trying to create new terms that he thought were more useful.  At any rate, sometimes people use the terms 'C' and 'D' to refer to cross-sections, and at other times referring to tiller profile.  There is no universally accepted definition for 'D' bows but the definitions given by those above are accurate and represent 95% of use.  Just beware of the rare exception.

             J. D.