71# @ 26" bighorn bow. So far.

[loefflerchuck]

Measured along the belly curve a little under 47" long. Bighorn sheep horn with 122 grams of sinew backing. 71# @ 26" right now. The heaviest bighorn bow I have made with a draw over 20". It started with about 15" of reflex after 6 months of curing. I tried to remove as much as I could with heat. I think it's about 7" now but the bow has been strung for a few days and I'll need to check after I un string it. I have found the bow performs as well after removing reflex as very high reflex but is much more stable. I think removing reflex with heat you are still starting to engage the sinew back. So the horn reflex is reduced but the sinew is not slipping and is already more tense even with the bow unstrung(correct me if I am wrong). My bow draw scale starts at 20# so I don't know early draw but at 11" it draws 22#. 5.5" brace height.  I carefully measured the horn limbs before joining them and weighed sinew to have equal amounts on each limb. I scraped 1 section of horn and as of this full draw picture spent only about 5 minutes tillering, but spent a bit of time with heat trying to get the bend even. It's not done. Just posting so far. I'll keep this post updated.

[Peatreg]

Looks familiar!! 😜 Can't wait to get my hands on that thing!!

[loefflerchuck]

You can see the right side of the above picture has more early recurve stiffness. I tried to even that today. with heat.

[loefflerchuck]

Trent, that must be you Peatreg. Yes, I wanted others to see this bow. This and the last bow I finished made me realize the potential of thick, narrow horn and lots of sinew. This bow stores a lot of energy. Good early draw weight and slow stack. After being strung 3 days with a 5.5" brace height it has a 22# draw at 11". 13" draw 30#. 18" draw 41#. I'll check the rest tomorrow.

[Peatreg]

Yes it's me

[Stick Bender]

Very nice Chuck you make some amazing horn bows keep us posted on that !

[BowEd]

Nice work so far Chuck on another nice set of horns.Look forward to seeing the finish.That preliminary tedious measuring etc. has it's benefits.

[Aaron H]

Very cool Chuck, bend looks great

[BowEd]

Chuck....I see and understand your logic about reducing reflex and the sinew staying stretched even from reduction of reflex with the bonding holding the sinew in place,and definitely can relate to it being more stable then too.The curing time of the sinew has to be enough then I'd say.Reducing width but with enough for stability with increased thickness too thus reducing mass limb weight some too.Very interesting.Thanks for sharing your observations.Seems there's always something a person can do a little farther or more for improvement.

[loefflerchuck]

Yes Beadman. I think it is worth taking your time in the build and measuring the limbs with a caliper every half an inch to match them exactly. Then weighing sinew to match also. Of course I could not bend this bow at first and also had to count the number of scrapes with a razor blade on each limb.

I can also personally attest to letting the sinew cure for a full 6 months. I once tried using heat after 3.5 months or so and the sinew separated from the horn on one limb. I'll also say i have had good results gluing the back back on after something like this happens.

[Bryce]

Finally a horn bow with some actual weight behind it😜

I've got mine aimed at 75# still needs 4 more month of dry time before I'll bend it again.

Looks good chuck keep her rollin

[DuBois]

You again have done a masterful work of art.
Just curious,
When you say thick narrow horn, how thick and how narrow?

[loefflerchuck]

Marco- No more than 1.3/16" wide at the handle then taper from there. I'm afraid of going too much narrower than that, but when I get a narrow cutoff I will. one old Lakota hornbow is only 5/8" wide mid limb.  and less than 1" wide at the handle. Thickness of more than 1/2" midlimb. I made a bow 1.5" at the handle and almost that mid limb. It was only 50# and at that it was so unstable. You could never take your eye off it because one limb might overpower the other. Even after over a year(it did have over 12" of reflex). Narrower and thicker is more stable and faster.

[mikekeswick]

Thicker is quicker
that is a cool bow