Efficient youth bows

[DC]

take a look at your picture. If you start on the left and follow the grain lines you will see that 4-6 of them run out the back of the bow before you get across the picture. 4-6 of those "runouts" is way too many in, what is that, 2". You're looking for that many in the whole limb. For me it's way easier to crash through the bush looking for a stave than it is to find a good board. You want to find a perfect board. And then look for one a bit better

[bubby]

That cracked because of bad grain runoff towards the back of the bow. You don't need perfect grain but it can't run out onto the back. I'm sure with proper grain that wood will work

[MattZA]

You may prefer cubic hectares per fortnight or somesuch

 

Close, but not quite. Cubic hectares per moon cycle haha.

Great tip about the water though. Thanks

[MattZA]

Here's the link to the photos of the bow. Such a pity about the crack. Tiller is slightly uneven, I know. I'm just too upset to fix it right now 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HKCnp34kqBNtT5BD9

[TorstenT]

On your last picture (the one showing the crack) it looks like you cut out the limb diagonally to the grain. This is doomed to fail. I don‘t know anything about the properties of Garapa wood, but I don’t think even hickory would tolerate this layout.
Even in board bows the limbs have to follow the grain.
Just my two cents...

Torsten

[MattZA]

Right, the results are in.

It's very weird, but here we go...

After 250 arrows, my bow weighs 35# at 28". It flings arrows at a pretty quick rate too. Without a chrono, it looks/feels/penetrates about the same as the 35# PSE Razorback recurve I've got. It has about an inch and a bit of string follow, but that doesn't feel too bad. It does stack quite a bit, with it reaching about 41# at 29".

The crack we mentioned has yet to open up at all. Not even a creak to speak of. I fixed the tiller so it's now very balanced. Obviously I had to reduce the poundage, but I'll take it. Tip to tip it's pretty short at 60". Nock to nock is ~58". I tillered it up to 30" though, to make sure that crack doesn't appear again. Overall I'm not too disappointed.

After all, it is only my second bow I've ever made. I've learned my lesson, and will improve with the next one.

For others who may follow: Garapa is clearly a decent bow wood.

Thanks all for the advice. I truly appreciate it.

Matt.

[DC]

Well, there's the right way and then there's Fibre Glass . I'm glad you got a shooter out of it. Just for your info Fibre Glass is a four letter word on this site. We don't use it and try not to talk about it. Kind of snobbish in a way. But it saved your bow, try not to depend on it

[MattZA]

Oh I know it is. And I totally understand why.

The only reason why I'm using it is because this bow is going towards the kids I'm teaching about traditional archery. I just use the fibre for extra safety. I don't want parents suing me. If it was my own bow I'd back it with something traditional.

[DC]

Good point