bow length to draw

[Dante_F]

so exactly how long of a draw can you get from a bow if it has a stiff handle, i know that a bendy handle bow should be able to pull half its length tough and what ive done before was just take the length of the bow divide it by 2 and then take away 4 or 5 inches to account for the handle and call that the draw length but im pretty sure that's not how its done, explain for me please

[PatM]

The standard for safe and reliable  is double the draw length plus 10.  With good wood and wider limbs you can sneak that down considerably but not until you have experience and access to great material.

[Artus]

There is nothing to add. Except I donīt add 10 inches to double the draw length, but the actual length of the non bending area in the handle. In other words the length of the handle plus fades. Which comes out to be roughly ten anyway.

[Dante_F]

elaborate please, so you just subtract the handle and fade area form half the length or no?

[TimBo]

He is just saying to double your draw length, then add the handle/fade area.  So, 26" draw, 4" handle, 2" fades would be (26x2)+4+2+2 = 60" overall...BUT you have to add at least an inch overall for nocks, and 2 would be safer...so overall starting length of the stave in this example would be 62", which is back to the double draw length plus 10.

[Dante_F]

oh ok so id basically need a six foot bow because 29.6 times 2 plus ten is 69.2 plus 2 to account for nocks is 71.2. thanks for the simplification that really cleared it up for me

[Hawkdancer]

Dr. Al Herren has a handy chart in his book "Cherokee Bows and Arrows".  I haven't made enough bows to say more.
Hawkdancer

[Sidewinder]

Like Pat said. I suppose it depends on the bow wood and your skill in tillering. It definitely takes good materials and experience to break that rule and its a good rule to follow, I on the other hand tend to like seeing how close to the edge I can get and then back it off a bit.

I make primarily osage bows and have a 26.5" draw and my current shooter is a 57# 55" tip to tip. It has 4" non working handle 1-1/2"" fades  1-3/8 wide and 5" non working tips. That leaves me with 19" of working limbs. I heated in some deflex initially and flipped the tips. I felt like with built in deflex I could get a longer draw length out of it and it has worked very well.  I did one for a buddy of mine and his is 61" long non working handle but 2" fades about 1-1/4" wide fades and 5" non working tips and he pulls 29" I didn't deflex it . I don't think if it was any other wood than osage I would have tried to make these bows as short as I can, but we like to hunt with them and a longer bow is more cumbersome to me. Most of my bows are gonna be in the 58" to 62" range up to 29" draw is the longest I've done.

I guess if you have the materials and the time you can try whatever you want and learn from it.

[bradsmith2010]

At some point,..the performance factors in as well...