31.5" draw on Ash selfbow. Yes, no, maybe?

[IrishJay]

Back when I was a youngster I used to anchor my middle finger on the back of my jaw bone. This put my draw at 31.5", which on my recurve rated for 61# @28" this put me around a 70# draw. As my age went up, and my fitness went down I started moving that anchor forward to lessen the draw weight, settling in with that middle finger on my cheek bone, 29.5" Today I was shooting my dad's recurve which is only 45# @ 28" and I decided to give the old jaw anchor a try, and I've got to say it was an improvement in accuracy and just felt much more natural than the cheek anchor.

Up to this point I've been building all my bows for the 29.5" cheek anchor, but I have a 68" piece of ash I was planning on doing a mild bend through handle r/d. Does the 31.5" draw sound feasible for this stave?

Thanks for reading, I know it's long winded.

[bradsmith2010]

yes it could work, I would try to make it wide and slightly narrower at the handle
if it was me, I would just make a straight,,bow,, no reflex deflex,,
if you get a good straight bow to work out of the ash,,,, then try the reflex deflex,,on the next one,,
a D bow at that draw,,with little set,,, will perform well,,, rawhide back if you think the stave has any iffy spots,,

[IrishJay]

The only iffy spot is one knot, but I was careful when splitting to not split through the knot, and was just planning to fill it with TBII. Second pic is this stave laying next to a 72" board bow I'm working on.

[ohma2]

Soak that not with thin super glue.

[SLIMBOB]

Plus 1 ohma2.

[IrishJay]

Is that for better penetration compared to TB glue?

[Del the cat]

I'm a no, with a hint of maybe...   
Del

[PEARL DRUMS]

Im with Del. It may not break, but that's not all we want from what we call a "good" bow.

[IrishJay]

What would you suggest for that long of a draw on a selfbow? Longer stave? Different wood?

[PEARL DRUMS]

If I was going to build a solid, dependable bow for a 31.5" draw I wouldn't build any species any less than 72" ntn. The only thing Id vary is the width depending on what species I did use.

When you consider a bending handle bow you have to also consider the grip cant be much more narrow than the limbs themselves, otherwise fades are needed and now your grip isn't bending much, if at all.  Ash doesn't do well under 1.75" wide in most cases.

[bradsmith2010]

yes I agree,, bout 1 1/2 wide at the handle,, as close to 1.75 on the limbs,,make sure you get it bendling slightly in the handle,,, and make the bow lighter in weight to compensate for the lack of length,,
rawhide back,,
   I will add,, you can see you are on the edge of what to expect from the stave,, or asking a bit much from it,,
so if you might consider,, letting the stave dictate what it will do,, you will see from the set it is taking when you are reaching max,, it might be at 28 inches of draw,, you could stop then,, and let the bow be what it wants to be,, and then try another stave for the longer draw, that would give you a better chance for succes,, and also possibly a better performing bow,,that  being said,, splicing some extension tips would give you some length,,,

[IrishJay]

Rather than try to force this stave to become something that it's not, I'll probably use it to make another bow for my dad, and wait for a stave more suited to the long draw. I'm working on a 72" board now for myself right now anyway.

[PatM]

I go considerably shorter for a 30 plus draw but that's with prime heat treated Elm.

 You can deflex to get a longer draw more safely but you need better material to work with.

[IrishJay]

I'd hate to deflex this stave because it has some beautiful natural reflex in it. It's nearly identical in both limbs and very parabolic, starts out nice and shallow center stave and gets progressively steeper going toward the tips. About 1.5" of backset in all.

After my many failed bows and even a couple shooters that I know could have been better, I'm learning the lesson of, listen to the wood. Build the bow the stave wants to be, rather than forcing something that's not there.

[bradsmith2010]

school of hard knocks,, we all been there,,