Natural reflex

[Bowyer23]

Hey guys just a quick one,

Reckon this is too much natural reflex to make this bow effective? Seems like I'm having to get it very thin to even string it (still haven't gotten it thin enough yet)

Let me know, cheers:)

[Bowyer23]

Oh and its about 54 inches long and 2 inches wide at the fades

[bownarra]

If the tiller is good string it up now. It will feel very heavy but continue regardless. Once it is strung to around a 4" brace only then can you tell what the actual darw weight will be. The reflex and shortness will make it hard to string....maybe cut some secondary grooves or add a small tied on overlays for a stringer.
Its very easy to come in way under weight on staves like this until you get the feel for them

[Bowyer23]

Hey mate  thanks for the reply.

Here's a photo of how much I can get it to bend on the tiller. 50 pounds  with a draw of 11inches (although I'm using a longer bowstring that doesn't brace the bow at all)

Still reckon I can just try and string it haha?

[stuckinthemud]

What Bownarra said, just make the string thicker than normal as the reflex puts the string under a lot of stress

[Bowyer23]

Sorry here's the photo

[Bowyer23]

Here's the current thickness in inches. Obviously not trying to make it to a specific thickness and instead going by tiller, but though this might help in some way haha I don't know im fairly new to this

[Pat B]

First thing I'd do is round over all the edges. Then I would reduce the reflex to about 3" then continue on from there.

[Marc St Louis]

Wow.  Your handle is really long

[Bowyer23]

Just reduce the reflex with heat? How do I measure the reflex so see if it's 3 inches? Handle is 8 inches, too long?

Thanks in advance

[rps3]

I was thinking the same as mark. Short bow with a long handle. I bet it is a bear to string. What draw legnth you aiming for?

[rps3]

If you have to keep that handle legnth, some deflex out of the fades would help. If you have enough wood, I would shorten the handle.

[Bowyer23]

No specific draw really as I said pretty new to this so just getting it to string would be my first goal haha.

Unfortunately I can really shorten the handle now as it's only an inch wide compared to the limb which starts at 2 inches. I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time though! I saw a video on YouTube where the handle was 8 inches but come to think of it that was a 66 inch bow. Could only get 54 inches of decent wood. To get rid of some of the reflex should I heat and bend at the centre of the handle or do each limb separately?

Thanks again for the help

[Pat B]

I would use a heat gun and clamp it to a caul while heating it. You want the limbs to still be even. You measure reflex by laying the bow on it's back on the floor and measure the distance from the back of the handle to the floor.
 For your next handle make it 4" with a 2" fade top and bottom. That gives you 8" but the fades work into the limbs and aren't totally rigid.

[bownarra]

An 8 inch handle and fades is 'normal' for a longer bow. For a 28 inch draw try and get a stave that is 68".
If you only have a short stave next time you can make a bow that will bend through the handle allowing you more drawlength because you have more working wood.