Not buying it on leatherwall

[bjrogg]

One thing I do know.
 Every time one of those guys that asks me how many lbs I can get with a very skeptical look on their face . And I string one up and ask them to draw it and tell me what they think it is? They are always totally shocked. They never expect to feel the draw that they do. Most people are almost expecting a toy. I haven’t shot very many fg bows. A bear grizzly and a  Ben Parsons. I thought my bows shot very similar to the bear and nicer than the parsons. And much quieter than either, but maybe I’m biased

Their not toys though

Bjrogg

[mmattockx]

Every time one of those guys that asks me how many lbs I can get with a very skeptical look on their face . And I string one up and ask them to draw it and tell me what they think it is? They are always totally shocked.

Nice. Do they think that 100+lb war bows are a myth, then? Or perhaps the longbows of old were made with fibreglass?


Mark

[Marc St Louis]

They had that site years ago dedicated to testing trad bows for speed, don't remember the name of it now.  I think there were some RD bows (glass) to actually hit 200 fps so I don't know why that guy on the leatherwall is so skeptical.  I'm not sure but I think Steve (badger) participated in some of those and placed very well.  The testing method for glass and wood bows differ though and I think that created some problems, with glass you can hold the bow back at full draw if you want without any adverse effects

[bradsmith2010]

I just think guys that are into wood bows, have more interest in all bows,, guys Like George Stout, knows alot bout all bows,, making wood bows forces you to learn alot,,shooting a fiberglass bow,, seems more one dimensional, I dont know, I made a few,,and they shot great, but I lost interest,, not really sure,,the more we post,, the less misinformation there is to overcome,, I just love my wood bows, they are so artistic,,, like a sculpture,, 

[Marc St Louis]

I just think guys that are into wood bows, have more interest in all bows,, guys Like George Stout, knows alot bout all bows,, making wood bows forces you to learn alot,,shooting a fiberglass bow,, seems more one dimensional, I dont know, I made a few,,and they shot great, but I lost interest,, not really sure,,the more we post,, the less misinformation there is to overcome,, I just love my wood bows, they are so artistic,,, like a sculpture,, 

Glass bows is an assembly of components. Wood bows are artisanal.

[Allyn T]

I used to think glass bows looked cool, before I ever saw a wooden bow. After seeing every thing you guys make I find glass bows kind of plain and ugly now, even the shape of them. Even the plainest wooden bow looks more elegant to me

[bassman]

125 replies, and 2624 views.  Even heavy hitters giving their insight. Inquiring minds want to know, and entertaining. Get out the coffee cups,and popcorn. More to learn. Look at the line up of Black tail glass bows on their web.. They are beautiful. I made about a dozen glass bows, but quit because of glass dust. Brutal. Not crazy about bamboo either. Wood bow making has been in existence for thousands of years, and still going strong. It has a history that no glass bow could come close to. Bow making for me with wood is the best medicine I have found yet for peace, and serenity. Plus I have a much better understanding of how our native bows were made,and what they were capable of which is why I got into wood bow making. Then I found a mountain of information on Primitive archery. You guys just keeping them better,and better. It is all good.

[ibex]

I'm not sure this is allowed here, but I guess I'll find out. This has some of Tradlab's Synthetic bow speed results. I've seen equal speeds with Marc's and Steve Gs bows:

https://www.thetradlab.com/ilf-das-limbs

[Badger]

   This is an excellent thread, it comes off as a very classy group of guys talking. My 2 cents worth on comparing glass to primitive. I lucked into a fantastic opportunity I think about 2004 to compare the fastest OL Adcock bow to mine at a walk the tak event in Wisconsin. The adcock bow had been publicized as shooting 186 fps 28" draw @ 28". This particular bow did 188 fps, different string s make for different speeds so I thought his add was right on target. Anyway, that bow and my bow were the same profile, same draw weight and even same length. We tested them against each other using the same string and same arrow. We tied at 188 fps. This was pre official shoot tuning up the machine. In the official shoot I went back to my heavier string and even had to put a piece of tape on my string to keep the arrow in place. Tape was very tight on arrow nock. Official test I was at 184 fps. Not much difference in wood to fiberglass potentially.

[bassman]

If you look at the speeds Ibex posted the middle 180's even with hot rod limbs seems to be the norm with glass, and carbon limbs, and even the super recurves. Wow, I am impressed with some of your wood bows getting that kind of speed. If your bow is shooting 165 fps at 26 inches of draw would a same poundage 28 inch draw bow shoot harder?

[bownarra]

If you look at the speeds Ibex posted the middle 180's even with hot rod limbs seems to be the norm with glass, and carbon limbs, and even the super recurves. Wow, I am impressed with some of your wood bows getting that kind of speed. If your bow is shooting 165 fps at 26 inches of draw would a same poundage 28 inch draw bow shoot harder?

Too many variables to answer that
 BUT sort of yes....longer draw = more efficency. Same weight of limbs more stored energy BUT does the wood start to break down drawing the extra 2inch.....you just can't alter one thing along without other things coming into play. That's why all this wooden bow stuff isn't as simple as it may at first appear
Apples and oranges get compared quite often to my eyes haha

[bassman]

In theory how many fps might that be?

[Marc St Louis]

I sent Steve (badger) a couple of my bows for testing a number of years ago, I think we had hopes at the time of getting more people interested in keeping track of the performance of their bows.  The composite bow I sent him, a backed HHB recurve, did not crack 190 fps but it was close, if I remember correctly it shot 189.  The bow was a good one but it was not the best I have made

[ibex]

I remember the day I took that Sinbad bow over to Tom Mills's house and strung it for the first time with him. He plucked the string and said that's going to be a fast one. Sure enough it was, what an eye-opener for me.

[mmattockx]

If you look at the speeds Ibex posted the middle 180's even with hot rod limbs seems to be the norm with glass, and carbon limbs, and even the super recurves.

The FG recurves store way more energy than wood bows do, because fibreglass can survive 2.5-3x the strain that wood can and the FG side profiles are really aggressive to take advantage of that. Where they fall down is the fibreglass limbs become unstable and require wide limbs and/or wide, thick tips to not throw the string or buckle to the side when drawn.

Combined with the weight of FG (roughly twice that of common bow woods), the extra material in the limbs makes their limbs and tips very heavy and that robs performance. The super recurves also suffer from severe vibration issues that eat up energy.

We can get most of the potential out of wood without stability issues causing trouble so the two end up about even in the end.


Mark