non-traditional trad bow.

[superdav95]

saying its a non traditional bow is an understatement to say the least.  is the words of gowan, shes a strange animal!.  the reason for building this bow is 2 fold.  first to fit a need and second to see if it can be done.  the need is that im looking for a draw of 30-31 inches while still maintaining an overall length around 60" or less.  this bow will be a 5 piece bamboo bow constructed much like my others which have been good shooters but limited to 28-29" draw.  Let see what we get.   It will be a highly deflexed riser instead of the reflexed ones ive previously made.  I did not measure any angles but eyeballed the angle to be similar to my trad bows.  the levers will be static and fixed.  the bending is all happening between the riser and the base of the levers.   this bow will start out at 60" tip to tip.  I will see if it survives.  the Idea and hope is that the deflexed set of limbs on the riser will reduce some of the strain to enable me the draw length im after.  no laminations just bamboo limbs and all glued and served to bind together.  obviously this is still rough yet and will be a test bow and the next one will be nicer.  Ive included a few pics of my backset jig for 5 piece boo bows when i bake the belly.  cheers

[pierce_schmeichel]

Unique!! How come you don't just make it a bendy handle? At 60" you could get a bow that draws 32" if you sinew back it a little. But the trick is to not go all the way to the tips with the sinew since the tips don't bend as much! I used to think bendy handle bows were silly but I have definitely grown very fond of them and have not noticed a difference in accuracy.

[superdav95]

Yes I may do that also.  I’ve got a short piece of Osage I may try that on. 

[sleek]

I dont know if you are interested in a short self bow that will pull 31 inches, but ive been building long draw short self bows for years now. I finally got it pretty well figured out. Id be happy to help you wuth one.

[superdav95]

I dont know if you are interested in a short self bow that will pull 31 inches, but ive been building long draw short self bows for years now. I finally got it pretty well figured out. Id be happy to help you wuth one.

Sure I would!  I’ve made longer bows to 31” no problem but anything under 60” with the wood I have access to has been a challenge.  This little project here is mainly cause I was bored really.  I had some time on my hands from hunting.  I missed a nice deer the other day and giving spot a rest.  Pierce suggestion of a bendy handle has been on my mind for a bit but to be honest those kind of bows just don’t quite do it for me aesthetically.  It’s just a looks thing for me I guess.  I will do one eventually but personal preference.   I suspect you would use a good piece of Osage and incorporate a deflex bend with some reflex?   

[pierce_schmeichel]

Yeah if I'm going for a 31" draw under 60" i would make it a bendy handle bow that is 50"ntn with 1.5 layers of sinew staying 4" from the tips with the sinew. And the woods i would use would either be American Elm or Osage because of their high elasticity.

I am very much a sucker for juniper but juniper in this situation would blow up. I mean you could do a 60" bow and get a 30" draw but that's just too big of a bow to me...I also only have a 24" draw length so I sick to 48" and under for my bow lengths.

And aesthetics are definitely a factor, I hear ya. Without a handle bows tend to just look like a stick or a toy, but I have very much grown to like them! You can make them suuuper small. If I'm making a sinew backed osage or elm bow it only needs to be 40"ntn and I can still get my full 24" draw. Practically speaking i just love the small form factor.

[superdav95]

Yeah if I'm going for a 31" draw under 60" i would make it a bendy handle bow that is 50"ntn with 1.5 layers of sinew staying 4" from the tips with the sinew. And the woods i would use would either be American Elm or Osage because of their high elasticity.

I am very much a sucker for juniper but juniper in this situation would blow up. I mean you could do a 60" bow and get a 30" draw but that's just too big of a bow to me...I also only have a 24" draw length so I sick to 48" and under for my bow lengths.

And aesthetics are definitely a factor, I hear ya. Without a handle bows tend to just look like a stick or a toy, but I have very much grown to like them! You can make them suuuper small. If I'm making a sinew backed osage or elm bow it only needs to be 40"ntn and I can still get my full 24" draw. Practically speaking i just love the small form factor.

Yes the small size is appealing to me to give it a go for experiment with.  Thanks for the ideas

[mmattockx]

I love watching your experiments, Dave. Always very interesting and well thought out.

How wide are the limbs? They will have two pieces of bamboo laminated together to form the full thickness?


Mark

[Selfbowman]

Dave I’m not sure I understand this bow build. But you have to have fades in the limbs at the attachment  points if not it will hinge there. Been there done that.

[superdav95]

I love watching your experiments, Dave. Always very interesting and well thought out.

How wide are the limbs? They will have two pieces of bamboo laminated together to form the full thickness?


Mark

thanks mark..  ya the limbs are about 2-2 1/8" wide just out of the riser and taper from there.  its only one piece of bamboo for each limb. no laminations.  its basically the same as my other builds instead with deflex instead of reflex.  limbs are heat treated the same and fixed to the riser the same. 

[superdav95]

Dave I’m not sure I understand this bow build. But you have to have fades in the limbs at the attachment  points if not it will hinge there. Been there done that.

there is no fade like a standard build.  there is a slight relief ramp on the underside where the belly of the limb meets the riser to prevent hinge.  it works quite well on these 5 piece bow builds using bamboo.  the limbs are narrowed and tapered to get the bend good.

[mmattockx]

its only one piece of bamboo for each limb. no laminations.

So the concave side in this picture is the belly surface, with the outer skin of the bamboo as the back?

Mark

[superdav95]

its only one piece of bamboo for each limb. no laminations.

So the concave side in this picture is the belly surface, with the outer skin of the bamboo as the back?

yes correct.   
Mark

[superdav95]

Hey guys.  Quick update on this little bow.  It ended up around 58” long and pulled only just under 46# at 30-31”.  Was hoping for around 50 but next one maybe.  I ended up using an old set of boo limbs that were kind of a failed experiment from last year and figured I’d try it out on this experiment.  The nice thing at least was that the limbs were pretty well already tillered for bend.  The bad thing is that these took more set then I allow for on these due to not cooking them quite enough for eliminating moisture and hardening.  By this point the limbs were pretty stressed and worked over to salvage for good performance so I set them aside.  It was a good test to see if the whole idea would work anyway.   It ended up doing not too bad and was very nice to shoot.  I had less hand shock on this bow then some of my production fg bows.  The speed was not quite comparable but that might be due to the previously stressed limbs.  Speed in low 170fps with a 450-460 grain arrow.  My 50# sanlida x8 shot the same arrow at 187fps for comparison.  I’m hoping the new limbs will be little Better.  It did shoot very well and arrow flight was good and true. I will do more closer to center shot on next one with fresh limbs.  I will also not set the levers at such a drastic angle too. 

Here’s a short vid clip of me shooting this bow. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ewwtdp3vzr8tmzwmrodqc/IMG_9351.MOV?rlkey=q5khr0b8jehvwvtek5l3fajjr&st=ab6wuno2&dl=0