Proper mass vs. overbuilt

[Kegan]

I agree- this site gives tons of useful, honest information. I'm pretty sure my bows would still have the bark on if it weren't for this place .

I believe PeteC, Hillbilly, and Jawge give the exact arguments I was looking for as far as the "overbuilt" side goes. I wondered if simple hunters, who are pretty much building bows just for themselves, would be better served with physically heavy bow, instead of one that is lighter, faster, and rquires more attention/time to build.

Not that I'm saying overbuilt bows are just chopped out and strung up, or that bow with proper mass are underbuilt or inaccurate. More, minor trade offs. I guess it's really just an opinion of which you prefer.

[sumpitan]

One advantage of the Comstock /Eastern modest taper, elliptic, widish tip bows is that they are much more stable sideways, hardly ever bending out of alignment versus steep-taper, needle-tip bows. This has been my experience with wildwood bows of both types in use the year round, in 90%+ humidity, frost etc. I also feel the straight-sided, elliptical selfies are faster and easier to tiller compared to the stiff-tip models, especially when working with hand tools and small-dimension wild staves. If I were making a bow to feed my family, with a knife or maybe a small hatchet to work with, I'd sure leave my (sapling) limbs somewhat wider in the outer portions to make sure the bow stays aligned no matter what.

Tuukka

[Kegan]

I recenlty finished a Comstock style flatbow from a red oak board for a build along. It weighs alot, as I left it with a big honkin' handle. At 67#, it shoots like a dream, only slightly slower than my brother's 65# bamboo-backed crab apple bow I built. It doesn't weigh as much though. I tried the two bows at 50 yards, and the shorter red oak bow easily hit the target each time, where as I had a bit of trouble with slight flinching with the long D bow. Thought it was a good comparison.

[Badger]

Kegan, whay don't we do a mass analysis on your red oak bow just for the heck of it. have you got a full draw photo of it? Steve

[El Destructo]

Badger I have heard so much about this from Dana and others...but have no comprehension of what it is or how it works....can you do it on one of my Bows?? And what all do you need to figure it out?? I'm serious...not messing with you...I'd really like to know if I am anywheres near where they should be when I am done......

[Badger]

Destructo, in a nut shell it's just another method of deriving at some demension for a bow. One of the most common questions you see asked on line is how wide shoud a bow be. The tiller shape on a bow and how much working limb make a huge difference in how wide a bow needs to be. Just give me the stats on one of your bows and a full draw photo if you have one and we will go from there. The part of the formula that takes some pratice is learning how to apply a figure for stiff handle and fade area based on the tiller shape. I need to change the name of that demension on the chart. The lightest mass bow would be a full arc of the circle bend in the handle bow. The heaviest mass bows would have stiff risers and fades, reflex and stiff tips. There is a downloadable calculator online for it where you just feed the numbers in but a couple of the inputs need a little interpetation. I monitior the mass weight of the bow as I build it, if a bow is comming in too light I just get more limb bending, if it has too much mass weight I just remove weight from the sides of the limbs. I have been meaning to do a little video, hope to get it done in the next few months. Steve

[bowmo]

I find over built bows somewhat unpleasant to the eye. As for time...bows should be a labor of love not something you whip out in my mind. And as for durability, I have never found my bows to be unstable or fragile as long as they are well tillered. And I have never found my bows to be inaccurate in spite of their narrow limbs, straight taper, and tiny tips. But thats what makes bowyering so cool, there are no rules....to each their own...

dan

[Kegan]

I find over built bows somewhat unpleasant to the eye. As for time...bows should be a labor of love not something you whip out in my mind. And as for durability, I have never found my bows to be unstable or fragile as long as they are well tillered. And I have never found my bows to be inaccurate in spite of their narrow limbs, straight taper, and tiny tips. But thats what makes bowyering so cool, there are no rules....to each their own...

dan

I push the draw weight with my bows. At 75#-80#, a little weakness in my form becomes a big one with a bow that's borderline on stabillity.

Steve- not yet, but tomarrow I should i have draw and finished pics. It's still breaking in though, so I'm unsure what the final draw weight will be.