Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Rick Wallace on December 05, 2010, 02:02:18 am
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All right fellers,I have built 6 bows,3 shoot good,3 broke,,all Sam Harper style red oak longbows.My question is how short can a board bow be? I hate to waste the broke ones,only about 3 to 4 inches on the bottom limbs gave way. While I'm here,,I found an old drawknife at a yard sale,paid 2$ for it,,has anyone heard of Ox Head brand from Germany?? it cleaned up really nice,,hope I didn't overpay. BTW This is the best site for bowmaking I have found :D Rick
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Welcome...and any Drawknife you can get for $2.00 is a deal...and any made ffrom german Steel.for $2.00...is a Steal!
As for how short can a Board Bow be...well it all depends on your Draw Length...I have built Pony Bows from Ash and oak that are only 40 inches long...but they only draw 18-20 inches also.
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What El Destructo said :)
CP
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i just finished up a shorter red oak board bow. its probably about 58 inches between the nocks. it was 55 inches, then i glued siyahs too it. i pulled it to 28 a couple times today, but it ended up being 40lbs@27.5. i probably could have gotten 5 more pounds out of it.
i tried to make one the exact same, but my base board length was 48 inches. it broke at 25 inches.. the wood just couldnt handle it. tiller was actually pretty good on it.
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Thanks for the replys, maybe I can make my wife one out of them. She tries to shoot mine but shes only 5'2".Short legged and short armed!! Ill work on it and post some pics. I roughed out and glued up my first pryimid bow tonight.Maybe it will work. Im having a @!%$# of a time with my band saw,blades keep coming apart.Dont know why,maybe its me not the saw! Rick
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Welcome to the addiction Rick. I've had an Ox Head Draw knife for twenty five years now, and it is still going strong. Here is a forty eight inch Ash I'm making for my Granddaughter. Perhaps you could cut the broken parts away and retiller for a youth bow or two.
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Good! I can easily get 48" out of all 3 of them.I really like this stuff! I had a couple more ideas of different styles to build until I found this site,,now I have about 100 ideas!! ;D