Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Jim Davis on March 03, 2017, 07:10:55 pm
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I've been wanting to make a bow for my brother, but his draw length is 31 inches--and that's to the corner of his mouth.
Well, I gave up looking for good stave that was long enough and made a take-down that is 71" nock to nock.
It's not really primitive. I sawed and planed a pair of Osage slats a touch over 3/8 thick and glued hickory backing to each. The hickory was about 3/16 thick.Then I glued Osage blocks to the handle area of each limb and worked from there.
The limbs are about 1-5/8s wide at the fades and a little over 3/8 at the nocks, straight taper. The bellies had to be scraped in a slight taper toward the tips to get the bend spread over the length.
The arrow in the full-draw image is 31" to the back of the point. I'm only drawing about 30", but have tillered it to 32".
The draw weight is about 47 pounds at 32". It shoots a 23/64 by 32" BoP arrow with 5" parabolic feathers very nicely--no flirting or porpoising.
It has no string follow at rest and about 3/8 immediately after unbracing.
I used to draw 30" and dropped down to 28" so I could use normal bows and arrows. I shoot with a slightly flexed bow arm. It was a trip back in time to straighten out my arm and shoot this bow and these arrows.
Some day, I'll try making a wider shorter bow that will still be able to do a 31" draw.
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The picture of the belly of one limb does not show the curly grain well, but it shows.
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Nice bend in that one.....
DBar
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Nice bend you got there. He'll be happy with that! Cheers- Brendan
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That's a beaut Jim. Your bro's gonna love it!
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That is a beautiful bend Jim.
Bjrogg
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Sweet.I think the backing helped for ya with those set results a little.A scooch lighter draw weight too.Nice thought out bow.Great work.
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Tiller looks great. Nice job on that bow.
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Nice
was just reading tbb.. wider + dense wood, perry reflex and static recurves should help with a shorter bow. But long bows are very nice in their own way.
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Thats a good looking bow. I think you did real good. Did you buy or make your sleeves?
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That is s beautiful bow with an excellent tiller, Jim. Jawge
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That is a beauty Jim, great tiller shape!
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Classy long draw bow with excellent tiller, congrats!
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Did you buy or make your sleeves?
Morgan, the sleeve is just a piece of seamless tubing--in this case, the OD is 1-1/8" and the ID is a couple of thousandths of an inch under one inch. The limbs are just fitted to the sleeve and then epoxied in place. One end of the sleeve is coated with wax inside before inserting the epoxy-coated limb end. After the epoxy cures, that limb can be removed because the epoxy doesn't stick to the wax.
Then I make a short slot in the removable end of the tube, insert that limb and line it up with the other one, then install a pin into the wood through the short slot. I think you can see that in the image.
Thanks to all for looking and commenting.
Jim
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Did you buy or make your sleeves?
Morgan, the sleeve is just a piece of seamless tubing--in this case, the OD is 1-1/8" and the ID is a couple of thousandths of an inch under one inch. The limbs are just fitted to the sleeve and then epoxied in place. One end of the sleeve is coated with wax inside before inserting the epoxy-coated limb end. After the epoxy cures, that limb can be removed because the epoxy doesn't stick to the wax.
Then I make a short slot in the removable end of the tube, insert that limb and line it up with the other one, then install a pin into the wood through the short slot. I think you can see that in the image.
Thanks to all for looking and commenting.
Jim
Awesome, I may try to do that.
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Great looking bow Jim. You hav a pretty long draw yourself. Arvin's
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sweet bow, looks smooth
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Nice tiller, Jim.