opinions on a shorty

[walkabout]

while waiting for my hickory stave to equalize from straightening, i thought id try my hand at a short bow.it will be 48"OAL, red oak board stave, 1.5" at widest point. my question is whether or not slightly flipping the tips will really help with string angle on a bow this short. i expect it would, but to what extent im uncertain.if i were to flip the tips, it would only be a very short section, and definitly left static.also,any thoughts on tapers? i would think that most of the limb would be left full width, with a short section tapering to nocks, but im not sure what final width to use.any input from someone who has more experience with these short bows would be appreciated

[Kegan]

I don't build many short bows, jsut mess them up usually. For that reason here's a couple things that gave me nothing but headaches:

Overal reflex usually is better than just recurving the ends unless the bow is longer than 54".

D bows make everything easier .

If you leave it full width the whole length, except the last bit of the tips, you won't have alot of handshock because it's so short. Tapering width usually wound up getting way too narrow for the draw and I always got alot of string follow

[aznboi3644]

I am almost finished tillering a short bow from a 48" by 1.5" wide by .5" thick red oak board.  I left it full width and tapered the last hands length down to half inch tips.  No real measuring device just the length from my finger tip to

Right now I am around 30lbs at 20"  It has taken on about 1.5" of set.  Partially due to the moister content being too high and me tillering too fast...but it shoots well so far.  I mainly use these short bows for tillering practice.  I have a few other short boards in stock...they are fun to make.

You can try flipping the tips to help with string angle.  I'm gonna glue on some short siyahs on mine as I left the last 6" of the tips stiff.

[walkabout]

actually im thinking of making this one a mollegabet, ive never made one yet and a short one would certainly be fun to make.

[Kegan]

actually im thinking of making this one a mollegabet, ive never made one yet and a short one would certainly be fun to make.

Give it a try! With bows so short, you usually don't need to worry about getting the tips as light as you would on a longbow. In TBB vol. 4, the fastest short bow in the "Design and Performance Revisted" chapter was an Ishi/pyramid bow.

Best of luck

[walkabout]

yep, i read through the chapters on efficiency in the bowyers bible series a few times. im not exactly looking for something that will smoke an arrow but just a design which is more efficient as far as what the wood needs to be able to hold up well. a little bit of gain in fps helps too, especially with the shorter bow lengths.

[a finnish native]

You could flip the tips, but I see no reason to do it, if the bow is gonna be a plain selfbow with no backing the draw lenght/tip tp tip lenght should be made on the same ratio as with longer bows. Divide the lenght of the stave by 2,4 and you will het your desired draw lenght. This way the string angle will not be a problem. I would not recommend flipping the tips, especially if ya were gonna leave them static.

[Del the cat]

actually im thinking of making this one a mollegabet, ive never made one yet and a short one would certainly be fun to make.

So, let me get this right...
You're worried about making a short bow...so now your thinking of making a design with rigid tips which effectively makes the limbs even shorter
Del

[walkabout]

well not really worried, just trying to get opinions on whether or not to have the tips flipped for string angle.

[Del the cat]

well not really worried, just trying to get opinions on whether or not to have the tips flipped for string angle.

A good question... at what length does a 'flip tip' cease to be relevant?
If you imagine a pin nock fixed at an angle, that would be the shortest possible flipped tip, it will help stop the string popping off, but is it actually changing the string angle?
Or do we need to define string angle as the angle relative to a tangent drawn from the end of the working part of the limb? I dunno...
Del

[Ifrit617]

I'm making a short read oak board bow exactly like the one you are. I just made a d bow and am going to glue on tall tip overlays for a mini recurve effect. I just tapered the last 5 inches of limb down
to 1/2 nocks. Can you post some picks of your tiller for the bow once you get it done I want to see what the tiller on yours is like. Thanks 

[walkabout]

ifrit are you refering to just a short "D" bow? i have two bows in thwe works actually, one 48" eastern woodlands-like, and the other is the molle. if your tiller question is about a "D" bow tiller i have a 60" red oak D i made some time ago, its actually the very first short selfbow i made, and it shoots pretty good for having a crack that was patched. if pics of that one would help i can see what i can do, if not the 48" one will be posted as soon as its done.

[profsaffel]

This is a shorty I finished a few months ago. The tiller came out pretty well... maybe it will help.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,20617.0.html

[mullet]

 I've made a few, and kept them at a good hunting weight. Flipping the tips definitely help.