how to make conclusion from testing or experimental bows

[Selfbowman]

I have built probably 50 miniature bows not for test purposes but for trophys. I did shoot some and not sure of draw weight but one about 10" long shot a cut off kbob stick 30 yards.  Maybe Steve can tell me if I have a flight record.  . Arvin

[ekalavya]

@PlanB

Do you know if "The Bent Stick" is avaiable as e-book for an acceptable price ?
Don't know why google insists to sell me the German translated paper version ....

The reason why i dislike translations into German is , that those guys don't even
care for looking up the woods , although it would not be so much work to look up
"black locust" and get to know it's "robinia pseudoacacia" .... and that's even paid work.
(happened in the TBB)

[willie]

I just sent an email to Paul, to get the ball rolling.

he is in Delaware Ohio, his web page  is named gallifrey

[PlanB]

He's got you beat, Selfbowman -- he says 35 yards in the Bent Stick. 



(Miniature flight bow contest would definitely cut down on the size of the range needed to compete.)

[ekalavya]

I even started to build one from around a 2' long and 1" inch wide sample of
a horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) sapling i cut some months ago.

when it draws it's expected 13 or 14" ... let's call it a success regardless of
draw weight.

I should finish some projects .... too much wood is lying around in my appartment
and it's only 25 square meters or pretty much nothing.
Personally i dislike that 4" does not make 10 cm and 20 lb does not make 9 kg
which gives me a hard time in calculating. And this comma versus dot ... is also
kind of confusing.
Six or Seven digits after the dot or comma are pretty much the common men's
equivalent of irrational ... and there are even real irrational and transcendental numbers
which do not go together.

[ekalavya]

Today I was working on the horse-chestnut which is about arm-length or 28" .

I wanted it to give it a said Comstock like taper ( 3/8" at the tips , 1/2" in the middle
and 5/8" around the handle) and to my surprise it didn't even bent 2" ....
maybe a little , maybe at best 1" but not 2 ....

so , i guess it does not work that way ... and what i thought was right , now has
somehow be proofen wrong ...

i could remove thickness ... but that would reduce draw weight ... and anyway i would
maybe end up with 10 lb at best , but most likely less ...

anyway , seems to be "yet another problem" instead of being a solution

[Badger]

  What do you mean it didn't? How hard were you pulling it?

[Selfbowman]

Plan B I have not read Bentstick by Paul but I am sure it would be a great read. The good thing about little bows is that you can end up with some realy straight grain . It makes the tiller quick and easy. Like I said trophy bows. We gave them glued to plaques at some shoots we had at the house, folks liked them well enough. Arvin

[ekalavya]

@Badger
There is a phenomena commonly called as "standing on the line" or "blocking the tube" .... seems
that i have been affected , because after writing this i found out that i used a bad bowstring
or something more or less completly useless for that purpose

I made it bend to 2" with a force of little more than 20 lb. However the other side was stronger
and did not hardly bent.

so the useless string was making sounds when i draw to strong and thus i thought the wood is
cracking. 

@all

by thinking  i found another possible error .... pressure is "pound per square inch" .... so a half sized
bow would have only half the area to take the weight or draw weight

given a full sized 66" bow could take 60 lb or so at max.  .... then the half sized 33" version could
only take 30 lb

By the way , i never understood why the Germans use always # for lb or how that came into use.
So they use something cryptic as >> Hasel 52#@32" << meaning >> bow made from hazelnut wood
has a draw weight of 52 lb when drawn 32 inch <<.

[PlanB]

Ealavya, draw weight is a bowyer term for force, not pressure.

[ekalavya]

@PlanB

yeah, you are right that draw weight is force ...

@all

the point/essence in my last post was ....  "the bending area or the surface of the bow have to take
that force" ....(probably everyone knows but mentioned again)
a miniature or test bow probably would have less of it  ........ (dots mean consequences and conclusions)

so possible consequences are ( oooh! .... boooring)
     
      set -> more set -> probably cracks and/or more set -> whoom! boom! -> two pieces of wood

      DOn'T oVeRdRaW iT !  half bending area means half of healthy draw weight

i'd like to apologize to all experienced readers in this forum for my sometimes diletantic or
unprofessional ways of doing things ... especially building bows and making conclusions about them.