Hickory Longbow

[wolfman6]

 I bought a 58" hickory longbow from KP Archery on ebay. It's 55# at 26" I would like to tiller it out so I can achieve 28" but I wanna stay as close to the 55# as possible. I plan to back the bow as well, most likely with fiber glass. The bow also seems to have a fairly low brace hight, only a fist high off of my hand and I'm used to people using the thumbs up method as a guide. This is my first longbow but it was inexspensive so I'm not affraid to experiment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Matt S.]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'll give you any advice, but can't guarantee it's good advice

The difference between 55# @ 26" and @ 28" won't be much. You won't have to scrape much wood to reach that draw length. The trick will be making sure you keep the tiller good. Without seeing what we're starting with it's hard to get more precise.

As for backing it with fiberglass... Hickory is pretty darn tough, especially in tension. Therefore, I highly doubt it would need a backing unless the grain on the back is severely violated or the limbs too narrow.

To change the brace height... if your string is tied on to one end of the bow and has a loop on the other end, then you can shorten the string by adjusting the location of the knot. If it is a continuous loop string, then there's not much you can do (you can add some twist but I doubt it'll make a big difference). Personally, I prefer a 5" - 6" brace height measured from the neutral plane (middle of working limb). Too low and it'll slap your arm, too high and it puts too much stress on the limbs.

Hope this helps in any way, and WELCOME!

[PEARL DRUMS]

58" is way too short for a 28" draw IMO. Just pull it to 28" and the set created from over stressing the limbs will lessen the draw weight and keep it close to 55# as is. Keep the brace height just high enough to clear your feathers. That way you can give your limbs a much needed break and the bow will probably be at its most efficient. I suggest leaving the fiberglass alone. Next time you buy a wooden bow keep an eye out for something 64" or so.

[wolfman6]

 I im gonna upload some photos of my new bow. The brace hight as it stands now will not clear the feathers on my arrow and it looks like i need another 2-2.5 inches to clear. I plan to buy a new string but the one that it came with seems to be made out of sinew or possibly artificial sinew. Its very tight up to 26" and the seller strongly reccomended that I dont go past 26".

[cracker]

I really don't see much of a problem with getting that other two inches you need you're string angle seems pretty low however you're brace height seems to be pretty low probably caused by you're string stretching it looks to be made of artificial sinew AKA nylon which stretches like a rubber band you  might try twisting the string to shorten but buying or making a dakron string may be a better option for safety sake I just don't think on a bow of any strength is a good place for nylon. Also thanks for you're service. Ronnie

[ken75]

only problem i see is KP's bows are a little narrow for hickory ,i owned some of them before i started building bows . thats why you have the string follow thats showin when its unstrung. drawin further will make it worse. consider backing it with a thin lam of hickory and glue in some reflex

[wolfman6]

When I mentioned using fiberglass before, I was considering using the fiberglass drywall tape that a I saw a fellow use on a molgabet style bow and in his opion it was as functional as sinew. If I add some reflex, should the bow be reflexed before I laminate? How thin roughly should the laminate be? I planned on a new string before I even got the bow in the mail, I could tell in the pictures that it looked kind funky but for the price Im not upset with what I got.

[Justin Snyder]

How wide is the bow? It looks a little narrow as Ken mentioned. A hickory that narrow is not a good candidate for this procedure. If you insist on extending the draw length, I would do it by getting more bend near the fades and on the outer limb.

[wolfman6]

The bow is almost an inch and a quarter wide and about .7 in thick.

[aznboi3644]

fiberglass functions in NO WAY like sinew.

[MWirwicki]

I would increase the brace height a bit, which should do little harm.

My opinion otherwise, leave it and enjoy it the way that it is.  Kinda sacreligous to f-glass a nice selfbow.  I think that you will do some disservice to the bow and the maker. 

Personally and based on experience, I think that anything you do to it even so far as increasing the draw length will result in disappointing results. Just sayin'...

[Justin Snyder]

1 1/4" is narrow for a longer length hickory bow. Considering that your bow is fairly short, it is way to narrow. Sinew would definitely help, but you are probably fighting a loosing battle. I wouldn't be putting to much money into it. JMO

[wolfman6]

I deffinatly don't intend to disrespect the bow or its maker, but the draw length isn't as comfortable as I hoped and actually causes a lot of strain on my shoulder and elbow on my brace arm. I'm am very adament about gettin that extra 2 inches of draw and brace hight without sacrificing to much draw weight.

[blackhawk]

IMHO that bow is what it is and I wouldn't try to do anything else to it. (Especially since you have now bowyering experience)The bow already shows over 3 1/2" of string follow(that's a lot IMO). And who knows how much reflex it started with and how much set it took. By design that bow is already being overdrawn at 26". The string follow proves it. What's been done to that bow cannot be undone. Im sure you can pull it to 28" without it breaking cus the hickory will take the abuse but you'll cause even more set and further degrading the bow more so than it already is. Id let it be and leave it alone. The maker knows this and it is why he told you not to draw it more than 26"   

I see the general consensus from the experienced folks here is to leave it alone. Id suggest you take the many years of advice being spoken to you.

[aznboi3644]

How is it putting a lot of strain on your arm?  Sounds like the bow is too heavy for you.