How much reflex is too much?

[Gordon]

I generally heat in about 4" of reflex when I start and end up with 1-2" when I'm done tillering. That seems to work pretty good for me.

[PEARL DRUMS]

That bow has help though Brycey! I think I can see some sinew maybe? That's when and how excessive reflex can start working for the better. You mighta' pushed the envelope on that piece! I still like where you added reflex, mostly mid limb out.

[PatM]

This bow is supposedly just wood and sinew.
http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayson/koreanarchery/1998-0112-bow.shtml

[koan]

Bryce brings up a good point...how do we explain the performance of a working recurve(its just excessive reflex isnt it?)..... ....here we go, lol... Brian

[koan]

This bow is supposedly just wood and sinew.
http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayson/koreanarchery/1998-0112-bow.shtml

PatM, I live just a few minutes from the Greyson collection and ive seen that bow and others like it in person...they are truly amazing and baffle my mind, lol.. Brian

[Ink]

Not trying to ruffle any feathers here, this topic is of high interest to me. Does anyone have any hard evidence or records of FPS readings of the higher taxed bows versus the bows that have been less strained? Or do you know of a place i can read about it? Also from what i'm gathering, a bow of higher reflex will work if backed with a material to shift the neutral plane higher giving the belly more wood to help resist compression, correct?

[Ink]

I mean if were talking just a few FPS difference in a bow thats been over strained versus one that has reflex but is well within the limits of strain for the particular species of wood. Then adding large amounts of reflex is just a waste of time. And i can start cranking out bows faster than with the long task of adding large amounts of reflex. Just need to focus on tillering without overstraining and bow design versus massive reflex.

[Gus]

Dang!

Another interesting Thread...

Watching This Un Too...

-gus

[Badger]

Ink, quite a bit of testing has been done, I have never tested one like the crab bow shown above but I have tested them with 12" of reflex. I don't see any evidence that past about 3" or 4" any speed is gained. If you put enough sinew on something to raise the weight enough there will be almost no limit to how much reflex you will gain, but you won't gain in performance, those types of bows have not shown well at flight competitions.

[Ink]

Thanks badger, that was kinda the jist i was getting from all the other posts as well. I guess nothing works better than grabbing rasp and doing tests myself    In hind sight it looks like i got caught up in the typical more of a good thing is better mentality. Already have a 4" reflex stave off the caul and getting prepped for tillering. Going to sinew back the 10" reflex trade bow and show my results of the performance as the bows are completed. Great thread!

[Marc St Louis]

Doesn't explain the performance I was getting from the highly reflexed bows I was making 10 years ago while experimenting with heat-treating.  Some of those bows had up to 6" of reflex after being tillered.  Perhaps they would have performed just as well with only a couple inches of reflex but personally I doubt it.  The performance increase may be minimal past 4" though and not worthwhile bothering with.

[Badger]

Mark, I thought about you when I answered. Your bows are a lot more consistently fast than mine, but I build enough to get my occassional screamer in that will pretty much match yours. In those cases I am usually at a hard 3" at least or slightly more. I will say that your bows are so idealized that you very well could get more benefits from reflex than most of us. A big problem with reflex is inadequate deflex and over stressing of the limbs. Your design does tend to minimise that.

[Ink]

Marc, do you have a link to a bow in the design that you guys are discussing?

[Badger]

  Ink, you will see the design feature in nearly all of Marks bows. Kind of his trademark, he gets a nice smooth flowing deflex comming right out of the handle and then he gradually starts shifting it into reflex or recurves or both. It really givs a lot of protection to the belly wood in a stressed design, I feel a major part of our performance losses are due to overstessing belly woods.

[Ink]

ah okay badger, i see what your talking about in Marcs BBY recurve. I didn't realize that protecting the stress level in your compression wood was such a high priority. Learning all kinds of stuff today.....this site is awesome