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Author Topic: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?  (Read 10075 times)

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Offline Mountain Man1

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Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« on: May 23, 2019, 02:35:11 pm »
Anybody into the shorter bows? I knew a fella growing up that made a lot of Native style bows that were fairly short and he made sure I always had one in hand from age four until wheels and girls caught my eye😉. I've recently decided to make my own bows and get back into it. Here's the plan... I have a beautiful piece of maple (red I think) 58" long and about 2.5" wide. Even narrows in the middle right where I want the handle. Wondering what design would be good for 56-58" length with that wood to get a 50-55# pounder @ 26" draw?
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2019, 07:48:43 pm »
Red maple isn't the best so I think I'd keep the limbs wide and maybe bend in the handle or right up on to the fades.
Will you post a pic of the stave so we can see what you have to work with.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Rākau

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2019, 08:17:32 pm »
I have no experience with maple or short bows myself, but if you want some short bow inspiration have a look through half eye's posts and be prepared to have your mind blown haha. plenty of maple shorties in there
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Offline SLIMBOB

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2019, 08:34:21 pm »
I’ve done a couple of short plains style bows from Sugar Maple (hard Maple). Red Maple is soft Maple. You can look up the posts on them. If I was doing one from a red Maple I would figure 20% wider than Hard Maple. That’s just an educated guess on my part, but that’s where I would start.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2019, 10:14:41 am by SLIMBOB »
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Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2019, 09:28:11 pm »
Something Ish I inspired )P(
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Limbit

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2019, 10:12:32 pm »
Never had any luck with maple as a self bow. Always forms chrysals on the belly no matter how I tiller it. That is likely because I am limited to board wood and who knows the growth conditions on the trees the wood was harvested from. I'm sure hard maple from northern areas is nice and dense bow wood though as it has a pretty good reputation. Maple wouldn't be my first choice for a short bow of any kind regardless. I'd make a pyramid bow out of it. Can you source juniper/ERC? Backed with a few layers of sinew it is pretty much the best choice for a short bow. Regardless, put the maple to the test, just keep it wide as you can and as long as the stave will allow you.
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Offline Mountain Man1

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2019, 05:32:10 am »
thanks for the replies, I'm hoping I can get 58" tip to tip but I'm planning for 56-57" in case it splits a bit on the ends as it dries. I will use as much as the wood will allow me too. I know rock (sugar) maple would be better but not a lot of it around, maybe 1 tree for every ten of red. I'm pretty much stuck with red maple or yellow birch for now. I was planning on a bend through handle of some sort and plan on going wide. Would a short pyramid bow at 57" be removing too much wood? Don't want a lot of weight at the tips but I want to make sure I have enough to spread the load. Still trying to figure out how to do pics... (f)
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Offline SLIMBOB

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2019, 07:03:24 am »
Personally, I would go parallel out to mid limb or beyond just to maintain the width you need.

On the pics, I use Gimp, a free download that makes pic posting a snap.  If you go that route, let me know and I will walk you thru the steps.  Otherwise you can use an image hosting thingy.  The pics need to be smaller than 200 kb,so they can be reduced in quality and size to do that.  Gimp lets you choose what you want in both.
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Liberty, In God We Trust, E Pluribus Unum.  Distinctly American Values.

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2019, 08:41:43 am »
Yes I agree,,,keeping parallel
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Offline Mountain Man1

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2019, 05:36:14 am »
Alright gents I got some images uploaded to imgur. How do I get them on here?
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2019, 08:45:18 am »
Click on the pic. An enlarged pic will come up with codes down the right side. For my laptop I clock the "BB Code", second from the bottom, them paste it on your message here. Smart phones might be different.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Mountain Man1

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2019, 11:49:35 am »
Imgur froze up and I lost everything. In the meantime I've been considering backing this shortbow. Not up for sinew yet, seems fairly tedious but I've been considering rawhide. Seems simple and cheap/easy to get. Read about using the large dog chews, would that be too much weight for such short limbs? Don't want to kill my arrow speed.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2019, 02:48:21 pm »
You'll have to thin the dog chew rawhide. IMO it's too thick. Deer or goat rawhide works best. I like to do it with 2 pieces and overlap at the handle.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Mountain Man1

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2019, 03:21:12 pm »
Ok I was thinking goat, i think i know where to get some. I've heard of guys using paper, any one have experience with that?
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Offline Mountain Man1

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Re: Maple Short Bow for Hunting?
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2019, 06:17:10 pm »
Got pictures figured out so I will get some good shots tonight as I get it roughed out
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