My son is almost 4 and wants so bad to shoot my bow his mom is the same way. I am building her a bow that should be around 25# @ 24". I am wanting to build him a bow for his B-day in a few months.
What have yall done to get a small light draw bow for a small child?
Thanks for any help you can give.
I'll be very interested in this as well. My 4 yr old wants to shoot as well. I've been thinking of trying my first sapling bow for him. Maybe a dogwood.
Hi cobbow, since I don't have much experience yet with glas laminated bows, I built my daughter a bow out of Manau. Its a Malaysian palm tree, its wood is very light and can take tremendous bending stress. The bow is 54" NTN and draws 22@20.
(http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/07Hawaii/DSC00210.jpg)
(http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/07Hawaii/DSC00209.jpg)
(http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/07Hawaii/DSC00227.jpg)
i came in way overweight on my first try,36NTN laminated recurve 24#@16 i think, i am going to try again.
i used (2) 0.040 glass lams , (2) 0.033 maple lams, and a 10" riser. 3/4 inch deflex 1 3/4" reflex
that is some data to start you out for a lam. stack
next try will have about 10 deg. of deflex out of the riser, and be 44-48" NTN with 0.030 glass.
i would recommend making the handle simple. sanding the little one was about 10 times harder then a full size riser.
(http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/xochal/kids%20bow%20build/kidsbowandarrow.jpg)
(http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/xochal/kids%20bow%20build/finalprofile.jpg)
(http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/xochal/kids%20bow%20build/riserfinal.jpg)
(http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/xochal/kids%20bow%20build/DSC00738.jpg)
(http://[img]http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz171/jess_stuart/100_2842.jpg)[/IMG]
This is a 36" recurve I made for my grandson. I used 1 1/2" .030 glass and one >030 parallel lam. The riser is 12" long, no deflex and 2" recurves. I got 8# at 16". By cutting everything into 18" sections you can get a bow from one strip of glass.
(http://[img]http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz171/jess_stuart/100_2842.jpg)[/IMG]
My son shoots a scaled down bow of mine that came in under weight. I just cut it down to about his draw lenght using double his draw plus handle, but the handle was kina big for his 6 year old hand. John Scrifes was helpful and hooked me up with a few bows for the other kids that were hounding me in the neighborhood with a few bows of rattan. I think that rattan bows are cheap and easy to build all wood bows for kids.
(http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz171/jess_stuart/100_2842.jpg) (http://[img]http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz171/jess_stuart/100_2842.jpg)[/IMG]
I finally got the pic to load.