Grandson is visiting and saw my board bow and wants one. No problem says I--famous last words, eh?
He is 58" tall with a 24-25" draw. I would like to make this as light-weight as possible so he won't be discouraged by too heavy a draw.
Using red oak, pyramid-design, with a ntn length of 58". My question is how thin should I make the limbs? I'm thinking of starting at about 1/2" and work down from there to get a 20-25# draw. Does that sound reasonable?
TIA
Bill
I just whipped out a red oak 48" pyramid last night for a co-worker. I planed it down to 3/8" thick and its 20# @ 20". That should be about 26-28# @ 24". Zero tillering was needed.
Did you back it with anything?
Nope. I glued the handle on and will finish shaping and sealing tomorrow. It was a straight grained board, no backing needed there.
1/2 inch sounds good. But why not make it as thick as it needs to be for the weight you want? Jawge
Well it's down to just a smidge less than 3/8" and is drawing 34#. Will keep removing wood as he is only able to draw about half way.
Bill
Well, we finished my grandson's bow in one weekend.
He was leaving for camp on Monday and wanted to take it with him.
Got the draw-weight down to 25# @ 24". Still a little heavy for him but he should easily grow into in. Here is a shot where he is doing some planing. We had him doing a lot of the work and he seemed to really enjoy it.
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb390/wweissborn/Ashton%20Bow/DSCN2189.jpg)
Here's father and son with the completed bow:
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb390/wweissborn/Ashton%20Bow/DSCN2194.jpg)
And finally, first shots (yeah, we need to work on his form a bit...)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb390/wweissborn/Ashton%20Bow/DSCN2197.jpg)
Thanks again to all who have put up with my questions and helped. My son is also working on his bow so we are now a bowyer family !
Bill
Right on Bill! Im glad you got it done in time for his camp. Im sure a few people there will here the story behind the build. Nice job!
That's a pretty good lookin tiller so far. What did your limb thickness end up being? I have one that's about 60" long, pull's about 25 as well, but is only 1/4" thick or so. Maybe 5/16. Nice job fellas.
Very nice bow grandson! You have a treasure there so take care of it & keep it always! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :archer2:
Unfortunately I did not get final measurements on limb thickness. He had to leave to go out of town for camp and this was a bit of a rush. I do know that we started at 3/8" thick and scraped down from there.
Tiller is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. In fact the bottom limb is a bit stiff and the top limb has a bit of a hinge. Because of this I'm not sure how long the bow will last but hopefully he will get a week's worth of use out of it...
Bill
Bill, very nice. Time spent with your grandson and son is awesome. Then throw making bow together and passing it on well that is just special. Jawge