Trad Gang

Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: bvarcher on January 08, 2012, 01:09:00 PM

Title: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: bvarcher on January 08, 2012, 01:09:00 PM
Anyone now how much I can remove/sand down off of the .050 glass?

I recently built a Bingham bow that was supposed to come in at 55#, however it ended up at 70# @ 28".  I have been sanding on the belly to reduce weight and was wondering how much I can safely remove.  Binghams chart shows that this bow should only be about 50#s or so.  It is .342" at the nocks and .385 at the fadeout.  Bow is 64" R/D.
Title: Re: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: Tyler Langston on January 08, 2012, 01:15:00 PM
You should be ok on taking of the .050 glass thats pretty thick glass and you could also narrow your limbs down to. I dont no if you are going to be able to take it down 15 pounds but you may be able to get 7 or 8 off from it
Title: Re: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: bvarcher on January 08, 2012, 01:23:00 PM
So far I have managed to sand off about 3-4 lbs by sanding the belly.  Being a kit bow I am surpised it came in so heavy.  I'll be happy with it if I can get it down to about 60#.
Title: Re: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: kennym on January 08, 2012, 01:52:00 PM
I trapped the limbs on a 60" d/r and took off 4#, that is after I narrowed the bow to 1 3/8" and made the tips a little under 1/2"

Good luck!
Title: Re: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: GREG IN MALAD on January 08, 2012, 02:22:00 PM
It depends on how wide the bow is right now. Binghams poundage chart is based on an 1 1/4" wide limb. I think the 64" R/D would be stable as narrow as 1 1/8". You can loose up to 5 pounds by rounding the edges and I have removed 7 pounds by trapping the limbs. If you sand .010 off back and belly you will drop about 8#, I wouldnt sand off any more than that. Is the bow 64" long groove to groove? Also, I used to have a bow scale that was off by 7#, that one caused me a bunch of problems.
Title: Re: Shaving weight on Bingham bow
Post by: macbow on January 08, 2012, 04:12:00 PM
When I made my first Bingham longbow I was off about the same amount.
Like some above I reduced the width considerably. I started out with the edges rounded over, sanded this away and then rounded them over again, repeat as needed.
Ron