I was looking to make a 70" hard maple longbow when I found a crack in the back. I can make a static recurve out of it. I draw 28 1/2 and the bow will be 2" wide and can be up to 64 to 65" long. Ill have 5 inch static tips. How short can this bow be for that draw and what kind of poundage should I shoot for? Any advice would be great.
Are you talking curved or bent static tips? Working on a hickory bent eared static myself. Your length/width sounds good for your draw length. If you have any doubts you can always rawhide or linen back it. Or shorten it to 62" X 1 3/4" and sinew. Keep your limbs rectangular for straight edge purposes. This keeps alignment problems to minimun.-ART B
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those are some fine looking bows Art. I was thinking curved static tips. I forgot to mention that I heat bent 3 1/2" of reflex in it already before there is even a static curve. This was going to be a longbow thats why that reflex. Should I heat treat some of that reflex out of it?
Haven't done a static that extreme Bowman so I can't answer your question. But at two inches wide and heat treated I believe you're going to be way to wide. Your limbs are going to come out too thin and your're going to lose most if not all of your heat treatment. This alone will cause reflex loss. What draw weight are you after?-ART B
I dont know the poundage. Ive never attempted a recurve before so I dont know what to expect. What kind of poundage should I make it with that kind of limb? Im not worried about all or most of the reflex coming out. Heres what the static looks like. I wanted to do a more curved static, but I didnt want to chance it by going to extream to fast. I think Im going to leave it at this.
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Looks like more then enough curve there Bowman. Those tips of mine are bent on 60 degrees and that's to steep for my short draw. String barely lifts off the ears. Probably 45 degrees would have been better I think. But if this one works out I'll probably sinew back it for my son later on. He pull about 28" and really likes these types of bows.
One thing to avoid, and that's exercising your limbs any other way but straight back. I floor tiller, that a quick look at it on the tillering board and short string the thing to brace height if the weight permits. With the short string on I'm assured of not twisting my tips as I draw the bow and hitting desired weight isn't a problem.
I would carry the same width to mid-limb or retangular shape. Here you always have to option of pyramiding later as you're tillering to correct side profile if you like. To keep from losing your heat treatment just reduce the sides more then the belly as you're tillering. This method will help determine your final limb width dimensions for your desired weight.-ART B