Now for the interesting part.  I made the limbs very thin down to the tips.  This works great on a longbow, but not on a limb that does not fully roll out (i.e. like a recurve).  

I was expecting these limbs to unroll a bit more than they did and when they didn't I ended up with a very touchy, unstable bow when strung.  A hard bump would twist the limb and send that string off.  

I came up with an idea to try to make this a usable shooter.  When full drawn the bow is great and it shot great well, but I needed some string grooves or some other device to ensure after it was fired, the string would return to, and stay on center, even if bumped.  So I made some moveable string guides (similar to what you would see on a horse bow).  I taped them on and shot the bow until I found a good spot.

 

It actually worked well, so I made some nicer ones from Coreflex S/A and made a nice round place for the strings to slide into.  My plan is to put a cork backing on these and them tie them on once the bow is finished.  In the end they will be secure, but not permently affixed to the limbs.    

 

 

This one should finish out at around 48-50 lbs, 57" ntn.


It is very light and shoots pretty good so far.  Now I just need to sand and finish.

Cool!!  What would more taper do for you? How does she bend when drawn?

I think more taper would have been better, like you initially said it would make those ends unroll.  Currently at full draw the tips are retaining some of that reflex.  I think this design would work really well with a .004 taper rate and recurve style profile on the limbs.

Wow, that one turned out beautiful!

Interesting fix Brad. With that much recurve and the narrow limb, I'll bet it's pretty scary to shoot! lol.
 What if you were to cut an inch or so off each end to get the string off the limb a bit more?
 Don

Yeah, it was pretty scary to shoot at first...But it does well with those guides. IFf the guides didnt work I was goign to try to chop some off each end.  The bow is currently 57" ntn, so I didn't have too much to work with.

That is one nice looking bow!  I like the string guides and the way you determined where they needed to be.

pete

Well Rkmt2...I took your advice..thought about this many times..but it took a while to make the decision... I cut off those nice tips about 1.25" on each side and got the string to track.  

It worked out great.  I got the twist out and the string to track correctly and the poundage is back up to around 52-55.  No more need for the string trackers and I now have a two little tips to make cuff links out of!



Added a bunch more overlays, front and back...14 laminations from one side of the tip to the other.

Final bow finished at 54.5" nock to nock. About 53# and shoots better than I ever imagined.  I really need to get a chrono to put a # to it...but from what I can tell it shoots very fast..much faster than I ever expected and very little handshock.  I am very suprised at how well it turned out and am very happy with it..It is one of my favorites for sure.  


For the finish I used 3 brush coats of Thunderbird and then 4 light spray coats for a matt texured finish.  10 strand FF string with padded B-50 Loops.


Here are the final pics.

If any one wants the MDF template I used, PM me..and if anyone wants the form I made for this bow PM as well.  I would be glad to pass it on for the material cost, given you post a pic or two of the bow you make from it.

Looks pretty nice Brad! Kind of a recurve with a longbow handle...Hybrid to the extreme!
  I really love your overlay work too. You're a very creative guy. Could be your claim to fame!
   Don

Thanks Don.  Im glad I chopped it down a bit like you suggested.

That bow is the definition of hybred,job well done.Overlay's look great is that e-glass or linen marcarta...

Very Nice. Great Work

Greyhawk, all of the final overlays are .030 e-glass.  The first tip overlays I put on were linen phenolic (but I ended up chopping them off).

Thanks

I just could not get it right by cutting each piece individually so now I always make 2 risers at the same time.  Mirrors of each other.  I hot melt 2 opposing pieces together and cut both at the same time.  Pop them apart and switch parts.  Comes out perfect every time.

that's one hell of a hot bow  

Nick