Bow Weight Reduction

[Dennis]

#3811

I recently came across a website that offers bow weight reductions at around 10% (some bows more, some bows less). I’ve corresponded a little with the owner and he seems very knowledgeable. He is Joe Lasch at Prairie Traditions in Wisconsin. His method is slow sanding the glass laminates until the target weight is reached. I think I’m going to give his service a try to get my Phil Grable SST down to a weight I can still handle. Has anyone had any experience with this outfit or with this procedure?

[Kegan]

#23904

It works, but more than one respected bowyer has advised against it. In addition to changing the weight, you’re changing the ration of core-to-fibreglass. If the fiberglass becomes too thin in relation to the core, it will shoot disproportionately more slowly.

If you had no options or no other choice it would work, but be aware you might be sacrificing the bow’s performance as well.

[Stephen Graf]

#24593

I think the best way to do this is by “trapping” the limbs. You can shed 5 or more pounds by trapping the back of the bow. I saw a really heavy bow deeply trapped on the belly of the bow to reduce weight, and it shot well and didn’t look bad at all.

I concur with Kegan. It’s not good to thin the glass. Keep looking. There are a number of good bowyers that provide the service I just described

[David Petersen]

#25816

I just spoke with Joe and he will respond here when he gets home this afternoon. dp

[Joe Lasch]

#26255

Thanks for the call Dave!

I learned the sanding glass method of weight reduction from Jim Belcher of Belcher Bows/Sky Archery. He had been using that method to reduce weight on bows very successfully for many years, and I have had no problems at all reported since I have been doing it. In fact, I recently completed a survey of previous customers (both weight reduction and refinishing) and found not a single problem with any bow that I had worked on. I did hear back from nearly everyone that I contacted, and without fail they were all very pleased with the perfomance of their bow.

I often tell people that the decision whether or not to reduce weight should be considered carefully. If it is just another in a long line of bows, and has no personal meaning or significance to the owner, I usually suggest that it might be best to simply sell the bow and look for another in a weight they can handle. But often the bow is one that they may have owned for years, and it has simply gotten to be too much to handle as we age. It becomes a decision of either have weight reduction done, or hang it up on the wall forever. I think it makes sense to get it back in the woods hunting again!

Sanding the glass is actually very commonly done by many bowyers as they are building bows in order to hit weight, and also when they rework one of their own bows. Certainly trapping the limbs is another option, but in my mind (and how I was trained by Jim) it is usually best to stick with the original design of the limbs. The thickness of the laminations, glass, width of limbs, and whether they are trapped on the belly, back, or not at all are all decisions that were incorporated into the original bow design. I try to keep that design intact whenever possible.

I am often asked if reducing the weight on a bow affects its performance. Of course, anytime you shoot a lighter weight bow it will be imparting less energy on the arrow upon release. But I have actually had quite a few people tell me that they feel the bow actually performs better after reduction. I think this is most likely because they are now able to actually reach full draw at the lower weight, and therefore have increased their draw length a bit. And as we know, a longer draw cycle is more efficient at imparting energy to the arrow. In reality, it is likely more a matter of perception as well.:wink:

[Dennis]

#26326

Dave; Thanks for touching base with Joe. Obviously you two are aquainted.
Joe; Thanks for your response in this forum to Dave’s phonecall. I think I’m satisfied that your procedure will do the trick. I was throwing it out for group discussions to see if there were any horror stories and I haven’t found any. If I don’t hear from Phil Grable in the next few days I’ll be sending the bow to you. As I said in our initial correspondence, I have nothing to loose since I can’t use the bow now. And as you state, the bow holds some very fond memories for me and I’d like to get it back in the bush where it belongs.

[Dan Jackowiak]

#26467

I did this myself one time on a takedown set of limbs. I called the bowyer and he advised taking some material off the edges. I lost 3lbs by doing that. I then took off another two pounds by slowly taking down the glass. It worked perfect and other than the obvious speed loss from a lighter weight, you could not tell at all. Same bow and it shot great.

[wahoo]

#27924

I have a Thunderhorn coup stick that I bought in 96 and it just got to be too much. I called the bowyer Duanne Jessup and he lighten it up 3 to 5 lbs and the bow is great . For a cheap price he made that bow new.

[Author]

Posts