Shorter Drawlength

[Danny Klee]

#3079

A friend of mine who interested in building a self bow is curious. Can you build a self bow at a draw length of 24″ but still have a bow of 55-60# of draw weight? Also does anyone here know where he can go to learn how to do this? He lives in South Central Michigan and is willing to travel to learn this craft. Thanks everyone.

Dan

[Bow-Cephus]

#18163

Well I’m a newbe so not much help here; I’m sure there is a way and If I was to guess the way to go about it would be to make a shorter bow with slightly wider limbs and possibly back it with sinue or something. Also these guys are great help but try tradgang.com its a little faster with the responce:lol:

Danny Klee wrote: A friend of mine who interested in building a self bow is curious. Can you build a self bow at a draw length of 24″ but still have a bow of 55-60# of draw weight? Also does anyone here know where he can go to learn how to do this? He lives in South Central Michigan and is willing to travel to learn this craft. Thanks everyone.

Dan

[Clay Hayes]

#18423

Absolutely, you can make a 55-60# bow with a 24” draw. I’ve got a few short but heavy bows that were made to resemble Plains Indian bows that fit that description. You would just make it the same as any selfbow but shorter (if you want the design to be efficient). I’m not sure about bowyers around Michigan, but I would think there would be some local clubs that could help put your friend in contact with someone who could help. Also, the Traditional Bowyers Bible Vol. 1 is a great resource for selfbow makers. Check out the “lets make a selfbow” thread. That may help some. If he has any specific questions one getting started, post them.

ch

[gleno]

#19317

yes I agree with the other guys who responded to your question about draw wt.i built an osage bow useing the directions right out of DEAN TORGES book hunting the osage bow.when you’re tillering just make sure you don’t go past your desired draw length..good luck god bless..gleno

[The Gopher]

#54798

as a general rule of thumb, you can make a selfbow can be as short as twice the draw length if it is “bend-through-the-handle” bow, thus a 24″ draw you should be abel to make a bow of any draw weight that is only 48″ long. A lot of factors coem into play here such as the quality of the wood, quality of the tillering, etc, etc. i usually add a few extra inches just to be safe. I am currently building a 51″ recurve selfbow that i hope to get 25″ draw from.

If you are building a stiff handled bow add 8″ to the bow length. so at my 25″ draw i could make a stiff handled bow that is 58″ long. again, i usually add a few inches just to be safe.

the draw weight doesn’t determine how short a bow can be made provided the wood is quality (think of wooden crossbows), the only thing that determines how short a bow can be made is the draw length. a bow begins to stack as the angle between the limb tip and string increases, which is due to draw length and bow design, (that’s why a lot of short bows are recurved).

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