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in reply to: Ebay bow redo #44609

Wexbow wrote: Just a leftfield non-bowyer (possibly idiotic) idea, but should you steam the bamboo to the riser shape before trying to bond it??

Not idiotic, I honestly never even thought of that. It’s worth a try, but I do still need to address the non sticking issue. Even fiberglass does not want to conform to limb shape without much pressure, thus requiring strong adhesives to keep them together.

I THINK, I need to sand both pieces better, and the idea of steaming it to shape first, might make a big difference.

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in reply to: Ebay bow redo #43601

Well, got some time this afternoon, and slathered the glue on the bamboo and the riser. Here ya see it glued and clamped.

Trust me, I needed every one of those clamps. That bamboo is tough stuff.

Then after about 4 hours, I took the clamps off, to be greeted by the sound of something cracking, loudly! It was the bamboo separating from the riser. 😯 😥

Ya have to look close, but the brown stripe to the left of the riser is the bamboo. The top didn’t fare much better, it popped right off when I pulled it. I will try one more time, and thin the boo even more, and cross sand it, and the riser to encourage better surface adhesion.

I sanded both a lot (or so I thought anyway) but obviously that was not enough. Does anyone know, is there something in the bamboo that prevents a good epoxy glue bond? If so, how do you fix it?

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in reply to: New to the EFOC idea #41154

Thanks, I will have to see what I have out there. I doubt I have any, but will see.

[handirifle]

in reply to: new to archery too #38110

One more suggestion. Not sure what you’re shooting into or what is behind the target, but be very careful. Make sure the backstop goes at least 3ft above the target, especially if there is ANY thing behind it you do not want to hit.

I will tell you a story of a friend of mine. He shoot compounds, and with a mechanical release. He USED to shoot in his back yard, that had houses all around. One afternoon/evening he was shooting near dusk. He had made some changes to his setup and was testing them. he is also one of those guys that draws with his bow arm elevated, and brings it down as he draws the bow back.

Well about his 10th shot, he draws it back, and with it only about 1/3 of the way back, the release did just that. The arrow zipped off and he heard a “tink” sound. Thinking it had gone over his block wall (lots of those in Southern Ca, and hit his neighbors far side block wall, he peeked over the fence. No one was there, it was getting dark, and the neighbors lawn was overgrown, so he decided to look the next morning. No biggie he figured. That was until a couple hours later, and he got a knock on his door. Answering the door, he saw a Deputy Sheriff, HOLDING HIS ARROW. The Sheriff asked to see his teenage son. Seeing the arrow, he said “I can explain that”, but the Sheriff insisted on seeing the boy. He finally explained, that it was HIS arrow, and what had happened. He asked where it was found, and the deputy saif, “Three houses down, it went through the dual pane, upstairs window, and stuck in the families armoire.:shock:

Of course he told the officer, I will pay for everything, anything that needs repaired will be totally taken care of and was humbly apologizing. You see he and I both were air traffic controllers, and he was a second level manager, that would NOT look good on his resume!

Sooo, be careful what is behind you before you let go of the arrow.:D

[handirifle]

in reply to: new to archery too #38092

rwbowman wrote: [quote=Smithhammer]Good eye, Tony. I didn’t even occur to me to take a close look at fletching. For “off the shelf” shooting as you are Gblue86, feathers are the only way to go.

The vanes may be the culprit. The high elbow has a lot to do with form, but if your form is consistent and you can bring the elbow down level, you got it. I hate to ask but couldn’t help notice; what is your anchor reference? It looks like you may use your index finger as a guide, but in the first picture, it seems it may just be resting on your lower jaw. If your anchor is inconsistent, so shall your point of impact.

Above all of the excellent advice already offered, I would first look into getting some feathers on your shafts. Plastic vanes, while durable, do not “give” as they pass over the shelf as feathers do, and therefore the arrows flight is crudely altered when the arrow is released and the vane hits the shelf, typically causing the nock end to kick high, resulting in an erratic flight and miss.

+1 on all the above, in addition, you will probably notice a shift in point of impact with the same aiming technique.

My suggestion, is to go in order.

First change vanes to feathers, then

insure the anchor point (whatever it is) is consistent, then

Drop string arm to horizontal

See what improvements that makes, if not enough, then continue with all the items mentioned above, BUT, change only one thing at a time, including the in order items. If you change everything at once, and something is worse, you will have no idea what it is. Little changes can make HUGE improvements sometimes.

Good luck, and again, for a self taught archer, your form looks very good. As I mentioned above, it looks more traditional than target, kinda of a hybrid.

Oh and for what it’s worth, women and girls, seem to learn quicker than men in shooting sports. Why? Mostly because they have fewer “macho” issues to get past before learning. I say this cause now we expect BIG improvements:D. Just kiddn.

[handirifle]

in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #38079

You’re probably right. He usually did field testing on al his new products, so it stands to reason he would hunt with a compound, at some point.

If he did indeed feel uncomfortable with them, I bet he practiced a LOT before taking an elephant with one.

[handirifle]

in reply to: Last Colorado Grizzly #37443

I too, remember reading about this encounter, in one of the outdoor magazines, not sure which now, but I remember thinking how fortunate this guys was to have strong arrows and sharp broadheads. They saved his life.

I also remember thinking he must have been a pretty strong guy to jab that arrow in that hard. I guess when your life hangs in the balance you pull the reserve strength out and use it.

[handirifle]

in reply to: broadheads for grouse and pheasant #37416

Blunts for grouse would be fine, just not for pheasants.

Would like to see the throwers work, when ya get those completed.

[handirifle]

in reply to: Ebay bow redo #37409

OK, got some time yesterday to do some more to it, and made some good progress.

First off got the clamps off the tips,

Then took the bow over to the band saw to do the rough cutting. Sorry no pic of that, since I’d need extra hands to take the shot and work with the saw. Didn’t trust myself enough to saw with one hand and shoot pics with the other. Since the camera hand might end being the ONLY hand:shock:.

But here is a shot of it roughed out.

Next it went to the belt sander for some up close and personal work. I discovered I had some minor gaps in the gluing, near the edges but it turned out to be more cosmetic than anything. I was afraid it would go across too much of the tip and pop off when shooting. That does not appear to be the case, as I have shot it a bit and all SEEMS well. I guess I am a bit out of practice with the gluing process.

Here is a shot with the string groove cut. This is the first cutting and it got many finishing touches.

I also noticed at this time that the lower limb had taken back some of it’s twist. Stubborn little sucker. I had wondered earlier if some of the twist came from a poor tiller job before, but wasn’t sure. Now I believe it was a combination. When this is done I will leave the bow strung for a fairly long time to see if the limb will take the new “set”.

You can see the sanding is far from finished, I just wanted to make sure the tips were not going to separate from the limbs.

This is the other tip at the same stage.

Anyway, I decided to adjust the lower limb tiller, so with a combination of deepening the string groove on one side and sanding off some of the stronger side of the limb, it came out pretty darn good.

It has an “ever so slight” twist to it, still here, and that is before I widened the string groove down the limb, which help even more.

Then I took the riser piece of bamboo back to the belt sander, and thinned it, a bunch. Maybe tomorrow I can glue that up and from there I can cut it to finish and start working on the cosmetics of the bow and making a nice finished product.

OK, that’s it for this stage.:D Thanks for the kind replies so far. Much appreciated.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #37375

Here is the quote from the book.

“The arrow that had downed four tons of elephant was a standard four-blade Razorhead but(emphasis added) weighed nearly two-ounces, about 75 percent more than usual. Fred had given the arrow extra weight for better penetration by inserting an aluminum arrow shaft inside a shaft of fiber glass. The arrow had gone in about 24 inches and had done its work quickly.”

This was page 223 of “Fred Bear, The Biography of an Outdoorsman”

I do not recall this book mentioning him using a compound on this or any other hunting trip. He might have, it just didn’t mention it. It does say near the end of the book, when someone asked him why he still hunted with the recurve, and not his new compounds? His reply was that because of the letoff, it threw him off with his instinctive. snap shooting, style, that he couldn’t hit anything with them.

I wonder if he would have taken a bow he was not comfortable with to Africa to hunt dangerous game with.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #35801

Am a bit busy right now, but this book says it a bit clearer, will poat it tonight.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #35637

Not a problem, I was afraid my response might come off that way too. One can never know when 2 different authors write about the same hunt, and Fred’s no longer around to verify. I do know he was a huge fan of the heavy arrows, read much of his research using high speed photography on impact energy.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #35613

Well all I can tell ya is what was said in this book, it was a specially made version of his Razorhead, that weighed nearly 2 ounces according to the author.

I will be happy to photocopy the page and post the pic of it. I cannot attest to what is written elsewhere.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #35575

No I dont think so. The arrow was a fiberglass arrow with an aluminum arrow inside it, so I am guessing the shaft alone would be in the 800-900gr area. Many African countries have a 900gr min for bowhunting the dangerous game. Freds would have been in the 1600gr range. He was always a huge fan of heavy for draw weight arrows. For him a 700 gr arrow for a 50lb bow was normal.

Don’t forget, Fred was a long fellow, his draw length was about 31″ if I recall.

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in reply to: Thought you guys might like this #35562

bobtieken wrote: There must be a mistake! Two ounces is the equivalent of 31 grains.

Yea there is a mistake. An ounce is equal to 437 grains, you must be thinking grams. That is an arrowhead over 800 grains.

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