Straight glass LB questions?

[bjansen]

I had a few questions about straight glass longbows and wanted to get some thoughts if you dont mind.

1.  At a 28" draw, what is the minimum length ntn the bow must be to avoid stacking (and also what riser length should I use). I was thinking 62" ntn with a 16.5" riser would be about the shortest I could go.

2.  What if I made it a reverse handle longbow, all other things being equal...would I need to make the bow longer or shorter...or does it not make much of a difference.

3.  What kind of taper are you guys using in your straight longbows....I was thinking .004 per inch.

Thanks!!!

[jess stuart]

Brad I think the straight longbow that Binghams has uses .002 taper.  One taper and two parallels, don't know about the glass thickness.  Don't know about the riser length, you might give them a call, they always have gone out of there way to help.

[Apex Predator]

Brad, the shortest I've made was 63" and she drew smooth all the way to 30". She had a 16" riser.

Me thinks the reverse handle would not gain you much.

I have used .002 - .004 and they all shot well.

[jsweka]

I noticed on Bingham's site you can purchase a limb lamination kit for a 58" to 68" longbow.  I'm assuming these can all be straight limbed as they note on the ordering menu a kit for just 62" and another for 62" hybrid. Can also select a kit for a 16" riser.

All the Bingham longbow lamination kits I've ever used had 3 parallels and one 0.002 taper.

I don't know about stack in a 62" - never made one that small.

If this is your first bow, I'd stick with the Bingham plans and their lamination kit and you should have no problem ending up with a serviceable bow.

[bjansen]

Good deal. Thanks for the info.  The first laminated glass bow I made was a straight profile....I gave that away a while back and made r/d's and recurves ever since.  I saw a Martin Stick the other day and really liked that simple, small look...plus seeing some straight LB builds on here is adding fuel to the fire.  I suppose I better make another form.

[Swissbow]

Hi Brad, I made a 62" longbow with a slight r/d-profile for the bow swap. The riser is 18" long and I still can draw it to 28# without any problem, so I guess you should be fine with a 16" riser.

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Andy

[Dick in Seattle]

I do straight longbows.   I've used from two .002 tapers to no taper at all.   I've kind of settled on one .0015 taper as being optimum.   In my admittedly limited experience (only 21 bows), stacking has more to do with the design and tillering than the bow's length.   If you get too much taper and/or too fine a tip, it'll be 'soft' and bend too much and you'll stack.  If you can keep that tip straight, you're much less likely to stack.  I built a bow a couple of weeks ago with no taper at all... came out a pretty nice shooter.   I keep my tips a bit wider, too. I don't use any tip overlays, which helps make up for the extra tip weight of that width.  The bows are a bit slower than they could be, but quite smooth.  Being old with bad shoulders and elbows, I prefer the smoothness over a few fps.  Build a few and experiment.   You'll have a ball!

[kennym]

Brad,
I'm sure you will ace it!

The narrower width you use,the more taper you can put in the lams themselves. You gotta taper the limb one way or the other.

You can only narrow the tip so much,so with narrow limbs ,more taper rocks!

I'm bettin you can build a strait longbow in your sleep....