Date with the chronograph

[LittleBen]

Had the chance to chrono a bunch of bows today, many have been posted here, some have not. I will try to add links in case you want to see the bows. I will add pics later when I have a chance.

Arrow weight is an average as they varied from 450-480, as is the speed, although speed did not seem to vary by more than 1-2fps.

Hickory self bow, 62" 37#@25" straight limb
465gr arrow
138fps

Mulberry recurve self bow, 58" 45#@25"
465gr arrow
150fps
     

Hickory hickory ipe tri lam D/R recurve/hybrid, 67" 35#@25", 38#@27", ~44#@30" (not tested)
465gr arrow, 25" draw
140fps;
575gr arrow, 27-28" draw
138fps
I would expect a tad more, I think the guys release may not have been perfect.
Hoping for about 150fps@30" with the heavier arrow.
   

Hickory hickory ipe tri lam D/R longbow, 61" 47#@25"
465gr arrow
150fps

Hickory walnut ipe tri lam D/R recurve, 58" 62#@25"
465gr arrow
176fps
   

Rawhide backed hickory hickory osage tri lam longbow, straight limb, (swap bow from Razorback) 68" 62#@25"
465gr arrow
161fps
 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=012468;p=76

I regret not shooting the heavier bows with the heavier arrow ... I was pretty burned by the end. I suspect that razorback's bow would have closed the gap with the recurve considerably with a heavier arrow, and also with a bit more draw length.

All in all I was very happy with the performance. A special kudos to razorback for sending me that nice longbow. It wasn't the fastest of the two 60#ers, but it was hands down the quietest, and again, I suspect that @ 10gpp that speed gap narrows considerably. not that this was in any way intended to be a head to head comparison of any of the bows above.
Hopefully more testing will follow.

Those are the stats, I will add some more data and make edits as I scale all the bows to confirm I have the weights correct.
Fun was had by all ... The guys at the shop had a good time checking out the bows, and even shooting one of them.

[Wolftrail]

Dont know much about Crono testing various bows.  It does not surpirse me that the Hickory walnut ipe tri lam D/R recurve was faster.  Although 62# sure helps. Nice bows ya got there especially the D/R.

[LittleBen]

Thanks Dean. Obviously speed is not everything, and that fast recurve is LOUD! At least compared to the selfbows.
I like to play with the chrono once in a while for two things, if you can shoot the same speed shot after shot, your anchor and release are consistent. And also to get some concept of whether design changes are more or less efficient.

[RedStag5728]

You're self-bow is a bit faster than mine.

My hickory self-bow is 40# at 27" and shoots a 560 grain arrow 130 fps on average (128-133). What's weird is I tried different arrow weights and they all shoot about 130 fps.

I just made dad a hickory self-bow for Christmas 58# at 30" and it shoots a 600 grain arrow 150 fps on average (149-154)

[macbow]

Always heard many selfbows would shoot 100 plus the draw weight if tillered properly.

[monterey]

I think that was the formula Used  in judging bows at a mojam.  Shot the same arrow out of all the bows an subtracted the draw weight plus 100 from the arrow speed.  Largest remainder won.

[Roy from Pa]

[RedStag5728]

Well my selfbow is overbuilt, I had a huge knot in the beginning 1/3 of the limb and it worried me as it was my first self-bow and so I left wood up to that point (fear of the knot breaking) and so the beginning 1/3 of the limb doesn't bend. So in essence the bow is not as efficient as it should be. I also need to reduce the width of the tips to 3/8", they are 1/2" by 1/2".

I am planning on taking that bow and narrowing the nocks, adding a tip overlay and stringing up a D-97 string for it instead of B-50. That'll bump it up a few fps at least. I'd like to leave it the same weight as it's a pleasure to draw and I don't want to make it any lighter than it already is lol

[mikkekeswick]

That draw weight thing isn't a great way to judge bows.
Reasonable speeds there Ben but you are shooting heavy arrows.
My best selfbow shot 209fps @ 27 inch draw with an 8gpp arrow.....
Black locust r/d with short,sharp 90 deg recurves. Pushed to the max    That speed was when she was 'fresh' (I built it for flight) and in that state pushed 400 yds with 200 or so grain flight arrows.