Youth bow template/design

[Mike L.]

Does anyone know where I can find a template or a design for a youth bow?  It’s for an 8 year old boy, so I’m thinking a takedown so limbs could be swapped out later on might be the best choice.  I’m also looking for recommendations for what draw weight to shoot for with someone so young. 

I also wonder what’s the youngest age a child should be introduced to archery.  I didn’t discover it until I got out of the army in my mid 20’s and I didn’t discover an interest chess until my mid 30’s.  I want my son to at least have exposure to the things that work for me just in case they work for him, too.

[kennym]

I have a 48/50 D/R I never marketed .  Built one off the form and then when I closed shop to take better care of the real job (mistake  )  I gave the form to a guy who has built some off it.  I have some stats on the one I built, and you can have a template for shipping cost if you like.

[Flem]

I would just make a simple straight limb longbow. Easy and fast, plus when he outgrows it you can give it to another youngster and make another.

I wanted to be an archer after I watched the original Robin Hood movie with my Dad. He was sauve, got the pretty gal and was a bad a$$ shot! That was enough for me

[Mike L.]

Kenny, that’s awesome.  I’ll shoot you an email.  Real jobs are nothin but work if you ask me.

I watched the Kevin Costner Robin Hood when I was younger, but I think it was reading historical fiction that featured archery, like the Mongols, English archers, and Samurai that really got me.  I read a lot of that stuff when I was in Iraq (killing time more than anything else), but that someone can develop a skill ti that extent, where you don’t need sights or range finders, it all happens in your mind, really sparked my imagination. 

[oldandslow]

I would just make a simple straight limb longbow. Easy and fast, plus when he outgrows it you can give it to another youngster and make another.

I wanted to be an archer after I watched the original Robin Hood movie with my Dad. He was sauve, got the pretty gal and was a bad a$$ shot! That was enough for me

How long would you make it for an 8 yr old boy? what kind of limb thickness we looking at?

[Mike L.]

I’m also looking for recommendations on draw weight, length, etc.  I was thinking 15# or so.  What age should a kid start? 

[KenH]

Age?  If he or she can draw a bow back for 10 seconds they're old enough to learn archery.  There are plastic toy bows in in 3-5# range, and you can make simple straight bows from bamboo splits or fancy "look like Dad's" bows from wood or wood-glass.  My eight year old neighbor does a good job pulling a 16# bow I made him from a split of local bamboo and a length of No.18 Mason's Line for a bow string.   Handle from a shaped piece of wood wrapped with green cloth "duct tape" to hold it in place.  No shelf, he's learning to shoot off the hand, the way I was taught to shoot back in the Dark Ages (and the way I still shoot my Asian Traditional style bows).

[oldandslow]

So how long was it?
I have a slender piece of ash I thought I could add a handle to and shape it like a self bow...think that would work?

[pditto613]

Mike with a 48” bow shoot for 15# @24”.   This seems to work well for kids drawing from 18” up to 24”