In It's day...

[tippit]

In it's day, this old recurve was one of my favorite hunting bows harvesting a slew of whitetails. That's saying a lot for me as I prefer longbows for hunting. Yesterday I was going through a pile of old bows and I picked up my old Robertson Peregrine recurve 59#@28. Now at 77 years old, I can hardly string it as opposed to even think of shooting it! So I decided to reduce to my weight of under 40 pounds or make kindling out of it!

I'm happy to say the bow is still with me and shooting great at 37#@28!!

[Terry Green]

Nice Jeff.  Never make kendling!!! Reduce or pass down!!!

Put it to use this year. 

[varmint101]

That’s awesome! Glad you can shoot it again!

[McDave]

Did you do that yourself?  If so, good job! I called Robertson some time ago about reducing a 61# Vision longbow and they said the most they could take off was 5 pounds.

[tippit]

McDave,
Look back on some of my previous posts. I've taken as much off a longbow as 32#. Recurves are a bit harder because of the thin limbs. I've been forging knives for over 20 years and I'm a pretty good grinder. With my knife grinder taking 10 pounds off is a walk in the park. Bowyers have a liability when reducing a bow so most will only take 5# off. I never sell any bows that I reduce weight. They are just for me. Because of the liability, I won't reduce weight of anyone else's bows either. But it sure is fun to bring back to life some of my old treasured bows and I have a very good supply of them...tippit

[rastaman]

That is awesome Jeff!  I wish you did reduce weight for other peoples bows.  As i age, i've got a couple i'm going to have reduced.  By the way, one of the first custom bows i bought was a Robertson Peregrine!

[J. Cook]

Jeff, do you typically trap the limbs and grind off the belly, or do you prefer to take weight off by grinding/sanding the sides of the limbs?

[tippit]

J. Cook,
I don't trap the limbs or grind the sides. That doesn't take much weight off and it makes the limbs more unstable and subject to twisting especially when you are removing 10-20 pounds of weight. I feather off glass front and back.

Rastaman,
With all the rain we have been having here in New England, I've stayed busy reducing 4 recurves, 2 longbows. and 1 selfbow. I don't seem to have a shortage of bows to shoot

[beemann]

Fantastic  good for you bud... Hope to still be shooting at 77.  You are inspiring.... good luck.

[Ray Lyon]

Jeff,
My best friend bought a Perrigrine from Ron LaClair’s shop in the 80’s when Ron was a stocking dealer for Dick Robertson.  It was a 66# bow that he since got rid of.  It was Dick’s personal bow that he had Ron sell for him.  Birdseye maple riser and butter smooth shooter.  Sounds like you did well with your bow.  Congratulations on keeping it a shooter. 

[landman]

I can't speak to the outer limits of weight reduction but I will say that yours is a beautiful old bow and my most favorite style.   I own a pair of Mike Dunnaway's Wild Horse Creek recurves and they are that style.   Light as a fly rod and very pleasant to shoot.

[SS Snuffer]

Can I ask what type of sander you use and what grit of paper you use? I have a bow I need to change the tiller a little and drop the weight about 5 lbs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[tippit]

SS Snuffer,
My grinder is a 2X72 KMG grinder...about $3,000. If you just want to reduce 5# but also change the tiller some, I'd just use a palm sander on the glass starting with 120 to 280 to 320 grit. Then hand finish with the same grits pulling the sand papper down the limbs to smooth out scratch marks. You will need a way to see your tiller difference and measure the bows weight. Search my back posts on reducing bow weight...tippit