Longevity of foam core limbs

[Bob Morrison]

Peter, There was nothing wrong with your original post. No fault of yours it went a little nuts... Anyway I hope you got some good stuff from all the posts that were positive and not the negative (I don't really know but I did stay at a  Motel 8 last night)...

[LongStick64]

Yes I did and I appreciated all of the responses, I may not be an expert at how to make a bow but I'm a damned good listener.

Either way Bob, I have a m/o out today to you for one of your ILF riser's, keep up the good work.

[Sixby]

Peter I certainly was not addressing you or the thread. I was wondering about the agenda of some of the answers. Sorry if you thought I pointed at you. This has as a whole been a very constructive and valuable thread in my opinion. I stayed at the same Motel 6. God bless you, Steve

[onewhohasfun]

It is 92 deg. here today and I just blew the foam off my beer! Whew. As far as speed goes,I had a limited test on a chrony. A little speed gain with lite arrows. Heavy arrows shot about the same speed.

[zipper bowss]

I was just pointed to this thread.I did not read through all 5 pages of it,but to answer your question concerning longevity of foam core limbs.I will tell you this,in 3 years of use of foam as a limb core I have had ONE failure!That failure was not due to the core failure.
I have guys that are very competetive shooters shooting foam core limbs.They shoot over a hundred shots a day every day with no problems.
Hopefully this thread helps ease your mind.
Bill

[Sant-Ravenhill]

From what I've read on this thread, foam cores seem to be the next greatest thing in bow making. Lots of people seem to love them and how they perform.

But my question; is anyone mourning the passing of wood? Compounds have all the warmth of barbwire. Will our recurves and longbows soon be the same?

I'm absolutely "NOT", trying to open a can of worms or start a fight. I just love wood in a bow; it's warmth and beauty bring tremendous joy in and of itself.

Fiberglass, carbon, foam and anodized aluminum can be put together, to make a very, very efficient tool, but, "FOR ME", with all the soul of an anvil.

Good luck to all of you this fall...and in spite of our governments best efforts, we still have the freedom to choose the bows we want to shoot and hunt with. I will always choose, for example, a Blacktail over a DAS, even if the Blacktail is slightly less smooth or efficient.

[zipper bowss]

Wood cores or bamboo cores are not going anywhere.Bamboo is still the standard in our limbs,foam is an upgrade.With the foam core all you will see is a gray core between the pretty veneers.Just as with the bamboo you will see a light brown core between the pretty veneers.You realy do not give up any beauty.We can even put a veneer over carbon if you were to so choose.I know Morrison will do the same.

[Sant-Ravenhill]

Thanks for your reply...Zipper bows have some of the most beautiful wood combinations around. Glad to hear you feel wood and bamboo cores will still be available in the future.

I remember how quickly compounds went from wood risers and cores to the metal and plastic machines they are today.

If nothing else, maybe Zipper, Morrison and others can have a retro line of bows for those of us that are addicted to beautiful wood. But, my addiction is so bad, I can find beauty even in a 2X4.

[Sixby]

Like Bill said, Wood is not going anywhere. Foam core is an option. I have built a lot of carbon limbs with super thin wood veneers over them and clear glass ground to .015 for a skin. they lose very little and look great. We don't need to mourn the demise of wood because of a core material. if you go to any of the bowyers that are on this thread and check out the websites you will see gorgeous wood and lots of it. Most of those on mine have carbon limbs with very thin veneers. Like paper thin. God bless, Steve

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by LongStick64:
I did NOT have any negative agenda in starting this thread. I asked about foam core limbs not about any one manufacturer. I did not start this thread to bash anyone or any material used. I wanted an education.
Mr. Morrison I have a riser and a set of your limbs, and I really feel fortunate to own them. I actually sent in an order for a new riser today. I sincerly apologize if this thread has brought any negative response your way. Not my intention for this thread.
I do not have any connection to any bowyer or manufacturer of any type. My thread was not intended to be a mudslinging affair.
I was honestly curious IF there was a valid reason to choose one limb core material over another.
Mods
If this thread seems to have a hidden agenda. It was not my intent. Please delete this thread if you deem necessary. But I am centainly not going to accept any notion that I had an "Agenda", that there is unacceptable to me.

Never did those thoughts you just posted cross my mind......I sure hope you don't think I was implying anything toward you cause I wasn't.

I also DO NOT think foam cores will be the death of wood.....EVER.  No way.    

[royking]

interesting i didnt know anybody was using foam

[Gary Logsdon]

Wow, I've been out of the loop on this one . . . spent the last day or so away from the computer having fun shooting my recurve and foam limbs:^)

[Danny Rowan]

I have owned a couple of Morrisons with foam cores and now own a Zipper ZSR with foam core evolution limbs. With the foam cores the bows were extremely smooth and the carbon made them very quick. My favorite core qood is on my Quest, custom laminated wenge, smooth and very vast. Foam is just another option and is a good one in my opinion. I like them all  

[Homebru]

Geez, don't tell me I have to call Bob before the yard sale is over.
homebru

[MercilessMing]

Peter,thank you for staring this thread and it has been very educational for me to know more about foam limbs.  More impressive to me is how many bowyers so openly sharing their knowlege (in other indsutry is like sharing trade secrets).  Hats off to all of you.        

For the longevity concern of the foam limbs, I agree with those posts that few models of the OLY limbs have design fault and made them fail more often than other models.  If that model happen to be a popular one for that particular year, the result is seeing massive moving away from that model to the next popular model, does not matter it is foam or wood.  Competive OLY shooters also must have lots of arrows going through every day practice.  100 to 200 each and every day.  That makes it easier to see a fatigue failure if limb design has fault.  That's how I think the information from those area got started.

Competition shooters also compete at variouse disatnace, up to 100 yards.  Consistancy of the limb performance makes significance for such long disance.  I would choose foam core in that situation especially when the temperature and moisture may vary a lot through out the same competion day.

I know that foam core is not natural material.  But it seems natual to me to choose foam core after seeing the benefits.

[LongStick64]

Thanks Ming,

As a note, the ILF Longbow  Morrison foam core limbs I bought from you are still going strong.

[Airborne]

I have had great luck with the foam core limbs.  Had a buddy dry fire my bow and they did not crack either!  I have used them for a couple of years and find them to be very good limb material.  Not as pretty as the wood limbs on my other bows but they have their place

[Whip]

ttt