Is an asymmetric longbow/flatbow feasible?

[halfseminole]

I've got a new bow I slapped together out of scraps, and while I love the way it shoots (extreme recurves aren't too forgiving) it's 74" long.  I can only shoot it while standing, and my leg is making it harder and harder to shoot.  I shoot short recurve bows because my wheelchair is low to the ground and shooting with too much cant is difficult thumb style.

Is it possible to make an asymmetric bow without recurved limbs?  I've got some 100+ year old oak I've been saving, and I'm looking for a worthy use for it.  I'm losing my ability to stand/walk even with assistance, so I have to concentrate my efforts on something I can use either way.

I would love to make a fiberglass bow, but the startup costs are more than we can afford (we are saving for our "wedding we never had" because our son was hospitalized) so I'm working with what I have.  

I've rambled, but is a moderately to severely asymmetric bow possible without the heavily recurved limbs I'm used to?

[KenH]

No reason an asymmetrical flatbow/longbow would not work as good as an asymmetric recurve.  The Yumi bow that symbolized the samurai is majorly asymmetric.  

Remember too that "long" is relative.  Many of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest used very short (as little as 36")  Paddle Bows (so called from their general shape).  

Can you afford

2 pieces 1.5" black glass @ $9 per piece = $18
Pint kit of Smooth On = $18 (makes several bows)
Straight length of 2x2 = $5
Masking tape + $4
Wood lams from me -- free

Oh... and you'll need a used bicycle innertube from your local bike shop.

Here's a picture of a fiberglass flatbow I made as a prototype.  Two pieces of .04 fiberglass and a piece of scrap pine.  58" long, 56# @ 28".  Shoots just fine.  That 2x2 alongside the bow is what I used as a form. We can make you something similar about 40" long.

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[halfseminole]

Yeah, next month that's completely possible.  Yeah, "long" is relative, but my draw tends to determine my bow length.  Are you thinking something like a Hankyu yumi?  I enjoyed shooting my old teacher's when I still studied kyudo.  

As an aside, one day I'd love to try that tiny recurve you build.  My horn bow is tied up working out a twist at one tip.  Love to see if it could handle the 38" my horn bow can.

I think it's gonna take a lot of planning, though.  I'd appreciate your input, seeing as you shoot a lot like I do.  Sometimes I just know enough to be dangerous.  Mostly to myself.

[KenH]

Yeah a Hanku Yumi sort of thing - flatbow 58-60".  Or even a Rimankyu.

Something to seriously consider as well, is think outside the box and develop a whole new draw length that fits better with you being in the wheelchair.  Instead of drawing 38" or 39" to the ear, draw shorter to the chin or chest or shoulder.  You can still have a heavier draw bow that draws 40# or 50# at 24" or 26".  That's the way those Northwest Paddlebows were - powerful short draw like a 40" bow that draws 50# at 22" or 24".

It would be great to get together sometime to shoot.

[Pat B]

Traditionally in the US most "modern" wood bows were made asymmetrically, I believe. When I started studying wood bows back in the mid 1980's all the books I read(all that were available to me)described wood bow building that way; a 4" handle was drawn with 1 1/4" above the center of the handle and 2 3/4" below. It was a way of creating positive tiller.
 I now build all my bows symmetrically with the center of the handle the center of the bow and tiller "positive tiller" into the bow. For me, it is easier to see proper tiller with a symmetrical built bow.

[KenH]

Pat - we're talking   seriously asymmetric here, not just an inch or two.  Many of the Central-Asian "horsebows" have the lower limb 4-6" inches shorter than the upper, to allow the limb tip to clear the horse you're sitting on.  One Scythian style bow I have has a 19" lower limb and a 25" upper limb with a 4" handle.  The Japanese Yumi bow has the upper limb 2/3 of the bow's 2 meter overall length, and the bottom limb only 1/3.  The samurai were originally horse archers, and only later became renowned for their ground-fighting skills as swordsmen.  

Not only horsemen, but archers in wheelchairs can benefit from such radically asymmetrical bows, rather than having to cant longer bows nearly horizontal.

[Pat B]

As long as the bow is tillered properly so the strain is shared throughout the working portions of the bow it shouldn't matter if it is 1" difference or 3' difference like a Yumi. Actually the Yumi bow is tillered as 3 separate bows.

[halfseminole]

Do you have a link to how they're tillered?  A Hankyu yumi style is what I'm shooting for.  With my draw length and shooting style it would fit me very well.  Yumi construction interests me greatly.

[Pat B]

Check out "Yumi Bows". Yaap builds beautiful Japanese style archery equipment. He is located in GA these days.