Grain selection in belly wood

[outdoors4me]

Not exactly sure what you're asking, but the description of the bow that I build is as follows...

One long piece - 72"
I glue up a 72" piece of Bamboo, Yellow Heart and then a 14" riser - just another piece of YH.

In the glueing process, I bend it in a form. I bend it backwards - in the opposite direction of how it will be pulled. It yields a 1" backwards bend.

Very simple design compared to some I've seen on this board.

Beck

Beck, when you glued up the last two bows.

Are they bend through the handle bows?

[Fishinglink]

Beck, what I believe Roy is referring to is this. When the bow is drawn does the design bend through the handle area or is it rigid to the flares/fade outs?

Roy if I’m wrong I apologize.

Cody


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roy from Pa]

Ok Beck, that's what I was wondering.

That's how I make my bows also.

The longer you make a bow with the same dimensions of wood, the lighter weight it will be.

Cutting 1 inch off each end of a bow will raise the weight about 4 to 5 pounds.

72 inches is a very long bow..

Is that the length of your first bow made with the instructor there?

No problem, Cody.

[BMorv]

Cody/Beck,
Yes that is what Roy and I were wondering.  It looks like if you have a 14" riser then it should be a stiff handled bow, and I'm confused as to how a medium weight bow was made with only a 3/8" thick yellow heart and bamboo backing. 

Beck, can you give us more details about what the plans call for?  Nock to nock length, goal weight, width at flares and tips, thickness required, any power lams or cores, etc....
I know this is a lot of information, but short of just telling you to build a totally different bow we have to know more about the bow you are trying to make.  More pictures of the bow unbraced, braced, and full draw would help too.  Once again sorry for asking for all this, but I don't know how else to help you without knowing more details. 

*Roy responded as I was trying to post

[outdoors4me]

Yes, 72" is the length I learned in class and the ones I've built since the class have been 72" as well. From reading in a couple of different forums, I realize most long bows are shorter.

I'll probable build a couple of more at that length with the knowledge of wood grain and thickness that I now know. Then I'll experiment with shorter lengths.

Beck

Ok Beck, that's what I was wondering.

That's how I make my bows also.

The longer you make a bow with the same dimensions of wood, the lighter weight it will be.

Cutting 1 inch off each end of a bow will raise the weight about 4 to 5 pounds.

72 inches is a very long bow..

Is that the length of your first bow made with the instructor there?

No problem, Cody.

[outdoors4me]

BMorv,

As to the 3/8" thickness, my instructor must have had some Yellow Heart that he knew as fact to be abnormally strong.

As for the other stuff, I can only answer a couple of things, because I still don't know the terminology. I'm making 72" bows. To cut the nocks, I measure 1" and 1 and 1/2" down from the tip and draw a horizontal line. Then I cut the nocks at a 45 degree angle between the two.

Width at the tip is 1/2". Width at the widest point (flare?) is about 1 1/4". Sorry, but I don't even know what power lams or cores are yet.

Thanks Beck

Cody/Beck,
Yes that is what Roy and I were wondering.  It looks like if you have a 14" riser then it should be a stiff handled bow, and I'm confused as to how a medium weight bow was made with only a 3/8" thick yellow heart and bamboo backing. 

Beck, can you give us more details about what the plans call for?  Nock to nock length, goal weight, width at flares and tips, thickness required, any power lams or cores, etc....
I know this is a lot of information, but short of just telling you to build a totally different bow we have to know more about the bow you are trying to make.  More pictures of the bow unbraced, braced, and full draw would help too.  Once again sorry for asking for all this, but I don't know how else to help you without knowing more details. 

*Roy responded as I was trying to post

[BMorv]

No worries Beck.  You are right with the flares being the widest point.  Your nock to nock would be the farthest point of the nocks, so in your case 70" nock to nock or NTN.   

I forgot where we started with all of this.  Do you have any questions at this point?

-Ben

[outdoors4me]

Ben,

I think I'm good at this point. Thanks for you help.

Beck

No worries Beck.  You are right with the flares being the widest point.  Your nock to nock would be the farthest point of the nocks, so in your case 70" nock to nock or NTN.   

I forgot where we started with all of this.  Do you have any questions at this point?

-Ben