Long bow form and design

[Susquehannariverarcher]

I'm a novice when it comes to design (and most aspects of bow building). I currently drew up 3 designs. Right now I'm leaning towards the one on the very top with the deflex in the riser and less reflex in the tips. Looking for any pointers. I plan on thinking about it a little more before cutting my lvl. Thanks

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Picture flipped so my reference is backwards. Current favorite is the bottom design. Thanks.

[kennym]

I'd put the nocks at least an inch ahead of bow back. Get some string tension at brace and it will be quicker and quieter. Win/win

I did build one with the nocks 4" ahead of bow back, won't do that again,  I never could shoot it worth a damn...

[Susquehannariverarcher]

The less reflexed one puts it about 1 1/8 ahead of the back. So it sounds like that should be a pretty sweet spot.

[Crooked Stic]

I would pay attention to Kenny he has done a few that work really well.. or you could use one of his designs to start.

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Yep stic definitely going to pay attention to kenny. My first form was one of his desings!

[Kirkll]

You might want to take some of that deflex sweep out of it like this.  I have a design similar to this that i really like called the Flatliner.

[bownarra]

yep too much deflex.
also how long are you planning on making it?

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Ok thanks Kirk ill give that a try. And bownara right now I'm trying a 60"

[dbeaver]

Kirk I'm know you prefer a short working limb on your recurve designs,   what's your preference on lam taper rate for these less deflexed  designs that use some straight limb sections to achieve the same tip position of an inch or so ahead of the riser. I can see where the flat sections could hold some preload, but with less sweep are you going with .002, .003 total lam taper for example

[Kirkll]

Kirk I'm know you prefer a short working limb on your recurve designs,   what's your preference on lam taper rate for these less deflexed  designs that use some straight limb sections to achieve the same tip position of an inch or so ahead of the riser. I can see where the flat sections could hold some preload, but with less sweep are you going with .002, .003 total lam taper for example

Actually this  limb designs run an .004 FT, but i use a tip wedge coming back the other direction to shorten the working portion of the limb. and long lean wedges on the TD version.


Btw.... i like a shorter working limb on all my limbs, even a long bow. it shortens limb travel and increases performance dramatically. high pre load, short working section, less limb travel... it all adds up.   

 On the one piece versions i use a long riser 20-22'' tip to tip on the fades with a double ended power lam 30" in length. so the actual fade tips are 15" from center of riser grip. 

With that being said, i do not use this limb design for anything less than 62" and typically 64-66' lengths are used for longer draw lengths... That is the down side to this particular limb design is that you need more length for a longer draw. I would not build this design in a 60' length myself. but if i wanted to, i would shorten the riser and pull those fade tips down the hill a couple inches to maintain the same limb dynamics.

 I have a hybrid design i use for shorter bows that have a much longer draw length capacity. O do use an .003 FT on my hybrid and also a flat spot in the working section.  Kirk

[Stagmitis]

Depends on what you want in a bow. Fast and finicky or good speed and accuracy. Kenny has an excellent point. The best r&d bow I ever shot had the nocks equal to the back- 175 gps @ 10gpp and extremely accurate. Have fun!

[Kirkll]

Depends on what you want in a bow. Fast and finicky or good speed and accuracy. Kenny has an excellent point. The best r&d bow I ever shot had the nocks equal to the back- 175 gps @ 10gpp and extremely accurate. Have fun!

   When you build a high performance bow and have everything balanced properly, with good vertical and torsional stability, the only thing that makes it finicky is the archer and the arrow set up. light arrows are less forgiving to any imperfections and inconsistency of the archer. Often times a Finicky bow can be tamed down just by increasing GPP.

Granted.... there are some limb designs that tend to have less vertical stability and floppy limbs but still maintain good speed. Those i guess could fall in the finicky class because the limbs react to finger placement at full draw a lot more. Slightly more pressure applied higher or lower on the string is quite noticeable.

[Stagmitis]

Sorry Kirk I don’t buy into any of your theory.

Susquehanna archer, how are you going to make your firm templates and do you have an edge sander?

[Susquehannariverarcher]

Stagmitis. I cut the template out on 1/4 hardboard, which im then going to transfer trace on to lvl, cut out, then use hardboard as router template, then sand and make sure everything is square. Basically what i did with my template from kenny.

I have small bench top sander I have been using. Bo edge sander yet.

[Stagmitis]

Gotcha- if it worked before and you got a perfectly square form keep doing it- I typically use two templates and screw them on a 1/2 plywood which helps keep the templates square when I run them through the sander- then I flip them and make my router cut through the entire bow board at the same time.
 

[Crooked Stic]

Define finicky--

[Stagmitis]

In short where any imperfection in form greatly magnifies the arrows ability to stay on target.

[Crooked Stic]

Okay so some bows fit a person better than others. But right down to it with a properly tuned arrow then operator error.makes it finicky.

[Kirkll]

In short where any imperfection in form greatly magnifies the arrows ability to stay on target.

And you honestly think a vertically unstable, floppy limb design doesn't effect arrow flight with different or inconsistent pressure on the string?  Well i have some ocean  front property in AZ i'd like to sell you.  You my friend, are sadly mistaken.