Limb Cores

[tgself]

I have an ilf bow and am wanting to get some new hunting limbs in a higher poundage. I see a lot of different limb cores maple, bamboo, carbon, foam. as far as performance for the money what is going to be the best option. The limbs I have now are foam core but they are only pulling 37-38 lbs and I am not comfortable hunting with limbs that light, i know a lot of people do and have a lot of success with it. I live in northern Ga and it gets really humid with temps in the 90"s during September when bow season starts and during the colder months drops down to the low high 20's.

[Wheels2]

The carbon fiber and foam core will be faster than other lamination limbs.  A set of Border or used Morrison Max 6 will give you really good performance, but you might not like the draw curve.  The Borders are particularly heavily front end loaded.  You can find draw force curve graphs for both.  Border now makes three different ILF limbs. CV2, CV5, and a CV9.  The higher the number the more "super" curve and performance.
These are expensive.  If you shoot a conventional wood core limb you will not see the performance is in line with the price.  A set of Morrison Max 6 or Border CV5 will be twice what you pay for that wood core limb.
FWIW, I have shot Border for a bunch of years now.  Less so for the Morrisons.  I can't go back to a conventional wood core limb.  I just prefer the feel and performance.
I cannot speak to the carbon fiber, conventional curve, limbs.  But I know that a couple of foreign companies make them.  Stay clear of the Chinese copies.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

The Nika N3s are really nice carbon/glass limbs along the lines of the older uukha limbs. I used N3s for a couple years and killed several animals with them, nice shooting hunting limbs, probably in the middle between conventional and supercurve limbs as far as performance. They generally run around $230. They come directly from China so I’m not sure how the new importation rules might affect that. You might find some at a US vendor.  Keep in mind that unless the limbs are built and sold directly by the bowyer they are very likely made in china. 

R

[Terry Green]

I'm from north GA also. Welcome to your 1st post!

[Thierry WALICKI]

   Bonjour

   Essayer les branches Bosen   !!!

[EHK]

I don't have any scientific data to back this up.  I'm sure some carbon and/or foam core limbs may be faster than bamboo, but in that low-mid 40# range, probably not by more than 5-7 fps.  What are you willing to pay for that?  Bamboo is a tried and true limb core material that's been used to harvest a lot of game animals and there are plenty of "lower end" bamboo core ILF limbs out there at very affordable prices.  I'm sure there are some bad ones, but it's not hard to find the brands that offer great performance for what they cost.

[EHK]

I didn't see Ryan's comment above and had no idea you could get carbon limbs that cheaply.  You can still finds some decent bamboo limbs for less, but not too much less.

[Hud]

The best wood for laminations comes from wood with a high specific gravity.  That means their weight is greater than water.  Hard clear maple is used with fiberglass because it has proven to be a good combination. I think you will have less problems with it, than with other materials, including solid fiberglass, or foam and carbon. It is what I use to build bows, and will continue to use, based on my experience and that of others. 

[Wheels2]

A quick internet search can tell you where the limb maker is located.  It used to be that several brands were made in South Korea.
The Chinese don't care about intellectual property rights and copy anything they can.  The last original idea of the Chinese died of loneliness.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

I agree with your point about IP, and China goods. My point is that “buy American” practice right now, at least ILF limbs from the big archery dealers (traditional and non traditional), is that the US dealer buys a $150 Chinese limb, puts his $2 graphics on it, and sells it as a house brand limb for $400-500. When you get the limbs the made in China sticker is still on there. Buyer beware.  I know that’s how business makes the world go round, but…

The best way to buy American is from a bowyer direct in the US. 

Back to limb cores, I could never tell the difference between bamboo and foam cores in a glass limb myself, I do like either over a standard wood core, but for me it’s just a “feel” thing that I can’t define. I don’t think the FPS performance difference amounts to much. They all shoot more accurately that a human can.

The “monolith” limbs (uukha and Nika) sure have a different feel. Some love it some hate it.

I’ve never fooled around with supercurves.

All that said, I’m back to shooting my old Black Widows now. 

R

[Kirkll]

Something to keep in mind when dealing with carbon fiber backing vs fiberglass is durability. Fiberglass limbs can take much more abuse or just regular banging around while hunting without blowing up on you.

I honestly think you will find that the limb design itself is going to effect performance much more than limb core materials. Just using fiberglass backing ,  high quality bamboo and rock hard maple can make a very nice high performance limb that is within a few FPS of the high end expensive carbon limbs available. At a considerable price difference too.

I have built many sets of glass backed ILF limbs for guys that were shooting Borders high end stuff, that were very pleased with the performance.     food for thought....   Kirk