?? reducing bow weight ??

[sswv]

I have a 58" one piece recurve that I really wish was a few pounds lighter. It is black glass back and belly. My question(s) to the experts are:

1. sand just the back ?
2. sand just the belly ?
3. sand both back and belly ?
4. sand the edges ?
5. sand everywhere ?

AND, sand from where to where?

thanks in advance

[JimB]

And,how much weight can be taken off-realistically?

[sswv]

WOW...I thought there would be at least one page of answers/advice by now.  come on gang...help a brother out.

  :confused:

[Hot Hap]

ttt

[tg2nd]

As far as I know you have to sand the edges of the belly from riser to tip and you'll loose around 3#.
BUT: be carefull you can destroy the bow!! Better go to a bowyer. Just my 2 cents.

[freeman]

You DON"T want to sand the belly or back. That's all I know. Post this over in the bowyers forum and someone that knows what they're doing should be able to help you out.

[James Wrenn]

Danny on a bow that short if you need to lose much weight at all you would be better selling it and getting a lighter one.It is easy to get the limbs all twisted on a short recurve and you can't get rid of much weight without a bigger risk.jmo

[sswv]

but James!   I like this one soooo much. LOL  it can't be all that hard to get a few pounds off a glass bow now can it??

[James Wrenn]

Trade it for one just like it a little lighter and you will like it sooo much more.  :D

[sswv]

or just keep it and eat more Wheaties!    

[Dave Worden]

You can sand the belly and take weight off, but it takes a LOT of sanding to remove much weight.  I made a 39# bow that I wanted to be 35#.  I quit sanding at 37# 'cause I was just tired of sanding it.  You'll need to sand evenly, both limbs, from one end to the other.  You've got to watch the tiller as you go.  Too much off in one place and you'll get a hinge (i.e. you'll wreck the bow).  You can take a lot of weight off in a hurry by taking material off the edges of the limbs.  If you need a lot off, that's the way to go BUT it's even easier to wreck the bow.  In a nutshell, you can do what you want (take the weight off) but you have be very careful and constantly check the tiller, just like you'd do if you were making a bow from scratch.  Much EASIER to buy a new one or trade.  Much more SATISFYING to rework it yourself!

[Bjorn]

If you like the bow have a bowyer do it! They do not charge nearly as much as they should-get it done right!

[sagebrush]

Or you could shoot more. I shot a bow I thought was on the heavy side for me. I shot 3-4 times a week. After about 2 months the bow felt on the light side. Gary

[Ted]

I agree, you aren't going to take much weight off by sanding and run the risk of just messing things up.  Further, Jack Harrison says in his book that sanding for weight reduction diminishes the integrity of the glass.  If I recall correctly he says that bows of the same style with the only difference being one was sanded a couple pounds into weight vs. the other without sanding to hit weight had very different performance characteristics.

I've sanded several "into weight" and haven't noticed much of a performance difference my self, but I'm just a novice hobbyist.

[whossbows]

i took 5 lbs off from one of mine just the other day,sanded each side ,did not touch the back or belly,,still shoots fine,i used a straight edge and marked the width of a worn out sharpie,sanded the lines away,didnt hurt the tiller any either,,

[Mike Mecredy]

I've reduced a few recurves.  It can be done with a bench sander and tapering the limb profiles evenly from the fades to the tips.  Additionally you can bevel the edged of the limbs along it's full length.  I've reduced recurves as much as 5# but could have gone further if I needed to.

[sswv]

thanks for all the advice gang!  I just finished the bow today. set the tiller exactly how I wanted it while reducing the right amount of weight all by sanding the edges. simple as pie. I now know a dial caliper sure comes in handy for more that setting up racing clutches. LOL

thanks again

[JimB]

So how much weight did you end up knocking off?

[sswv]

2#s Jim! Setting the tiller even made for a much smoother split finger draw so the 2#s was just right. Getting a couple more #s would be really easy but I'm very satisfied like it is.

[GRINCH]

If you truly like this bow send it to a bowyer to have the weight reduced,don't take a chance on ruining the bow by doing it yourself.