ILF limbs etc.

[Si]

In spite of my bow-making experience, I am not knowledgeable about these special limbs. I am embarrassed to say "I don't even know what ILF stands for". I am familiar with the term WARF and have made several recurves from compound risers. I am trying to find answers to the following questions and I am sure there are many opinions:
1. What is the best limb to buy for the money to make a warf bow? I don't need references for riser because many will work.
2. What is so special about these various limbs vs regular laminated limbs?
3. If the materials make the difference like foam cores then where can you get this special material. I am very familiar with all the basic glass,wood, and carbon materials available.
4. I understand these limbs are a result of the target archery market and most I see for sale are low weight for target. Who makes the best limbs for hunting weight?
5. If you take the best of these limbs and could attach them to a name-brand riser like black widow or martin would they be faster and or better for some reason?

[KrEn]

ILF limbs fit ILF risers, that is the big deal i guess. ANY limbs smack on ANY riser, biggest hurdle is having a string of the correct length.

Invented by Earl Hoyt (I think) this limb to riser attachment is now industry std. on quality FITA/ olympic style bows. Production volumes are vast, as are the available development resources. Hence, very high performance are available. Tradeoffs between opposing qualities still there off course.

You get good ILF limbs, cheap ILF limbs, expensive ILF limbs, probably bad ILF limbs (though havent seen any yet), short, medium and long.

On a 25" riser long ones make a 72" bow, and short a 68" bow. Shorts on a 14" riser should make a 57" bow.
Generally they are marked XX# on the 25 and 23" risers, usually gain about a # per " you go down in lenght.

ILFs are mostly recurves but longbow limbs are to be had.

The real beauty as said is (cross brand) interchangeability,
2 risers and 2 sets of limbs make 4 different bows. 3 risers and 3 sets of limbs are 9 bows!.

Availability of low cost or used proven and high quality limbs is another.

K

[KrEn]

Besides, why make a WARF bow when ILF risers similar are for sale?

And. From what i hear, the old woodcore Samick Masters limbs are the fastest tested, fps for lbs.
I do have great hope in the Border Hex Vs im waiting for though.

K

[WildmanSC]

KrEn,

Buy some of the Samick Masters.  There have been a lot of people that have been disappointed in the Border HexV limbs.

Bill

[vermonster13]

Long limbs make a 70" bow on a 25" riser.    

[R H Clark]

I couldn't say for sure if ILF limbs are any better than any custom limbs.A lot would depend on how they were set up,limp pocket angles,draw length,riser length and such.I can say that they work very well on the 17" and 21" risers I have used.Most ILF limbs max out about 48-50 lbs but that is on a 25" riser and you gain about 1# for every inch under 25 that your riser is.

Some of these limbs are made with cutting edge technology,like the new Win & Win N-Apecs that use carbon nano tubes in the matrix.IMHO we trad shooters don't use the equipment or shoot the distance to take advantage of any extra precision. That does not however keep me from wanting a set of thoes limbs.  :D

[KrEn]

Long limbs make a 70" bow on a 25" riser

You are most certainly right, and i just made a 63" string for my 66" bow, long limbs on a 21" riser...No wonder it is a tad long
   

What in particular have been the issue on those Hex Vs? I have heard nothing but praise for them. And the Borders ive shot were out-of-this-world smooth and quiet.

K

[BMG]

Originally posted by WildmanSC:
KrEn,

Buy some of the Samick Masters.  There have been a lot of people that have been disappointed in the Border HexV limbs.

Bill

Samick Masters are great limbs.  Have yet to hear of anyone complain about Border limbs, some of the best on the market.

[R H Clark]

The only thing I have heard bad about Border is that some time ago they had some contaminated material that caused limbs to come apart.That issue was quickly fixed.

I've also heard that the finish coat is sometimes softer that some other brands.

As far as the performance of Border, nothing but praise.

I own a pair of Samick Masters and Winex.Both excellent limbs.

[vermonster13]

There are better choices for the short ILF risers than the Borders for hunting. I have had HEXV-H and a couple of other sets, the brace height Sid recommends causes a great deal of string limb contact/noise. I have had some long discussions with him about them. They are fast and smooth, a good choice for long risers and target, but to keep them in the specs he says to use to prevent limb failure just didn't work well for my set-up.

[R H Clark]

I've had a set of the Carbon-Wood Winstorms on my Dalaa.Less than $200 and as quiet and fast as any custom I've ever shot.

Alternative Services has a sale on Sebastion Flute Glass-Foam for under $100.I have not used them but a couple friends said they were top notch.

[curtinmo]

ILF stands for international limb fitting

[WildmanSC]

I should add that the folk that have expressed problems with the Border limbs were those that were using them for a hunting setup, were using the H cores and using the HexVs.  I've heard nothing but praise for the HexIV wood core limbs.  In fact, I presently have a set of them on my Morrison 18" ILF riser.  At least I'll have them on there until Bob finishes building my new set of Dakota double carbon/foam ILF limbs!            

Bill

[JC]

Bill, and when you do get those from Bob, the trading blanket will be flooded with your other ILF limbs    

[WildmanSC]

JC,

I only have two sets of ILF limbs, the Border recurve limbs and the TT glass/foam longbow limbs that came with the Morrison ILF riser.  The glass foam limbs will go up for sale for sure.  In fact, they very likely will be gone long before the Dakota limbs arrive.  

Bill

[Lenny Stankowitz]

Originally posted by WildmanSC:
JC,

I only have two sets of ILF limbs, the Border recurve limbs and the TT glass/foam longbow limbs...

Bill

Never knew TT made a glass/foam longbow limb.  (or recurve limb for that matter)  When did they start making those?

  :confused:    :confused:    :confused:

[Hattrick]

I believe the real beauty is for kids , u can just keep buying an trading limbs as they grow. An 3d guys u can shoot a bunch of classes an never have to change risers. I have one an i love it

[WildmanSC]

Originally posted by Lenny Stankowitz:
 

Originally posted by WildmanSC:
JC,

I only have two sets of ILF limbs, the Border recurve limbs and the TT glass/foam longbow limbs...

Bill

Never knew TT made a glass/foam longbow limb.  (or recurve limb for that matter)  When did they start making those?

    :confused:        :confused:        :confused:   [/b]

Lenny,

My bad.  My memory was overloaded when I typed that statement.  They are in fact wood core/glass limbs.  And Samick does make carbon/wood and foam cored limbs for them, the Extreme BF series.

Bill