The Old Phartt Has a Breakdown

[Dick in Seattle]

I used to have two very short, 60", Hill take downs. They went when I had to drop weight.  I found myself missing them, especially when the time came to fly to Texas for a javelina hunt and I had to ship a longbow down and back. I should say I missed having a take down longbow, since any more I find I mostly shoot my own bows. I knew that one day I would build a take down but I really held off because the work of building a sleeved version somehow didn't appeal to me. Howattman, posted a one piece to two piece longbow conversion he did using the Connexion hinge and I decided to pursue the matter further. I had had a Black Widow with this take down system and liked it. Robertson Stykbows provided me with the hinge and I was off and running.

I was struggling to find a name for this bow when one of the Hill Longbowmen suggested "Airwolf", after the attack helicopter. Since the bow is made for taking on flights and my other hunting bows have wolf oriented names, it seems like a good one.

The construction of this bow was quite a project, and definitely had its problems and ups and downs, but it came out pretty good. I did one of my web project pages (a huge one in four parts) covering the whole process of installing the hinge (not the laying up or building of the bow). As always, it includes the mistakes along the way, in case anyone might learn from them. If you are interested in trying to use one of these hinges, there is much to be learned.  Here is a URL for those pages:

http://oldpharttsarchery.com/bowbuilding/connexionhinge/thehinge.html


This presentation is simply the finished bow. So... meet Airwolf:







Bow specs are:

61"
45@28 (40 at my draw)
3 laminations: yew, laminated bamboo, yew

zebrawood riser
.300 wood
.80 glass


   




   

A thin leather shim goes into the opening to fill the very narrow saw curf that resulted from cutting the bow in half. I could glue this in, but won't as I want to be able to wax the ends as a part of regular bow maintenance.


   

 

One concern was the feel of the grip with the hinge in place. I'm very pleased. I left the riser a bit thicker than my norm, for more bearing surface, but it isn't too deep, and is very comfortable in my small hand, which curls right around the hinge.

Of course, the test is shooting it. I've only shot it once, and with the tillering string still on and no nock point, but it laid a nice group of ten arrows into the kill zone of my javelina target.his is at a bit over 15 yards,.I think there is a javelina in Texas waiting for this new bow.



 

I made a carrying case of 10 oz. duck. The limbs go in the outer two tubes and a dozen arrows go in the pvc tube in the middle, or the pvc tube can be removed and a rolled up thin leather Lakota quiver and arrows can go in in it's place. There are large flaps on each end that close the tubes when the case is rolled up.


   

 

Pretty neat, huh?



Dick

The Old Phartt

[oddan]

If I could make a bow that nice I would never buy another. Looks great.

[Chester Thompson]

You do beautiful work.

[Crash]

I like the bow, but that case is the cat's meow.  Great job

[John3]

Very nice!

[Shinken]

EXCELLENT WORK Dick!

That is one *bodacious* bow!

What are your arra-fixin's for that beauty?

I am lookin' forward to the story about you takin' it on a hunt and makin' some meat!

Keep up the AWESOME work!

Shoot straight, Shinken

[SpankyNeal]

Great job Captn!

Ken

[lpcjon2]

Nice I like the way it packs neatly.

[the elf]

All I can say is------WOW. Your creativity is amazing and moves in many directions.

[J. Adams]

Great job Dick!  I like the case too  

[Sixby]

Dick you are getting much much better at this bow building thing. That is a great little bow. I love the case too. Great job.

[Stone Knife]

Dick that is fine workmanship on the whole package    Your a true craftsman.

[Apex Predator]

Awesome job buddy!  You really should sell those cases!

[JV Rooster]

Very nice.

[carpenter]

Very nice! Both bow and case are awesome!

[pitbull]

Impressive!  

[Mike Gerardi]

Really cool Dick.

[Charles K.]

Great looking bow!

[Mudd]

Dick,
I love just about everything I see and read that's put out there by you. I am more than a little jealous that I don't possess your skills to produce such beauty's that actually are far more than eye candy cause they seem to work and do it well.
I hate to admit it but I've actually become something of a cyber stalker seeking out any and all postings you make. I've even found other sites where you've posted and in keeping with my addiction/affliction I find myself going back almost daily seeking to satisfy that desire to see and read more.
Fear not as I am harmless but truly grateful there are O.F.'s like you out there as it's folks like you that take up the slack for folks like me..lol
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing.
God bless,Mudd

[Broken Arrow 1]

Wow nice bow!