So you want to build a bow

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Trad Bound · #1 Post by **Trad Bound** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:48 am

Whilst trolling Leatherwall I came across what looks to be a very useful site, enjoy. TonyJ
http://buildyourownbow.com/

bigbob · #2 Post by **bigbob** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:05 pm

Link wont work for me. Might type it in later and see.

rodlonq · #3 Post by **rodlonq** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 4:04 pm

Worked OK for me, thanks Tony.

#4 Post by **Stickbow Hunter** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:07 pm

Looks like an interesting site; thanks Tony.

Jeff

wishsong · #5 Post by **wishsong** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:08 pm

Jim Thorne is a really good bloke and helpful fella .
Its a cool site .

Night Wing · #6 Post by **Night Wing** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:54 am

That's a nice website. I bookmarked it. Thanks for the link.

jwillis · #7 Post by **jwillis** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 3:50 am

Hey guys, it is Jim Thorne here. Most archers and bowyers online know me as "jwillis".

Thanks for posting the links to my new bow making blog at http://www.buildyourownbow.com !

Just a little introduction about myself...

I live in Missouri, USA. I am mostly a bowyer and shooter and less of a hunter. I came from being a compound shooter and hard core bow hunter in the 1970s and 80s but started making my own bows in the 1980s. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with designing and building traditional bows and instinctive shooting. I eventually sold my compound and now shoot completely traditional. I am constantly amazed at how simple a traditional bow can be, but how complex and challenging it can be at the same time to design a good one. I am really interested in designing bows that are balanced in speed, behavior, and longevity. I like to "think outside of the box" sometimes. I like to do a testing and computer modeling at times before making the actual bow.

I've made mostly fiberglass composite recurves and hybrid longbows, but also love to make self bows and wood composite bows. I am a graphic designer by profession and have drawn blueprints of my three-piece take-down recurve and hybrid longbow. I hope to eventually make these available at the new blog.

I have made a lot of contributions about making bows at Leatherwall, Pirates of Archery, and Paleo Planet over the years. I like helping new bowyers get started and possibly avoid all of the mistakes I have made.

Hopefully, I can be a contributor here with some useful tips and interesting stories.

Jim

(Note: I'll put this in a new thread also.)

stringnstik · #8 Post by **stringnstik** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:01 am

Welcome Jim, all bowyers great and small welcome here. To learn from and to teach, we each have our part to play

The more the merrier.

bigbob · #9 Post by **bigbob** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:30 am

Thanks for posting the link. I have only just browsed a little so far but heaps of information there. Great stuff!

bigbob · #10 Post by **bigbob** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:31 pm

Say Jim what happens if like me you dont have ready access to a chronograph? It means I would have incomplete data to feed in, probably rendering the table inoperable?

Bent Stick · #11 Post by **Bent Stick** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:51 pm

Guess big bob, guess

bigbob · #12 Post by **bigbob** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:31 am

Bent Stick wrote:Guess big bob, guess

GrahameA · #13 Post by **GrahameA** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:47 am

Morning All.

bigbob wrote:Say Jim what happens if like me you dont have ready access to a chronograph? It means I would have incomplete data to feed in, probably rendering the table inoperable?

Some suggested alternatives include:

Buy one,
Get someone else to measure the the speed of your arrows,
Take a guess,
use an alternative method to measure the arrow velocity,
* You can use a laptop to measure the time from the release to impact and that will give you an average velocity,
* Use a Ballistic pendulum

looseplucker · #14 Post by **looseplucker** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:02 pm

I like the site, and have done so on Facebook. The idea of Supertiller intrigues me and scares the living poop out of me as well. There could be some good money for anyone that ran supertiller workshops or even did a series of detailed DVD clips on prezactly how it works.

bigbob · #15 Post by **bigbob** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 4:56 pm

L/P I really like the site as well and was hoping that I may have a way of circumventing the need to put in chrono data for the force draw curve. Being on a miserable pension I dont have unlimited money hence no likelyhood of buying my own, some goes for using a laptop. I am lucky I even have a desktop.Anyway all credit to Jim for posting all these details.Good people such as he, willing to share information seems to be a trait endemic with trad guys.

looseplucker · #16 Post by **looseplucker** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:00 am

Bowyers and luthiers Bob: chips off the same block. Must be a wood thing. Funny, I've had one luthier get osage for me and he's got onto spotted gum - impressed with its qualities. More recently I gave some blocks of osage and some strips to another luthier for a mandolin.

Anyhow, Jim's site is another great example among many of blokes prepared to share what they know about bendy sticks.

jwillis · #17 Post by **jwillis** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:22 am

bigbob wrote:Say Jim what happens if like me you dont have ready access to a chronograph? It means I would have incomplete data to feed in, probably rendering the table inoperable?

bigbob, the force draw curve template will work fine without entering the arrow weight and arrow speed average. Those two cells are only used in the formulas for Arrow KE and Dynamic Efficiency. I typically make a FDC for every bow that I make, but don't always measure the arrow speed. There are many things to learn about a bow from the FDC...the shape of the curve shows how much and where in the draw stroke it stores the most energy (early vs. late, etc.), it shows if it stacks and at what draw length, etc. I also like looking at the progression of force draw readings in the table. It is sometimes hard to see where the curve is diverging from the straight line but easy to see in the table the exact inch of the draw where the draw weight starts increasing. This is where stacking begins. I like looking at the FDC and seeing how it relates to the braced profile and full draw profile. This gives me feedback in learning to expect what the FDC will look like for about any bow profile.

Another thing to consider about making a FDC for each bow is that if you get in the habit of seeing data about each bow you make, this type of feedback will teach you what changes in a bow cause it to store more or less energy, etc. This is good information to know in my opinion. Learning by feeling the way the bow draws and watching how fast it shoots also gives us feedback but is much more subjective.

Jim

bigbob · #18 Post by **bigbob** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:26 pm

thanks Jim. I am getting ready to set up a tillering board where i can mount the cable and pulley operated bow scale as mentioned so i can do things single handed as needs be.

rodlonq · #19 Post by **rodlonq** » Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:54 am

Hey Bob, Do you know someone with a video camera. If you record shooting over a known distance and if you know the frame rate, you could use the video footage to work out an average velocity. I think! My limitation would be transferring the video to a computer to look at it

My young bloke could probably do it though. The younguns of today seem to have been born with that sort of knowledge.

Cheers......... Rod

bigbob · #20 Post by **bigbob** » Sun Nov 13, 2011 4:24 pm

Just got a camcorder for b/day so may check that out at some stage Rod, thanks.

Ozbow

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