Reducing the draw weight of my longbow?

[Mick Smith]

I have a Mohawk longbow that I'm very fond of. I'd like to be able to continue using it, but with my shoulder injury, its 51# draw weight will make that unlikely.

It's a 64 inch laminated fiberglass longbow with a quite mild deflex reflex limb design. You can't see any sign of the deflex reflex when it's strung. It has bamboo cores and when viewed in cross section, the limbs have a slight trapezoid shape, with the back being slightly wider than the belly.

I've been seriously thinking about trying to reduce the draw weight of this bow. It shouldn't be too difficult, I imagine. If I was to scribe a fine line of about 1 or 2 millimetres from the outer extremities of the limbs, along the limbs, to both the front and the back of each limb, and then remove the material back to those lines, it shouldn't change the tiller too much and the draw weight would have to be somewhat less. I could then refinish the bow after achieving the desired draw weight.

I was thinking of either using a scraper or heavy sandpaper to remove the material. This should give me a lot of control over how much is removed and where it came from.

I'd like it to end up in the mid to low 40# area, if possible.

I'd be very interested to hear of any suggestions or advice anyone might be able to offer me. Do you think it's a feasible idea?

[bigbob]

Mick for mine, I would be more inclined to 'trap' the belly edges or bevel them in other words. It is usually good for couple pounds at least and some lightish sanding on back and belly counting the strokes each time to maintain the current tiller.Mid 40's would only be a possibility, any lower is very problematical.

[greybeard]

Mick,

To shed that much poundage is a big ask.

Narrowing the limbs will not shed a great deal of weight and you run the risk of losing edge to edge stability which can result in the bow throwing the string each time an arrow is loosed.

You may be able to use a combination of a little limb width reduction and sanding the back and belly glass.

To avoid the risk of ruining a good bow the better option would be to sell the bow and save up for a new one.

Daryl.

[Stickbow Hunter]

To shed that much poundage is a big ask.

I agree.

To avoid the risk of ruining a good bow the better option would be to sell the bow and save up for a new one.

Again I think this is the best option Mick.

Jeff

[Mick Smith]

Thanks for putting me on the right track fellas. I think I'll keep the bow though. I'll continue to use it as my main hunting bow. I should be able to handle the 51# draw weight for the few shots I might be lucky enough to get when hunting. I can easily hold that weight and the shoulder usually only starts to complain after about 10 or so shots.

[Chase N. Nocks]

Damn, and here I was thinking a Mohawk was coming up for sale.

Even though I am broke ATM

Cheers
Troy

[Mick Smith]

Nah, I'll definitely be keeping it.

I got it out the other day for a few shots. I was able to get 6 shots out of it before my shoulder started to hurt. I reckon that 6 shots would just about cover must hunting situations, so it's now my main hunting bow. It's a lovely bow.

[Dennis La Varenne]

Mick,

I recommend Bigbob's suggestion of trapezoiding the belly side of the limbs to sink the draw weight. I have done that a lot in my earlier days. I have found that with the glassed bows, a great deal of draw weight can be removed without the removal of much material.

My technique was nothing more than to chamfer the edges of the belly glass enough to show the core wood on either side of the glass and also to round the edges of the glass back in toward the centre of the belly so that it is thinnest at the edges.

To do this, I used nothing more than a 2nd cut mill bastard file to draw file the edges, taking care to ensure that I do the same number of chamfering strokes along each limb belly edge one after the other - both top and bottom limbs. That ensures that the tiller stays true.

Once the draw weight is sunk appropriately, then I just finish the surfaces with sanding and a reasonable finish which matches the original as much as possible.

Unlike wood bows which do suffer from significantly reduced performance with further sinking after being broken in, glassed bows do not suffer nearly as much performance deterioration thereby.

A bit of reasonable care should really maintain the looks of the bow unspoilt. Others (??? Bigbob) may have other methods of sinking glassed bows which they may wish to pass on.