Flatbow - with Recurved Tips

[GrahameA]

Afternoon All

I had a flatbow that over the a few years had lost a bit of oomph as it developed some set. I was thinking about backing it with something and at the same time inducing a bit of reflex.

So I had a bit of a chat with Greybeard about the idea and amongst the ideas floated was. "How about recurving the tips".

So bright and early this morning I headed of to Daryl's to use his steamer.

Put the one end of the limbs in the steamer for 45 minutes and then bent it over a caul. Have a Coffee and let it cool for 45 minutes. Other end in the steamer for 45 minutes followed by bending and a 45 minute cool down with another coffee. Back to my place and attacked the timber with some steel wool.

So this is what it looks like now. Will string it and shoot it tomorrow.

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Elevation.

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Plan.
(The small carving of the face helps the bow see what it has to shoot).

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The whole bow.

[Gringa Bows]

looking forward to see how it shoots mate ............................Rod

[longbow steve]

It will be interesting to see the results of the mod Grahame. I like the carving . Steve

[Glenn]

That ought to make her a bit more lively Grahame, keen to hear how she shoots....Glenn....

[Stickbow Hunter]

It will be interesting to know what the changes do and do not do.

Jeff

[pdccr]

Very nice, will be interested to see the changes.

[Bill]

Intersting,.........very Interesting to see if it will be the making or breaking of this bow.

[otis.drum]

i just like the little face carved into the tips

[GrahameA]

Morning All

Strung the bow at 0-Dark Hundred and did a bundle of test shots.

Before the recurving exercise the bow had two issues:

* It had lost weight as the limbs had developed set and

* The lower limb had developed a greater amount of set than the top - probably due to the timber in the lower limb being softer, the timber was not uniform throuigh its whole length.

So the first I noticed was that it noticeably harder to string the bow - harder enough for me to go "This is good ". Upon drawing the bow it was a similar reaction. After a few shot it let down somewhat but was still higher than before the recurve work.

I have now put just over a hundred arrows through with the following outcomes:

* The poundage has dropped as the recurves have relaxed a bit.

* It has gained a fair bit of weight - I should have run it across the scales before I recurved the limbs

* The bow has returned almost to its oringinal weight. It was approximately 40@28 when it was made - 2 or 3 years ago. It now shows 39.8@28 - after having shot 100 arrows and I expect it to stabilise at around this weight.

* The lower recurved section has relaxed more than the upper recurved section - which is not surprising given the earlier issue.

* It looks great and a tad different.

Conclusion

Definitely worth the effort and I would have nil qualms about doing it again - I am already considering another bow. I am tempted to steam the centre section of the bow and introduce some reflex into the limbs - but that is a project for the future. I had a look at the video clip of Chris Boynton recurving the tips of an English Warbow and he did a lot more recurving. Given that and what I have learned I will recurve the tips a bit more on the next one.

Addenda

Regarding the validity of recurved tips and Warbows for those who are interested:

Have a look at the last 30 seconds of this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgBodtgg ... re=related
and the start of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDoggUZT ... re=related

[Stickbow Hunter]

I'm glad your bow is now performing better Grahame.

I looked at those videos and can't say I agree with that Chris Boynton with regards those Mary Rose bows. What he showed of them (one tip with a little reflex - perhaps even natural reflex which would have been gone once strung) certainly didn't convince me that it would have had recurved tips. The bow that he made in the second video was nothing like the Mary Rose bows and it most certainly was a recurve and not a longbow.

Jeff

[Len]

Gotta say I'm with Jeff on this. When we are talking 120-150lb warbows I don't think it would have been practical to rercurve them. The amount of work involved would give little gain and bows of that draw weight would probabbly pull the recurve out. we have to remember that one of the reasons the english bow was the most practical artillary bow ever made was because they could turn them out in their thousands quite quickly. Lighter hunting bows are a different matter and I could well believs some would have recurved tips.
Anyway, that is a great result for you Grahame and a well worth while trick by the looks of it.