Hi Daryl,
There are some very interesting figures there. The most prominent being that even though the one piece bow has more stored energy than the takedown, it lags in arrow speed. I find myself wondering why....
Perhaps there is something in the value of energy stored relative to position, i.e. the one piece obviously has some extra energy stored in the first 5/8" of draw before the takedown even begins to draw. This must follow on for every inch thereafter. If both bows started with the same brace height, would there be such a difference in the stored energy?
Does the one piece also have tip wedges to reduce the working length of the limbs? I am as yet unsure about using tip wedges as I know nothing about them. Do they simply keep the recurve tight so the string stays against the belly all the way to full draw?
Interestingly my plan for a takedown from the same form will have 25 1/2" from fade to fade as well.
Hi Steve,
I think there are a lot of bows from that era that are fairly similar in design. What interests me about the Grizzly is mainly that a huge company like Bear has not seen the need to change the design for nearly 50 years and the bow still has it's place on the shelf. Being my first recurve I am sort of looking at it like purchasing my first bow. The Grizzly is referred to as the working man's recurve because it's price is so low ($340 at Cabela's in the US). This also drew me to it.
Hi Col,
Thanks for the feedback from seeing a Grizzly first hand. I must say that what you describe does not ring any bells for me. I was of the mind that if I could get a close look at a Grizzly I would even take some measurements and try to make a true to form replica (I have no intention of selling them, just for the lads and myself). However after your comments I have had a change of mind. It is obvious the Grizzly is built to a price because other similar bows in the range cost significantly more. I never thought it would take the form you describe. In my opinion I always would like to see the fadeouts of a one piece riser or takedown limb being precisely on the neutral plane. I believe such a fragile feature should be neither in tension nor compression. Of the two I would pick compression and certainly stay away from tension, it is just asking for a failure to propagate from there. Having the riser fade immediately under the glass at the back of the bow with a thick lamination on the belly side would certainly place the fade tip in tension. Obviously it is not a big problem for Bear archery or they would have changed it by now. It is just something that goes against my intuition (zero bowyer experience but 15 years as a mechanical engineer). I will be using two laminations and the thickness will be approximately equal at the fadeout to keep it on the neutral plane.
Hi again Daryl,
I have read that passage somewhere before and most of it rings very true (particularly about smartar$e first timers thinking they can do better
) There is a lot of merit in not re-inventing the wheel as I indicated previously, I would like to replicate Mr Bear's Grizzly, simply because it appeals to me.
The bit about change does not really have a lot of meaning to "first time bowyers" because they have never done anything before to change. In my case I don't even have a good, bad or indifferent bow to copy, let alone try to improve on. Perhaps the passage relates to those using Bingham's kits, blueprints and instructions for their first recurve.
The other point is about limb design being very similar throughout the industry. In my opinion one would have to be very creative to produce a change that has not already been done and posted by some keen bowyer. In fact I think that at least in the realm of natural materials, there is no scope to revolutionise archery design because it has all been done before. I think the only room left for change is in detail design (aesthetics) which is something I appreciate but don't have great skill for. I am simply wanting to make examples of as many different types of bows as I can, primarily so I can take them out and successfully harvest game.
Top level performance is again something I admire but I am not going to miss a lot of hunting trips to get it. I have bought a chrony so I can experiment to some degree because I will be making at least 3 or 4 of each style of bow (my sons will want to use them too I hope). I will be stuck with the prototypes and the boys will get the pretty ones.
The thing I am looking forward to the most is actually harvesting some staves and making a few useful self bows. Just need to find a good place to get them.
Hi Sean,
Man you didn't muck around for your first D/R bow, mate that bow looks good. I have a D/R form of similar style to yours.
Cheers All, thanks for your input........ Rod
Email; robnicoll(at)bigpond(dot)com
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