Ozbow

hi guys,
well, I'd just finished a major, wordy, picture filled buildalong style post around my first fibreglass longbows........then my little girl screamed out from bed, my connection timed out while i was away calming her, and bye bye post.

i cannot bear to start again, neither will I admit defeat by not posting anything....here are the finished articles

I feel your pain, have been there done that (and for the same reason!) so I now copy all text on wordy posts so I can paste it in again if necessary, or write up in a text editor and paste into the forum with photos once complete.

Beautiful work though! What is the darker timber on the bottom/lighter bow?

very nice work1 Is that Zebrano on belly lams? what is other riser woods?

Great looking bows Sabinus, you have every right to be very pleased with your efforts.

Cheers... Rod

Congratulations on two successful bows.

Can you give us your impressions on how they shoot?

Daryl.

oh bugger this - it happened again. much loving detail of materials, and shooting characteristics, lost through being 'logged out' somehow- this time whilst typing. Logged back in and I have a lovely blank screen..............

short version -
thanks for the comments all!
Bow1 is the dark riser, tassy blackwood with lams of tassy myrtle, maple, brown fibreglass.
Bow2 is the light riser, Maple with tassy blackwood, maple, clear fibreglass.

Bow1 is surprisingly quick and straight-shooting and quiet, albiet with a mild 'thump' through the riser on release. Smoother and easier to draw than I thought a bow this weight would be.

Bow2 I tried (maybe succeeded?) to get the inner limbs bending slightly less and outer limbs slightly more. The result seems to be a quieter and more refined feel in the hand, very smooth to draw, but is a bit slower as a result.

Thanks for the interest guys, and I welcome any feedback/ideas of your own.
I hope I get to send this!!??
Darren

Sabinus wrote:........Bow2 I tried (maybe succeeded?) to get the inner limbs bending slightly less and outer limbs slightly more. The result seems to be a quieter and more refined feel in the hand, very smooth to draw, but is a bit slower as a result...........

Are the bows flat laid or do they have some degree of reflexing and are you using parallel or tapered core laminations?

Daryl.

Hi Daryl, the limbs are classic straight laid, which at least for me follow the string by a few mm after shooting in.

In both bows, the limbs are composed of 2x parallel laminations and 2x .002 tapered laminations, for a total limb taper of .004.

Since finishing these bows I've come across a number of threads on one of the American trad sites where there is a strong consensus that .004 limb taper can and does work, but that .005-.006inch per inch is the more popular taper range for straight longbow limbs of the 'Howard Hill' style.

Reckon next bow I'll be aiming to dictate the full-draw limb profile by altering the taper of my laminations, rather than fiddling the width taper with hand tools! Now that I think about it, the latter method requires sweat, time, and extra physical grunt. The former is more a simple 'flex' of the old grey matter!

Darren

Great effort Darren, mate, it looks like you've done it before. Well done.

Rob.