Has anyone made or had someone make their one piece longbow into a takedown using the sleeves? What are your thoughts on having it done and who's the best out there to send a bow to?
Not sure about sleeving, but I do like the looks of the BowBolt, from Warren Archery. I just haven't got the huevos to cut one of my bows up, at least not yet.
Yeah, you should specify intentionally or non-intentionally.
Yep, I've done it a few times, with sleeves. Scary part is cutting a perfectly good bow in half. The rest goes fairly easy. Any competent bowyer can do it ... this, assuming we're talking a straight longbow grip, not a modified R-D type. Have at it ... it's only life!
I can't even remotely imagine rhetrofitting one with sleeves acurately. I have done Robertson Conexions and that is reasonable to do; bowbolt, I dunno?
Dave,
Did you do it on one of the bows you made or one you bought? Did it turn out OK or did you end up giving to the kid down the street? And where do you cut it, right in the middle or at either end? I'd buy a sleeve the try it out on two pieces of wood or an old bow first just to see what happens before I F up a shooter.
Converted a GN Ghost with Robertson hinge.
I converted a brand new Bear Montanna with sleeves. Even added a piece of wood to the outside of the sleeve to match the original grip shape. With the leather grip back it looked just like a one piece. It did add considerable weight to the bow, but that made the bow shoot much smoother than it did before.
I think the next time I'll use a bow bolt. Would work with just about any grip design.
I had my 21st Century longbow retrofitted by Ted Fry of Raptor Archery with a Bow Bolt. Excellent result, like it much more than the sleeve.
It's sounding like the bolt system is the way to go but I have not handled a bow with it, only seen it on web sites. I like the sleeves but they can be hard to break down the bow when they are sticking and I've had a Robertson T/D and the hinge is just "OK". I'll do some more looking around on that bolt system. Thanks for the feedback.