Trad Gang
Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: plumbocop on November 10, 2008, 05:20:00 PM
-
I just finnished a new ipe/boo flat profile longbow. It is 60" long and 55# @ 26' back of the riser. The cedar arrow weighs 430gr. and the bow chronographed at 148fps shooting this setup. i thought this was quite good given my short draw. Is this average for this setup? The bow shoots great and is deadly quiet. DW....
-
"shoots great and is deadly quiet" sounds like a winner to me. I wouldn't worry to much about speed; 148fps is not to shabby at all.
-
The rule of thumb, which has many exceptions, is that a wood bow will shoot about it's draw weight, plus 100 FPS at 28" draw, and somewhere in the 66-68" range..
You lost a little speed to the short draw, but that is appropriate for the draw length..I think you did come in about average, or maybe just a tad better..
-
160 shooting 10 grains per pound, 22" power stroke, 3 grains per pound string is a "good" bow. Power stroke is worth about 7 fps per inch. Arrow mass is worth about 1 fps per 10 grains.
So, with adjustment for the arrow mass 550 - 430 = 120, 120/10 you would be at about 172 fps. With adjustment for power stroke 2*7= 14 so you are down to 158, for a "good" bow. 148 ain't too shabby.
"Good" bow is a hard thing to define. My best r/d boo on bloodwood shot 170s as described. Selfbows I'm happy with 160ish. I've made dozens of all shapes and sizes over the last decade or so, have run a chrono off an on all along, had feedback from a broad range of shooters, and would consider myself in the top 20 percentile of amateur wood bowyers.
Chrono can be a great tool, but it's easy to become a slave to it. Lots of stuff besides the chrono reading make a bow "good."
-
DCM, that was "good" info, at least!