What is the most indistructable bow design? Is there a bow that can double as a walking stick, pig whacker( when they get to close), arrow digger, see-saw,and still shoot an arrow?
and be made of wood?
A Hill !IMHO
Without a doubt a Hill
A stick with a string attached...lol
God bless,Mudd
Man oh man, i thought we were talking about a new bow company there for a minute. ;) The most durable bow design that has been almost indestructible for me is any and all the Cari-bow's i've ever owned! :)
Yes, a Hill or a Quillian Bamboo Longhunter. Probably a lot of longbows would fall into this category. These guys with the primitve Osage or Hickory selfbows could make some strong claims as well.
LOL- You guys have all just put a jinx on your bows. This thread reminds me of the guys who stand around the airport hangars on Sunday mornings debating which aircraft engine is the "most reliable". Usually the guy who says that his engine is the most "bombproof" is the one you hear about having to make a precautionary emergency landing a few weeks later.
Incidentally, I happen to think my Widow longbow is as bombproof as any bow ever made and I hope my new Leon Stewart Slammer proves to be just as durable.
They used to make some steel bows.Add to the list "pry bar".
OH, I have to say my St.Joe longbow!!!
Last season I was getting out of the woods and hung my bow on the side mirror of my van. I put my hunting clothes away and drove off with the bow still on the mirror!!!!! :scared:
I looked just in time to see my bow fall off the mirror and go skipping down the road. I turned around expecting the worst. The only damage was a few light nicks. :cool:
Then late December I was getting down in a blustery cold blizzard. My hands lost grip of my bow and it landed on the limb tip from 17 ft....nothing!!!
St. Joes are built like tanks. ;)
Hill no contest :readit:
Everyone start taking notes for future classified ads :scared:
Remind me never to loan one of my bows to Arwin! :knothead:
Allan
QuoteOriginally posted by nightowl1:
What is the most indistructable bow design? Is there a bow that can double as a walking stick, pig whacker( when they get to close), arrow digger, see-saw,and still shoot an arrow?
and be made of wood?
I'd say a Hill would be perfect, but you want to shoot arrows too. :saywhat:
In my opinion, almost every longbow, and most definatly a Hill bow.
I was thinking the Hill myself.
I do not plan on using it as a see-saw but the other options are not far off.
I bet an osage Hill would last at least two pig whacks. haha
Absolutely agree with all the Hill votes.
Any longbow that's built well with good materials, I have a Bear Montana like could be used for all the things mentioned..............and it spits an arrow well to!!
An all Osage lam Hill ....
I actually thought the topic was intended to be more of bow design, not bow builders.
I was thinking along the lines of English style, Mongolian style,Native American Indian(they had several styles) The Huns... ect, ect.
I guess I was totally wrong. Sorry!
I'll back out of this one.. hopefully with some grace.
God bless,Mudd
Arwin, it's good to know what I can expect when my St Joe arrives. Albeit, I don't plan on using it for any of the listed activities but, it's nice to know she'll handle the Oregon back country. :thumbsup:
No mudd you are correct. I intended this to be bow design. I guess I just have that style bow ingrained into my head as being a Hill.
I figured a recurve would not make the list due to limb twist and thin limbs. The "Hill style" limbs are thicker and I'm betting hard to twist.
So go ahead and explain your reasons for the bow you choose...
Longbow 1st because of its feel, forgiveness(I need all I can get) and how it makes me fell shooting it. I could be Errol Flynn/Robin Hood... ok Not!
Recurve especially static tipped style just because the look so stinking cool.
Any of the far east bows because they give me an experience that the others can't and they also look soooo very cool too.
God bless,Mudd
Hard to avoid sounding sarcastic but I've owned bows of just about every common bow design and with a little common sense they are all easy to care for. If you find me trying to figure out one that is "indestructable" rest assured I am considering something really stupid.
Not sarcastic at all... maybe a little rude though.
I have never owned a Hill, but Leon Stewart's bows are very substantial! That being said, when I look at the workmanship, the flowing lines, and the sleek tips, I cannot for a moment contemplate digging for arrows with it. It's a bow, not a Swiss Army knife, not an entrenching tool, not a clumsy club.
Killdeer~ now watch me slam the truck door on it... :eek:
Originally posted by Mudd.
QuoteI actually thought the topic was intended to be more of bow design, not bow builders. I was thinking along the lines of English style, Mongolian style,Native American Indian(they had several styles) The Huns... ect, ect. I guess I was totally wrong. Sorry! I'll back out of this one.. hopefully with some grace. God bless,Mudd
Sounds just like a Hill :laughing:
Talking wooden bows, I'd say a long (68" plus), moderately wide straight-stave bow. But that's just what my logic tells me. I am convinced that if you want a bow that will last for a hundred years, then you should be getting a horn-wood-sinew composite.
Gotta be some kind of longbow, but I would say that Black Widow recuves (I don't shoot one, by the way) appear to be about as bomb-proof as a recurve made of wood can be.
Straighter longbows are much better for using as walking sticks,pry bars ect than recurves.The toss down out of trees much better and don't turn inside out like a recurve can.
If you get one 66" or longer, you can use it as a fishing pole also.
I think I've read about some bows that have not only been around for years(like lifetimes) that can still be shot.
I can see something like the Holmeguarde(sp?)design lasting. It is such an over built design it looks like you'd have to work at it to break it but if you used it as a bow instead of a pry bar it should hold up.(IMHO)
God bless,Mudd
im gonna have to go with...a metal riser ilf bow:) you can always find limbs and its hard to break decent aluminium
Osage self bow with beeswax finish, no tip overlays, snake skins or sinew - just plane old stick of hedge apple. Its bullet proof, rot proof and close as it gets to indestructible.
Are Mudd and I totally off topic? I thought we were talking about designs, not brands and bow woods :readit:
The less highbrid or Hyper designed the limbs the more indestructable by design. That puts any well built longbow with relatively straight limbs and little or not extras like fancy limb tips, etc.. into this catagory. Then you get into designs within the group like a straight, D shaped limb is probably a little tougher than a thinner flat limbed bow but only slightly.
As a point of reference I just throw my bow out of the tree at the end of a hunt and climb down to collect it when I am hunting with my Great Northern Bushbow or Northern Mist reverse handle but I am very careful to lower my recurves on a string. I did drop a custom BigHorn curve about 15' straight up and down onto the bottom limb once and it bounced about 10' back up into the air. I was real scared to get down and see it but to my surprise it was no worse for wear.
My 2cents -
Any Bear Bow assuming you are Fred Bear...
I was just going to mention Fred Bear. He used his as a walking stick and killed a lot of animals. I would say a hill longbow. Very tough.
The longbow I have waiting could beat up my Widow recurves without breaking a sweat. And Widows are tough.
I like the way you think RRock... i can't believe I missed that one
Toughest shape has to be narrow/thick Hill style limbs. The more like a natural round stick the better. I'll still take a good osage self bow for all around hog whackin', pole vaulting, spear chucking, fast stream wading and scream like a little girl self defense and keep on tickin' performance. Well worth the few FPS lost to glass and curvy limb designs.
Shawn... I wouldn't have said it much differently.
It's just hard to beat a simple stick and string made out of a tough wood that wants to stay in it's original shape so when you bend it it tries its best to get back there and with that the arrow is launched with every ounce of authority it has... It's just that simple.. in my simple way of thinking.
QuoteOriginally posted by Shaun:
I'll still take a good osage self bow for all around hog whackin', pole vaulting, spear chucking, fast stream wading and scream like a little girl self defense and keep on tickin' performance.
So you like an osage club with a string on it? Works for me too, when I am holding my Hill style 70" longbow unstrung it still feels like a weapon. Pointy end I am sure I could push through a pig (if it would hold still) and limbs I could knock anything shy of a grizzly bear senseless with.
Any narrow thick limbed longbow. A Hill.
I have to agree with anyone that has said a solid self longbow. I make 70" longbows and from the 25# to the 43# i bet i could do anything to them and they'd still shoot. I've dropped them countless times, dug for arrows with them, hit a couple people :) , and "thrown" them and then gone and shot them all the same. I'm going to have to try out that fish'n pole idea though :) . Min are oak and i have no worries about how much i put them through.
I had a almost straight limbed glass laminate longbow that I used for a walkind stick briefly one Winter. It had a rubber limb tip protector on the lower limb. It was sturdy and worked well until the deep snow sucked off the limb protector.
Nightowl, if I came across as rude to you I sincerely apologize, it was not my intent.
QuoteI bet an osage Hill would last at least two pig whacks. haha
With that being said, I would hate to take a hit upside the head with a piece of bamboo
QuoteOriginally posted by amar911:
Remind me never to loan one of my bows to Arwin! :knothead:
Allan
:biglaugh: That's why I got one in his hands I figured if it could survive a year with him. it could survive 30 years with any one else
hmm a lot of you guys like the longbows . . .which surprises me. I love my longbow, it is so "traditional" lol. But as far as the most "indestructible", um no, lol. Sure recurve limbs can twist, crack, break. But I just read an article in TBM about a primitive archer who strung his bow as the pronghorn was coming in!!!! I think not . . . what about string follow, and all that jazz that comes with hickory longbows. Now that aint bamboo or osage, but I am sure they have some too???
Ya just cant beat a well taken care of recurve!!! As far as durability!!!
Chris , i like recurves and have owned many , but in thirty years of shooting both recurves and longbows , also acting as dealer for some "stickbow"archery companies i can pretty much assure you that purely based on limb design a deep cored longbow is more robust than a wide limbed thin cored recurve . That is why one has to watch for limb twist so much more on a curve than a Longbow.
And as for stringing up as game approaches, i pretty sure that Saxton and Pope kept their bows unstrung a lot of the time whilst hunting and i have often done so when hunting with my selfbow.
I would never use my beautiful recurves as a walking stick..my longbow don't get such dainty treatment and are seen afield being used for many uses of which I'm sure their makers did not intend! And all still going strong. Bows these days are very well made and are all durable, but to suggest that glassbacked deep cored longbows are not as durable as a recurve is a bit too dogmatic .
i said that i thought an ilf recurve would be durable but now i'll say an ilf longbow will be more durable:) and yeah, even if a self bow has deep core limbs they are nowhere near as durable as a glass laminate bow. a selfbow, like stated above, has to be babied as far as leaving strung and even moisture protection. i wouldnt want to worry about stringing my bow in time to get a shot at an animal.
A good osage bow can be left strung for many hours once it has settled in.Stringing one as you see an animal coming is certainly not needed any more than with a glass bow.To think otherwise means someone has not used many osage bows.jmho
James , didn't mean to suggest that leaving your bow unstrung[ selfbow ] is a common nor necessary method of hunting . Rather that really the only thing you have to do with a selfbow in my albeit limited experience is occasionally unstring it to prevent excessive string follow / compression failures. Aside from that my selfbow is about as robust as it gets ...
My 86# @28" 70" Kramer 'Autumn' Takedown longbow is a Hill style longbow (with good reason as the Kramers worked at HH archery for many years) and it is built like a tank.
Oh, it is also a very beautiful and functional arrow slinger as well!
Any bow that is 70# or higher is going to be built like a beast! The extra wood has something to do with that. Strip away 30 or so pounds and then which is stronger?? A recurve may be thinner but a longbow is also not as wide . . . so in theory if a longbow limb twists ever so slightly then it is bad news!
Either way they are strong! You really have to mishandle any modern laminated bow to screw it up . . selfbows- still have to be babied a bit! Well at least I baby mine . . .