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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Taxidermydude017 on October 08, 2007, 07:01:00 PM
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I am 16 and a bunch of friends and I Are making longbows in shop class. We made the bow form and it turned out good. I have been doing some research and found some plans. One that I like, a guy uses 6 strips of cherry that are a little more than a half centimeter thick and then tapers them at the ends. I was wondering what the draw weight would be on a bow with that many strips that is 66 in long. We also have maple available. If that would make a better bow. We cant use any foreign wood and we plan on using fiberglass too so thwy wont break. Also we would prefer the bows to be between 40 and 50 lbs of draw weight. any help would be apprecaited
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Dude -- You have it narrowed down so thin, there's little room for advice since few bowyer's use multiple lams of those particular woods. You might be better off using either the cherry or maple as a solid stave -- say, starting about 3/4 inch thick -- with either glass or a standard wood backing, bamboo or hickory. Nobody can predict the results of what you're planning, but with all that glue between all those lams, plus glass, I'd guess a very heavy bow. All I made in high school shop class was breadboards, a gun rack, a tie rack, and bad grades. Glad you're up to something more interesting, and you're lucky to have shop class at all these stupid days. Have fun, dave
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6 strips at 1/2 cm = 1 1/5". That would be about a 200# bow.
A 66" longbow with .050" fiber glass on both sides would need about .200 maybe .220, not counting the wedge thickness, of wood laminations in between, is my guess.
How long is your riser? If one piece longbow, you may be able to go up to about .250 stack not counting the glass.