I am not a speed freak at all or I would shoot a foam/carbon limbed bow. While they do outperform other limb materials it is not by a very substantial amount (10 fps will not make much difference in whether or not a deer ducks your arrow in my experience). I find that my 3 piece Tomahawk shoots plenty fast to suit me. According to Blacky Schwartz review it shoots 185 fps with a 9 gpp arrow. I personally like a wood core over foam and carbon as it is a time proven performer. Just my opinion.

There are a lot of variables in the actual performance of a bow. and there are different interpretations of what "High performance" means too....

You guys are right... The limb design itself is a very large portion of high performance.... and yes... once you start getting over the 190 fps mark, you are splitting hairs, using lighter weight materials, and doing some fine tuning to exactly where those limbs are bending to get to the 200 mark.... that's what i call "ringing the bell"  

Building  a high performance bow is not all about speed either...... You can build a hot rod bow that really smokes an arrow, but it's got a stiff feeling draw and is very "Twitchy". This makes it hard to shoot with good consistency...  

but taking the time to balance a bow out for maximum stability, good core to glass ratio, and having a nice even load in the working portion of the limb, with a good string angle at full draw.... the speed of the bow is naturally i bit higher than average.... and it's a nice shooting bow ta boot....

To put it simply... the shape of the limb determines the potential for stored energy. a recurve design has the potential to be the fastest bow out there too.... but.... there is a huge difference between storing energy in a limb, and transferring that energy it to the arrow.

That's where mass weight of the limb itself and the ability to stop the forward motion dead comes into play...I've seen a lot of R/d long bows that rang the bell too.  btw.... if you've got hand shock you are wasting energy that could go into the arrow....


good grief!  Sorry i got so long winded here...

Kirk

I agree completely Kirk. I should have made my original statement that materials used do make a difference but usually not much in a well designed limb.

I don't have any idea what makes the fastest bow, but I know you can kill any animal in North America with board bow from Home Depot for about $9.00.............................................................................................................................................

Brandon,  go up to Dan Toelkes shop in Ronan which is just north of you. He is a very nice fellow, very welcoming. Try out his whip and his Super D. He also has recurves for sale. Give him an email or call. You won't regret it.

Give James of J D Berry Archery a call (509)299-3029 he is answering the questions you are asking over and over on the phone all the time. James has been building custom longbows for over 32 years now and when it comes to bows he really knows is stuff. James loves talking archery and if you would like to learn alittle about shooting form James has helped allot of is custormers and non-customers, he just likes to talk archery.

If you are looking at the Liberty , check out his Edge , very fast stable bow .. One of my favorites .. Went with the Bamboo core with clear glass

Kirk,

Personally, I prefer Red Elm cores in my Longbows.  I can not specifically pin point what it is, but I do know that the two best bows I have shot had red elm cores.  Something about the draw and the feeling upon release that is just perfect, could I get you opinion on red elm cores?

I prefer action boo for all my bows. But then again, it is completely up to the archer, because he is the only one who can feel it by his own and unique way of shooting.

So what counts for the one, doesn't necessarily count for the other.

Let 10 archers with the same drawlength shoot the same bow and arrows and you will probaly end up with ten different speed values and most likely 15 opinons about how it shoots  

Dutchman,
Come to think of it I absolutly love my bow with the action wood limbs, (different from action boo I know) but its is a wonderfull feeling limb

www.jdberryarchery.com

QuoteOriginally posted by Flying Dutchman:
I prefer action boo for all my bows. But then again, it is completely up to the archer, because he is the only one who can feel it by his own and unique way of shooting.

So what counts for the one, doesn't necessarily count for the other.

Let 10 archers with the same drawlength shoot the same bow and arrows and you will probaly end up with ten different speed values and most likely 15 opinons about how it shoots      

check this stuff out bro.... rock hard maple action wood... You wouldn't believe what this stuff does to an RC limb just using glass...    

I laid up one batch here with some walnut strips for low poundage bows to lighten up mass weight.

You're the man Kirk!  :)I should save some money and buy one from you.... It looks to me you know were youre talking about.... A fast and smooth D-shape around the 48 lbs would complete my collection...

What is "action wood" and "action boo" From previous psts Ive read, Ive heard some people say its terrible because its like hardwood flooring, but then other people rave about it.

Action wood means laminated.

Ok, so I would assume that would work better because it would allow the nodes of the bamboo to be spaced out evenly? And what is the foam people are talking about that they put in their "faster bows".