Limb Design Discussions

[Kirkll]

Here are a few pictures showing what these limbs do at brace and full draw.  Take note of the string angle* This is a 29" draw. also take note of the fade tips starting to flatten out a bit with the reflexed wedge tips. i could draw this bow another 4 inches before it stacks.

[Kirkll]

here is one more showing width profile. These are 1 3/8" to 9/16" at the tips. I've gone down to 1.25" to 1/2" tips too.

[Watsonjay]

How long is that bow?  If I were to do the same on a 52" bow how long before you think mine would stack. I guess I accidentally did my limb like yours other than the reflexed fade. I may try that too.

Th limbs I currently have arre 1.5" (the 2nd set) I started my profile 1" after fade and went down to 1/2" at nocks then tried to blend the profile to the fade a little so less obvious

[dbeaver]

Heres an example of what this thread looks like,


Watsoinjay:  tell me how to do this!

Kirk: heres what i do.

watsonjay: will that work for me

Kirk: heres what i do.


Cant believe this is stickied at the top of the page.

[Watsonjay]

Heres an example of what this thread looks like,


Watsoinjay:  tell me how to do this!

Kirk: heres what i do.

watsonjay: will that work for me

Kirk: heres what i do.


Cant believe this is stickied at the top of the page.

I know, I really appreciate kirkl sharing his theories and experience. I cant make others share their theories but I appreciate anyone willing to.

Even if it wasn't pinned it would be at the top of the page right under the pins as we are actively contributing.

[Kirkll]

Heres an example of what this thread looks like,


Watsoinjay:  tell me how to do this!

Kirk: heres what i do.

watsonjay: will that work for me

Kirk: heres what i do.


Cant believe this is stickied at the top of the page.

Feel free to contribute something about limb design beav. There are others here that have posted about using software programs that simulate different designs, but haven't shown any examples. I'd be curious to hear what that program shows on the above drawings I've provided.   

This isn't about me, or my bows. This is about helping others by sharing my experience and showing results first hand. If you don't appreciate my efforts, or disagree with what I have to offer. Please feel free to offer your own experience.


As to your question Jay, with the 52" length you are not going to get those 33" draw lengths, but 30" can be accomplished. I posted photos of an early prototype 52" one pc bow showing a similar limb design, but if you look at the bow up against the straight edge, you'll notice how I angled the flat spot in the limb to the belly side using a steeper limb pad angle.

The above bow length I just posted was 60".

[Kirkll]

Heres an example of what this thread looks like,


Watsoinjay:  tell me how to do this!

Kirk: heres what i do.

watsonjay: will that work for me

Kirk: heres what i do.


Cant believe this is stickied at the top of the page.

Feel free to contribute something about limb design beav. There are others here that have posted about using software programs that simulate different designs, but haven't shown any examples yet. I'd be curious to hear what that program shows on the above drawings I've provided. 

This isn't about me, or my bows. This is about helping others by sharing my experience and showing results first hand. If you don't appreciate my efforts, or disagree with what I have to offer. Please feel free to offer your own experience.


As to your question Jay, with the 52" length you are not going to get those 33" draw lengths, but 30" can be accomplished. I posted photos of an early prototype 52" one pc bow showing a similar limb design, but if you look at the bow up against the straight edge, you'll notice how I angled the flat spot in the limb to the belly side using a steeper limb pad angle.

The above bow length I just posted was 60".

[Watsonjay]

Heres an example of what this thread looks like,


Watsoinjay:  tell me how to do this!

Kirk: heres what i do.

watsonjay: will that work for me

Kirk: heres what i do.


Cant believe this is stickied at the top of the page.

Feel free to contribute something about limb design beav. There are others here that have posted about using software programs that simulate different designs, but haven't shown any examples. I'd be curious to hear what that program shows on the above drawings I've provided. 

This isn't about me, or my bows. This is about helping others by sharing my experience and showing results first hand. If you don't appreciate my efforts, or disagree with what I have to offer. Please feel free to offer your own experience.


As to your question Jay, with the 52" length you are not going to get those 33" draw lengths, but 30" can be accomplished. I posted photos of an early prototype 52" one pc bow showing a similar limb design, but if you look at the bow up against the straight edge, you'll notice how I angled the flat spot in the limb to the belly side using a steeper limb pad angle.

The above bow length I just posted was 60".

As I indicated in my previous post I really appreciate you sharing.

I am going to try to make a shim to put at the wedge of my current form to get some bend in the wedge. I'll still stick with parallels and skip the tip wedge for a lighter tip. I may add some stabilcore that I have and never used to the backside in case I need to really narrow the limb and what change it makes between that and my current limbs. Ill post my results

[Kirkll]

I'm sorry I'm not going to be of more help on the shorty bows. I never did build those  52" hybrid long bows in a 3 piece configuration. I did lengthen the fades on the design and corrected the short fade flaw, and I called it "The Yeti". But the shorty bows were not big sellers, so I drifted away from building them, and no longer offer them.

I did finally build a few shorty TD recurves called the " Yeti RC" , but those too were not in demand. Only a few avid turkey hunters ordered them, then it died off.

I can send you photos of these if you like.

[Watsonjay]

Kirkl Sent you a PM to reduce our back and forths, but I guess this is another one. Anyone else make any short fast bows

[Kirkll]

Kirkl Sent you a PM to reduce our back and forths, but I guess this is another one. Anyone else make any short fast bows

Ron LaClair's Shrew, and Super Shrew were sweet shooting bows. I designed my shorty with a photo of his on my bench using carpenter cad. In case you are wondering what the hell carpenter cad is, its a hand full of finish nails, a piece of plywood, and thin fiberglass lams that bend easily.
The old Core tough material Bingham's Projects used to sell works well and bends in nice smooth transitions. The stable core we use now days is too thin to use that way. its only .015 . the old Core tough was a .023 glass weave.   

Another older bow that was way ahead of its time in performance was the Sovern Balistic.  John Fazio was the bowyer. Those were an RC design but well worth studying the geometry. Those babies were fast! and very stable too.

[Watsonjay]

Ya. The template kennym sent me was a lot like the shrew. Now great plains makes one like it too called hodini. I shot my friends custom bodnik version of it too. It shoots good but only hit 145fps like kennyms version. I tried finding pics of that ballistik but couldn't. It looks like sovereign archery is just a archery store now??

[Kirkll]

Here is another cool shorty bow By Cascade. But the radius transition/ shape from riser to the limbs is tough  to fit nicely.   You'll notice the limb design has a bit of a flat section in the working portion. Or almost flat anyway... These were pretty good shooting shorty's


https://rmsgear.com/collections/bows/products/cascade-golden-hawk-magnum-46-28-1232b?_pos=1&_fid=4dabcf0e7&_ss=c

The older Damin Howitt bows had great geometry/ limb shape, but never were really fast. But using that limb shape and kicking the fades out with a power lam, or using long lean wedges on a TD version, and adding a tip wedge, it can really be a nice higher performance design.

 I used to know an old timer that was really into replication of that design, but never could get the speed he wanted using par lams.

https://rmsgear.com/collections/bows/products/damon-howatt-super-diablo-60-28-60-esd-2265?_pos=2&_fid=92e73b788&_ss=c