What kind of bow do you shoot?

What kind of bow do you prefer?

  • wooden

    Votes: 16 30.8%

  • fiberglass

    Votes: 3 5.8%

  • compound

    Votes: 33 63.5%
  • Total voters
    52
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M

mole

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Location
Georgia
Bow discussions pop up every once in a while, so let's see what kind of bow people here like.

I shoot wooden longbows that I make myself that range from 40-70 pounds with an 80 pounder in the works.
 
Where's "All of the Above"?

I voted compound, since that's the most common, but I shoot aluminum & wood & combo material recurves, wood longbow, and fiberglass/aluminum compounds. You're kind of mixing type and materials in your poll.

Mole, can you post pics of some of the bows you've made? I'm interested. Can you also give the materials and methods you use in construction?
 
Interesting poll because last time I checked most compound bows were made out of wood and fiberglass. Bows come can be divided into three main types longbow, recurve and compound. Now if your talking about methods of construction there are two basic types; selfbow - made out of one piece of wood, though there have been some all metal bows made which were only one piece, selfbows are generally longbow though recurves can also be one piece.

Composite bows, which include all modern bows are made out of more than one piece of material and can be a combination of all most anything. There are also many historical bows which were composites of various types of wood, wood and horn or wood with various other materials.

My bow collection consists of several compounds, modern recurves and longbows and a couple of all wood bows though not selfbows because they have a backing which takes them out of the selfbow category.
 
The poll asks what you "prefer" or tend to shoot the most, but you're right that it could have been written better. I was going for materials used in construction. I figured that weren't enough horn/sinew composite shooters here to include.

For materials I prefer Eastern Red Cedar, Pecan, Ipe with a bamboo backing, and Red Oak in that order. All work is done with hand tools: tomahawk, drawknife, spokeshave, rasps, file, knife.

For construction tips check out http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni
It's as good a place as any to start.
Paleoplanet and Primitive Archer are great resources for information as well.


I don't have a digital camera, but do have one a photo of my girlfriend's bow that I made from a $6 red oak board. 40# at 25" It was my third bow and took a day to make.
DSC01742-1.jpg DSC01745-1.jpg DSC01748-1.jpg
 
I prefer wood laminate recurves. I currrently own a pair of Martins and a 45 year old old Bear.
 
Wood. Well, it has its share of glass, but wood is the best category to put it in. Here's my Martin Hunter and homemade quiver and arrows:
Bow1.jpg

Jason
 
I make my own. Selfbows, wood composites. I also shoot some vintage recurves, as does my True Love.

shooting my hickory, lemonwood, walnut composite bow:
139_3933-1.gif

My 1967 Herter's International Match Hunter, 69" long.
herterthreefourthsback.gif
 
Due to a bad wing, I find it hard to draw a bow, which stinks because I enjoy shooting bows. In a perfect world, I am a big fan of old Bear recurves, which are of course made of wood. My dad has three or four, and they are beautiful bows. I also have an interest in making a bow, but again, the interest wains when I realize that I just can't pull it back. Compounds offer me a better experience in that the let-off is generally enough to at least give me time to aim, and they very frankly look cool. If I could find a man-size recurve that drew at around 30 pounds, I would be happy...
 
Hey, thanks man! I like that X-200, and I really like "The Stick". I don't have a spare 300 bucks laying around, but I am definitely bookmarking that site for future use...

Here's a question: At a 25 pound draw weight, is that going to be sufficient for recreational shooting, or am I going to be disappointed at the performance? I have zero plans to ever bow hunt and am thus not worried about it being enough for game, but am I going to be able to generate enough speed for a satisfying shooting experience?
 
It'll work but in my opinion you'd be much happier with the performance of a 30-35# draw.

You'll get a little flatter flight with your arrows and it'll be good and accurate out to 30 yards or so.

It depends on the bow too.

A long bow at 30# will be harder to draw than a recurve will.
 
Hey, thanks man! I like that X-200, and I really like "The Stick". I don't have a spare 300 bucks laying around, but I am definitely bookmarking that site for future use...

Here's a question: At a 25 pound draw weight, is that going to be sufficient for recreational shooting, or am I going to be disappointed at the performance? I have zero plans to ever bow hunt and am thus not worried about it being enough for game, but am I going to be able to generate enough speed for a satisfying shooting experience?
Click to expand...

No prob for the links! I love seeing people sling arrows.

I would guess that 25 would be fine for recreational shooting out to 15-20 yards. When I was a kid, I shot 3D with a little 15 pound Bear Panda starter bow out to probably 15 yards. Maybe you should trying calling the guys at 3riversarchery.com since they specialize in traditionals and can probably give you a good idea of a light draw weight recurve's performance.
 
I voted fiberglass, but really the bow I shoot the most is a 45# @ 28" wood glass laminate, reflex deflex, long bow, with a 465 gr total weight wooden arrow 3 fletch includes a, 125 gr 3 blade fixed broadhead, or 125, gr blunts or field points.
I shoot instinctive, no sights, just concentrate where I want the arrow to hit, and am competent to 30 yds.
 
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