The King:
I had some pieces of kingwood (Brazil) left over from a recurve and I really liked the way it looks. This super hard wood is not easy to work, but it looks amazing when it's sanded and finished, almost like a brown marble. These pieces were too small to use in another recurve, but I could use them in a longbow. So I decided to do an i-beam riser with birdseye maple in the middle and kingwood on the outside. Also, to try something new, I sliced up the maple and put thin strips of Ipe (Brazilian Walnut) between them, then planed that into a board that was glued into the center of the riser. That way the Ipe stripe would only exist in the sight window and not run through the entire riser. I also added a curve of black linen phenolic, but I ran it from belly to belly instead of back to back like I usually do. So, when I cut the curves from the riser block corners, there was a black strip in them. I used one of these pieces to form the heel of the grip, so that black curve added some nice detail, running from the glass to the heel. I added layers of maple and black phenolic to create the tip of the heel and also for detail on the sight window. The heel came out looking a bit like a target. I used a piece of zebrawood on the tips, which kind of makes them look like a beetle or something. When it was all finished, this bow came out looking very nice and it shoots really well.
(click on any image for a larger view)
Here are the stats for this bow:
- target stats: 66", 52# @ 28", 1.5" wide
- achieved stats: 66", 49# @ 28" (55# @ 30") 193 fps with 378gr arrow
- .040" UL clear glass - both sides
- .055" bocote parallel lam (2 sets) (visible thru glass)
- .060" maple super lam (belly power lam + tip wedge combo)(.060" for 2" past fades, then taper .001/1", then thicker at tips, .042" in center)
- .125" maple taper lam: (taper: .002/1" on back)
- .375" total stack height
- riser: 1.5 x 2 x 18", maple, bloodwood, with Ipe & black accents
- limb profile: 1.5" @ 2" past fade, then straight to 1/2" at string groove
Another idea I had was to try to make a bow with all "dark" materials. Usually I like maple or bamboo in the core, but it really shows up against darker wood. That's great for a contrasting look, but what if you wanted a more "stealth" look for hunting? Also, I had never used brown glass and thought it might look cool. So, after some investigation of core lam options I decided to try a walnut core with brown bow-glass and red in the sight window. I had some bloodwood (South America) pieces that would work great for the center of the i-beam riser and I also had some nice walnut (USA) that had a lot of figure and coloration that could go on the outside. I created a center layer by joining bloodwood sections with a strip of Ipe before gluing it into the middle of the riser. For detail, I also put in a black phenolic curve from back to back.
Here are the stats for this bow:
- target stats: 66", 47# @ 28", 1.5" wide
- achieved stats: 66", 43# @ 28" (48# @ 30") 180 fps with 378gr arrow
- .040" brown uls glass - both sides
- .055" walnut parallel lam (2 sets)
- .060" walnut super lam (belly power lam + tip wedge combo)(.060" for 2" past fades, then taper .001/1", then thicker at tips, .042" in center)
- *.120" walnut tapered lam (taper: .002/1" on back)
- *.370" total stack height
- riser: 1.5 x 2 x 18", walnut, Ipe, bloodwood
- limb profile: 1.5" @ 2" past fade, then straight to 1/2" at string groove
- * added .005" to stack because using walnut usually comes out with a bit lighter pull weight than maple. It still came out light.
