Sunday, December 15, 2013

Reflex / Deflex Longbow Build #2 & #3

This is a post that has been long in coming. I built my first R/D longbow and it turned out so nice that I was encouraged and thought up some ideas for a couple more.  I even went so far as to glue up some risers for these bows.  But then I got so busy with my recurve designs that the longbow designs got left on the shelf.  When winter finally hit and my outdoor time demands were gone, I started working on these longbows. So, here are the results of my two designs


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

Walnut and Brown Glass:

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.