Im after a recurved bow, not too big, with a pull weight of approx 130-140 lbs. Please email if this is you!
I don't make bows, but have used several in the past, so you may want to narrow your options a bit. Do you want a traditional recurve bow (wood / sinew laminate etc), a modern one made of composite materials?, also you need to specify draw length, and do you really need a bow that powerful ? Its going to punch its way through pretty much anything it hits, I stripped all the fletching off an arrow when it went straight through a target at 30 yrds, with a bow nowhere near that powerful, and if it hits anything hard its either going to sink so far in you never get the pile out (plus a wooden shaft will shatter, an aluminium one will crumple ), or bounce off in a very dangerous way. Have a search on Google for custom Bowyers, its probably the best place to start Neil
Thanks for your reply. In answer to your questions: Traditional would be nice, but I doubt I would find anything. Yes I do need a bow that powerful, since im trying to get an idea of exactly what it was like 'back in the good old days'. The fact that it'll go through anything and everything is exactly the reason why im trying to find one (not that I want to test it on anyone...) Costs of arrows isn't a concern, neither if they break. It wont be used over a target range of 30m. Looking waaaay past that
its a bow with a curve in it already. U string it by bending the curve backwars making a new curve. Prolly not the best explaination.
You have to remember that back in the good old days archers would have been training since they were children, with lighter bows, gradually working up to the more powerful ones as they got older. Some of the longbows they lifted from the Mary Rose a few years back had draw weights of around 125 ~ 130 pounds, and could lob an arrow a far distance, but it was also easy to tell which of the skeletons on the ship were archers because of the distored shoulder blades caused by the power needed to pull the bow. To be honest there probably aren't that many people out there that could even string a 150 pound recurve bow. I had 150 pound prods on my crossbow a few years back and I had to put both feet in the stirrup and use both hands on the string and use my back and legs to draw the string back 10 inches to get it into the trigger. Get good arrows as well, the momentary resistance of the arrow to forward motion (archers paradox), on such a powerful bow could cause the shaft to snap, not likely but possible Ginger, a recurve bow is based on designs that were used by several old civilisations, such as the Abyssinians, unlike English long bows, which are a single piece of long wood, a recurve bow is typically shorter, and tends to be of a laminate design, with alternate layers of wood and bone, held together by sinew and anumal glue, and often wrapped in leather, the laminate makes it stonger, the material on the inside of the bow has high compressive properties, while the belly of the bow has high extensive (stretchy) properties, when unstrung and held as normal the middle 2/3rds or so of the bow look straight, then the top and bottom of the limbs curve away very strongly so they are pointing away from the archer,thes would frequently be tipped with horn or bone, to give a stronger surface for the string to rest on, when strung the bow woulhave a gentle curve on the belly, then bend back towards the archer the up vertically again, this picture is of a traditional unstrung recurve bow http://www.archeryhistory.com/recurves/pics/bowpic.jpg Neil
Had a quick scout around, and the average modern recurve bow is a round 50 inches or so, heaviest draw weight I found was 50 pounds, more typically 30 - 35, so your 140 pound bow is going to be a custom job, These people do traditional long bows, modern recurve, and accessories http://www.armsandarchery.co.uk/html/archery.html http://www.steveralphs.com/ http://www.custombuilt.co.uk/ http://www.perrisarchery.co.uk/Shop.htm Neil
Another old thread, but thought I would reply. Hungarian makers like Grozer and Kassai make a variety of traditional recurve bows with a wide range of models, sizes, and draw weights. I have Kassai’s Bear model that pulls at 110#, at 32 inches which is a very long draw for a western archer. I have been working on developing the strength to get a full draw on this bow for years. Seems like I get a good start and then life interferes and I lose ground and start over. But these heavy bows are no joke, you need to develop and then maintain the strength to pull them and it is easy to lose it if you fall out of the routine. I routinely pull both right and left handed to develop the strength evenly. These makers are easy to find online, if anyone is interested.
