COMPOSITES - FEEL OF DRAW, DRAW FORCE CURVE ETC.
I have been an all-round archer for a long while now and have a selection of bows. They all shoot differently and feel different to use - often very different. One 'Asian-style' bow I have had for many years is a so-called 'Classic Hunter' - identical to the Samick SKB type Korean bow. This bow feels extremely smooth and light for it's 50lb weight - amazingly light in fact, yet it is also fast. Recently I bought a replica Hungarian Magyar bow, with wood and glassfibre composite limbs (like a modern recurve bow). It feels totally different. It is a much larger weapon and has draw of just over 60lb - and you feel every pound of it! It is also very fast (totally outshoots my longbow of the same weight, and my AFB of only 6lbs lighter) - I would say simliar to a longbow of about 80-90lbs.
I am quite surpised at the difference in feel between these two modern 'replica' composite bows. I know that this style of bow has the advantage over the straight limb bow because it has a 'fatter' force-draw curve so stores more energy. My Magyar bow feels just like that with high initial tension, hard draw, flattening off towards full draw. The Korean however feels the opposite - easy draw throughout with a stack beginning as you reach full draw. It doesn't feel to be storing much energy - yet is still fast. Do some composites derive their performance just by being very 'springy'? I have never tried a 'real' sinew and horn composite bow - what do they feel like to draw and shoot? I would be really interested to hear what different designs are like to shoot e.g Turkish, Mongol etc.
I am quite surpised at the difference in feel between these two modern 'replica' composite bows. I know that this style of bow has the advantage over the straight limb bow because it has a 'fatter' force-draw curve so stores more energy. My Magyar bow feels just like that with high initial tension, hard draw, flattening off towards full draw. The Korean however feels the opposite - easy draw throughout with a stack beginning as you reach full draw. It doesn't feel to be storing much energy - yet is still fast. Do some composites derive their performance just by being very 'springy'? I have never tried a 'real' sinew and horn composite bow - what do they feel like to draw and shoot? I would be really interested to hear what different designs are like to shoot e.g Turkish, Mongol etc.
Hi Nick, your question is very interesting for me. Unfortunetly a cannot answer you, but i want to ask:
1) what longbow you have, is it laminated one? Or selfwood?
2) which bowyer crafted your Hungarian recurve?
3)could you compare feelings of drawing your longbow vs. Hungarian recurve.
thanks
M.
1) what longbow you have, is it laminated one? Or selfwood?
2) which bowyer crafted your Hungarian recurve?
3)could you compare feelings of drawing your longbow vs. Hungarian recurve.
thanks
M.
Hi Michael, good to talk. In answer to your questions:
1) what longbow you have, is it laminated one? Or selfwood?
It is a self-yew longbow (made by myself!). It is getting on a bit now - 13 years old to be exact and it's seen quite a bit of action.
2) which bowyer crafted your Hungarian recurve?
A chap called Karoly Lapat in Hungary.
3)could you compare feelings of drawing your longbow vs. Hungarian recurve.
OK - the longbow has much less initial tension, however it is as I mentioned knocking on, and has bit of string follow. It builds from this to a stack at around 27/28 inches of draw. The draw force curve feels linear to slightly concave - particularly at the beginning. I should probably mention that I have shot longbows which obviously store a bit more energy with less string follow. The Hungarian recurve has a high initial tension and draws hard, but smooth to around 26 inches where it starts to build on weight slower i.e the draw 'flattens off'. The draw force curve feels linear to convex, quite steep, with a flatter top end. This is probably what you would expect.
1) what longbow you have, is it laminated one? Or selfwood?
It is a self-yew longbow (made by myself!). It is getting on a bit now - 13 years old to be exact and it's seen quite a bit of action.
2) which bowyer crafted your Hungarian recurve?
A chap called Karoly Lapat in Hungary.
3)could you compare feelings of drawing your longbow vs. Hungarian recurve.
OK - the longbow has much less initial tension, however it is as I mentioned knocking on, and has bit of string follow. It builds from this to a stack at around 27/28 inches of draw. The draw force curve feels linear to slightly concave - particularly at the beginning. I should probably mention that I have shot longbows which obviously store a bit more energy with less string follow. The Hungarian recurve has a high initial tension and draws hard, but smooth to around 26 inches where it starts to build on weight slower i.e the draw 'flattens off'. The draw force curve feels linear to convex, quite steep, with a flatter top end. This is probably what you would expect.