What's a good wooden bow

Martin makes a nice #45 recurve. I paid +-$225 6 years ago. I can get the model # after work if you need it, but I'm sure you can find 'em.

Bear makes several models 50# and up, but most are at least $300. Their Patriot longbow @#60 is my favorite of theirs that I own.

PSE used to sell a recurve in the #50-#60 range that was about $150. The pull stacks pretty bad, but it's useable.

If you're serious about this, learn to make your own arrows from shafts stock. If you're talking squirrel, rabbits, and birds, you're gonna lose alot of arrows, even if you hit what you intend to.

File: warrior_youth.png (49KB, 720x720px) Image search: [Google]

49KB, 720x720px

>>961534
Bear Archery Warrior 3 is your best bet for small game and messing about. Amazon has them for $90 USD and they come with a lot of components for that price. My son kills squirrels with his steady.

>>961553
Nevermind about the Martin. Guess I got it while the getting was good. Checked and they're $600 now.

>>961558
OP looking for wood.

>>961553
Holy crap. Bear traditionals have doubled in price over the last 8 year. Wanna buy a used Kodiak?

File: PSE_Anthem_Recurve_Bow-300x300.jpg (6KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 300x300px

>>961534
PSE is still affordable. MSRP $199

>>961569
It's 2017 Robin Hood

>>961583
Sup, pushy boy?

>>961589
Desolé messieur mais non

>>961604
Agincourt

>>961604
He just went mideval on your ass!

>>961534
Is the sammick takedown recurve any good? Also what pound should a complete beginner get

>>961671
Never shot a Samick. My first recurve was was a takedown. They're not my preference, but I got good with mine when it was all I had.

45# is enough for small game, plus it's not too powerful if you want to try your hand at bow fishing. #55 is the lightest I'd go for whitetail. You'll build the necessary muscles fast if you practice daily. I wouldn't go over #60 for starters. It would limit your arrow choice, arrow longevity, and practice stamina.

>>961534

If you have to ask...then you should get a 25# to 35# starter bow. Get the Samick Sage.

Ignore anyone here saying you should get a 45# or greater bow. They are cancer.

>>961769
#45 is nothing for an adult male. You're a chick, right?

>>961927

D you know how we know you don't know anything about archery?

>>961534
Build you own you pussy

File: winston_churchill_flick-v.jpg (13KB, 300x284px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 300x284px

>>961950
Yeah. We (You) make assumptions based on your myopic view of life and how to live it. Knowledge implies Practice and Experience. Having none of the above leads you to draw conclusions based only on your struggling ego's need for justification in a world that neither needs nor wants you.

Not OP, what's a good one with a 32 inch draw length?

>>962085
Well tipped m'lad

>>961534
Basic bitch answer: Sammick sage or something from Internature if you're okay with glass.

Better answer: make one yourself.

>>962115
What are some good resources for self bow making?

>>962120
The Traditional Bowyer's Bible.

Without going full caveman and whittling the whole thing, all you really need to make a functional bow is a proper piece of seasoned wood, a draw knife, a saw (or even a hatchet or pocketknife), a four-in-hand and a rat-tail file. Plus a string, of course.

>>962144
Guess I could look it up, but what are some decent woods that I could source myself in the U.S.?

>>962153
Where do you live? There's plenty of decent bow wood everywhere east of the rockies and on the west coast.

While the bow experts are here; is the Ben Pearson 45# recurve a good bow? A relative gave it to me years ago, lately I've been interested in shooting the thing.

>>962203
If it's old and in good shape it is a great bow.

File: rhomboids.jpg (93KB, 300x574px) Image search: [Google]

93KB, 300x574px

>>962085

Wow, such edge.

Pic related. The likelihood that an adult's rhomboid muscles can *safely* handle archery practice with a 45# bow, without prior training, is virtually nil.

This applies if you're large and manly, or even a body builder...you see, a body builder doesn't go to the gym 3 times a week, to do only 150 T-bar rows each session. Archery is its own unique thing and uses the muscles in an unnatural way.

I don't care if you started off with a 45# space bow yourself, or if your cousin Joebob did it and he's fine. It's a stupid idea and will lead to injury.

>t. I started off with a 45# bow and fucked up my back for 6 weeks. The rhomboids are essentially impossible to immobilize. The pain was maddeningly exquisite, especially the reflected pain which manifests away from the point of injury.

>>962359
I started on a 50# bow after shooting a 35# bow ~10 years earlier as a teenager and had no problems with cutting my teeth (again) on a 50# bow and even had muscle memory.

If you weren't such a scrawny faggot and/or genetic dead-end then you'd have no problems starting on a 45# bow as a grown-ass man.

>>962359
45lb is suitable for basically any post-pubescent human. I think you might have some sort of deficient musculoskeletal issues.

>>962359
5'11, 215lbs. Started with 45# recurve at 14. 34 now. Have a partially crushed patella on right knee from bike wreck. No other bone or muscle problems. Put a dozen arrows into an 8 inch circle at 40yds with a 70# Safari daily.

The yew longbows used by English yeomen exceeded 100#

I think you are the exception, rather than the rule.

>>962359
If it where such a problem, store bought bow over #45 would have to come with an injury warning in this day of frivolous litigation.

If you start out with a #45, shooting 24 arrows per session, every other day, then you will likely feel a burn on the off days. This means you are building muscle. It kinda feels good. Within a year, you have to shoot 72 arrows per session to get the same burn. No pains no gains type situation.

>>962168
Coastal Southeast. I travel all over the Southeast regularly. I know I have several species of oak and hickory around. Hickory will bend a LONG way before it breaks, but it seems to have alot of memory once bent.

So curious as to what a good grouping is supposed to look like with a plain longbow/ recurve.

I get 9 inch groups at 10 yards, double that at 20 yards and at 30 yards all bets are off and I'm looking for arrows in the grass on the other side of the range fence.

I mostly got the bow to mess around and shoot stumps and beer cans when I go camping, but I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if my arrows are the wrong weight or stiffness or some shit?

>>961534

The rule in archery is don't start on anything above 30 - 35#.

No amount of same fagging will change that.

>>962544
Hickory is a top-tier wood for bows; you should use that.

>>962639
Cool. Guess I'll have to learn to season or find one lighting struck or somthing. I see from browsing that serious dudes use moisture meters and stuff. Are there any tips for picking wood with the right amount of seasoning without using meters and such?

>>962648
See if you can find somewhere that specializes in traditional archery gear and they might be able to point you in the direction of a seasoned stave - or you could buy one online.

If you want to season it yourself then the easiest thing is to just nigger-rig a hot box (like carpenters use for setting glue) from foam siding and some incandescent bulbs.

>>962590
Don't hunt anything until you can keep 90% of your shots on a paper plate at 30yards. Even then, you shouldn't shoot at a deer past 25yds tops.

The arrow spine weight has alot of effect on accuracy. You find charts on the net to match the spine weight to your bow.

Also, you won't get good accuracy with an arrow that's not fletched for traditional bows. Most arrows you find in stores are fletched for compound bows, and have either a right hand twist or no twist. On a right-handed traditional, you want a left hand twist (left-wing), with vanes preferably cut from real feather.

It's no big deal when you're just messing around, but the correct arrow can make a huge difference when serious about accuracy.

>>962595
Glad you don't make the "rules".

>>962651
I'm not that guy but mildly interested in making a bow. Looking around bow staves run like $90. Is there something I can just buy from home depot or use a stick I find in the woods or something?

>>962665
Yeah I have the feather fletched arrows, they're really expensive. I have a #40 but I overdraw it and I think that might be why the arrows the clerk picked out for me might not be right.

I don't think I'll ever hunt with it unless it's a potshot at a rabbit or something. I camp off a motorcycle and I'm not sure I want to strap a deer carcass on the back and get blood on the exhaust can.

I read you can tell if an arrow is too flimsy or too stiff by the angle it sticks into a target. I chalked it up to archer's paradox fish-tailing last time I shot, so I forgot which way they stuck in. Also, do you need to take the fletching off with that technique? Could I tape them flat? Again those arrows are expensive.

>>962699
". I camp off a motorcycle and I'm not sure I want to strap a deer carcass on the back"...

That would surely be a sight I've never seen.

>>962676
See if you can find a pdf of the Traditional Bowyer's Bible; they have a chapter about making board bows.

>>962699
Go to a traditional archery shop and let them set you up with arrows that are correctly spined. You can't really do it yourself unless you're making your own arrows or know exactly what you're looking for and if you're making your own arrows you wouldn't be asking these kinds of questions on the internet.

>>962699
http://www.3riversarchery.com/

Get a catalog from these guys. They won't steer you wrong. You'll learn alot just seeing what's available. They have affordable ready made arrows and everything you could possibly need to make your own.

The guys at the local outfitters around me have absolutely no idea what they are talking about in terms of traditional archery.

>>962699
BTW, 3rivers has an online spine calculator.

>>962595
Den mothers should always follow the rules, or else the merit badges don't really count.

>>961534
"lollygagging"

We call it "roving". Sounds more serious and worthwhile.

File: deerstrappedtomotorcycle.jpg (62KB, 765x530px) Image search: [Google]

62KB, 765x530px

>>962732
It's certainly possible, and my bike is designed to be loaded down 3rd world style. Just the logistics wouldn't work out. A rabbit or grouse sure.

>>962741
>>962747
>>962770
Thanks, I'll look into getting at least one set of tuned arrows and use the others I have now to shoot and break on rocks, stumps, liquor bottles and abandoned cars

>>962877
Rings of poetic justice considering what a dear can do to a 70mph biker.

File: Untitled_400x400.png (280KB, 400x400px) Image search: [Google]

280KB, 400x400px

>>961534
no lollygagging

Okay, well traditional archery is my thing. I don't post in knife or ax threads, but in this area, I know some shit.

First off, as far as starting weight (which seems to be controversy) I can't tell you what you can handle. That is going to be up to the individual.

What I can tell you is this. Almost everyone who is into this, will tell you to start with a weight that you can pull with out a huge struggle to get back to your anchor.

Yes, there is some risk of injury, but more than that, you need to be able to shoot comfortably to work on your form. If it takes all your strength just to get the string back to your anchor point, you will not get consistent, you will not be able to shoot much, and you will not have fun and give up on it.

That is not to say that it should be so easy that it requires no effort either.

A general rule of thumb is you need 40 lbs to hunt for deer ethically. Each state in the US has it's own rules on this. Texas used to have a 40 requirement, but it has been lifted and there is no weight minimum at this time.

If you don't want to buy a starter bow at a weight below 40 and then buy a second bow to hunt with. I would say, if you are an adult with average strength, start with a 40. You may have to work into it a bit. You may have to just pull the bow like working out to build your muscles for a few weeks, before you even start shooting it.

One last thing on weight, with trad bows, the weight is measured and posted on the bow at a 28 inch draw. The industry came up with this standard many many years ago. This is just so people have a point of ref. Most avg adult men will have a draw length around 28 inches.

If you draw more or less, you need to take off about 2 pounds per inch (this is not exact but close). For example, if you are on the short side and only pull a longbow 26 inches back. If that bow was made at 40 at 28, you are only pulling about 36 pounds. Which is fine, doesn't hurt a thing, just don't think you are pulling 40.

>>963214
So could a 28 inch draw length bow survive being pulled to a 30-32 inch draw length?

So many on here have just said, hell, make your own. Well my guess is they have never made a bow.

I have made exactly one. It was what they call a board bow. Me and a couple of friends decided we would do it. We went to Home Depot and bought a Pecan board that looked good. We each made bows out of it.

One of the guys set his garage up with the necessary stuff, A tillering tree, a band saw, a jig to make strings, etc...

When making this type of bow, they tend to break as you are not following a growth ring. I backed mine with rawhide to try and prevent this. When my bow was done, I took it to the field and killed a couple of pigs with it.

It never broke, but all the other guy's bow broke after a few weeks or months.

Another thing, it was no fun to shoot. There was terrible hand shock. It felt like hitting a stop sign with a baseball bat. It rattled my teeth to shoot that thing. It is still hanging on my wall.

I learned a lot and am glad I did it, but my point is, it is really easy to just tell someone to go make a bow.

Now if you want to get a blank from a bois'de arc / bodark / hedgeapple tree and follow a growth ring, you can make a very good bow. But you probably need a mentor as it requires much more skill and you will ruin a bunch of wood just doing trial and error.

>>963219
Yes, they can as a rule.

Especially if it is a longer bow, say 64 inches tip to tip or longer. Just add two pounds per inch.

That being said, there is a point if you are a gorilla, that you can break a bow by pulling it to far. What normally happens before that it the bow does what we call stacks.

That means the wood that giving all it can and becomes super hard to draw any more. You sort of hit a wall. If you are a tall person with long arms this can happen with shorter bows.

As long as you stop pulling when it starts to stack on you, you shouldn't break it.

32 is a very long draw length. About the longest of any of the many archers I know. If you really have a draw that long, Do your self a favor and get a longer bow weather it is longbow or recurve.

In general the longer a bow is the more forgiving it is as well, but sometimes gives up a bit on speed, and is hard to maneuver in hunting blinds and tree stands.

I know at least a half dozen people who started with the Samick Sage bow. They are a decent entry level bow at a very good price.

You can also get bows off of archery web sites, the classifieds like Craigslist, garage sales, pawn shops, and places like that. You can normally find good older used bows, like Martin, Bear, Wing, Pearson, etc....for less that two hundred bucks and often for less than a hundred.

Here is what you have to look our for. Examine the bow very closely in good light. Look for any cracks at all especially around the stress points.

Also, have the person selling it string it for you. There is a thing with recurves called limb twist. This happens when a bow is not strung properly, stored poorly, or been left in a hot car, or something like this. The limbs of the bow twist and the string won't lay in the groves at the end of the bow. Do Not but a bow with twisted limbs. While some of these can be fixed by a trained bowyer, just don't do it. If you can see any twist, just walk away.

One last thing, these bows hold there value pretty well, so if you get one, don't like it, you can probably recover most of your money back. At least on the bow itself.

I don't know if this thread was dying out or what, but I will check back later.

File: currentyear.png (62KB, 326x212px) Image search: [Google]

62KB, 326x212px

>>961583
Your point? Primitive archery is still fun, even with faggots like you thinking that you always have to have the latest and greatest.

OP, look up the bowyer's bible and learn how to make your own self bow if you want a satisfying experience.

>>963227
>32 is a very long draw length. About the longest of any of the many archers I know. If you really have a draw that long, Do your self a favor and get a longer bow weather it is longbow or recurve.


As somebody with a 31 1/2" - 32" draw length, I will say that this is very sound advice. When a bow starts stacking, it is losing efficiency. When a bow starts stacking, it is because you are to the point where you aren't pulling the same direction that the tips are moving, i.e. you are pulling backwards and the tips need to move more towards the center of the bow. This means that you have severe string angles. Risk of the bow exploding aside, this is going to pinch the shit out of your fingers. I have a short recurve that is 45#@28 or 55#@32. Compared to my longbow, drawing it feels like I'm drawing a kid's bow, yet 100 arrows and my fingers are numb. Even though the long bow is much heavier (~80# @32") it does not do this.

File: s-l1600.jpg (409KB, 1066x1600px) Image search: [Google]

409KB, 1066x1600px

Anyone have an opinion on these? http://stores.ebay.com/KP-Archery

They sell hickory self bows in the $40 to $65 range. 58" to 68", shelf or no shelf, right or left handed. They also sell on Amazon. All you get is a stick and a string. Haven't seen any bad feedback on them yet in online archery forums.

Might be a cheap and easy way to dip your toes into "wooden" bows, and get a good trainer for building up strength.

>>963463
No experience with these, but I pay that much for a dozen Port Orford cedar shafts. I'd buy one to try it if I didn't already have more bows than I need already.

>>963463
No, but because it is a one piece and all wood (no fiberglass) it is not going to be as efficient as the more common composite trad bows. Meaning it will probably be slow, and maybe hard to get good flight as it will not be center cut.

However, for that price you can't really go wrong if you get it and have fun with it. I promise you I could kill small game with it. So for getting started, sure why not.

Someone asked earlier about the size of groups and what is normal for traditional archery.

I have been to lots of big tournaments and events and shot with a ton of people. A few of the very best.

Trad archery and bowhunting is a short range sport. I am going to make up some numbers here, but I would bet that over 90 percent of animals killed with longbows and recurves are taken inside 20 yards. I know this is true for me. I like to set up for a shot about 15 or 16 yards. Even better if I can get to 10. I am damn good at 10 yards. I have killed a few very large animals: eland, blue wildebeest, gembok, out past that, but never any past 30.

Oh, I can hit them that far and farther, I just can't be sure it is going to be in the quick kill zone.

I tell people to use a standard paper plate as a general test. Your good trad shooters can hit that paper plate probably 9 of 10 times at 20 yards. You exceptional, very rare, guys are even better.

Start close to your target, like two or three steps and just drill the bullseye over and over. When you are sure you can't ever miss from there...take a step back and repeat. Keep doing this until you are back to the distance you desire. If you start getting wild and your group get to big, either go closer, or stop as you may be getting tired.

It is easy to over practice as well. If you start to lose your form from fatigue...stop and try again later or another day.

One last thing, if someone tells me that keep it in a paper plate 4 of 5 at 40 yards, they are going to have to prove that. Yes a few can, but I will gladly put up cash that is more BS than fact.

File: Bullshit_46346-2.jpg (520KB, 1024x681px) Image search: [Google]

520KB, 1024x681px

>>963214
>>963222
>>963227
>>963228
>>963551

>>962676

Do you have any tools? Oak or maple boards from big stores will work fine if you find one with good grain, has to be straight on both the faces and sides.

>>963463
Looks like a pretty good deal.

I'd say the minimum equipment you'd want to make a bow with is as follows:

Knife - $12 Mora or the like.
Files/rasps - Four-in-hand ($9), thin, round file ($4)
Saw - $10 pull saw from Harbor Freight is fine
At least two clamps - $3 apiece
Surform rasp ($12) or Shinto saw rasp ($20)
Sandpaper ($4)
Dacron B50 for strings - $10
Glue - $3

So you're looking at about $70-ish total, including the board, plus whatever you might use to make a tillering setup, you can probably find a 2x4 or something for that, though.

>>961579
Chicks buying bows... the Katniss effect.

File: Kelby Pics 013.jpg (4MB, 3648x2736px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 3648x2736px

>>963568
You are entitled to your opinion. Here is a pic of a couple of the animals I mentioned in my hunting room.

File: 20170220_211126.jpg (3MB, 5312x2988px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 5312x2988px

>>961671
Sammick Sage is a decent takedown, this is an earlier photo of mine and its 40#. I now have beaver fur silencers on the string. I fire a 300gr arrow shaft with a 125gr flat blade broadhead. It takes a little practice but once you learn the POA for the common distances you can pick it up pretty easily. I've pretty much left my compound bow behind and prefer to train with my recurve, just more satisfying to use IMO.

>>963588
Thanks Mark. Say hi to the girls for me.

File: received_1938040833095038.jpg (114KB, 1152x2048px) Image search: [Google]

114KB, 1152x2048px

>>961671
Sammick Sage is a decent takedown, this is an earlier photo of mine and its 40#. I now have beaver fur silencers on the string. I fire a 300gr arrow shaft with a 125gr flat blade broadhead. It takes a little practice but once you learn the POA for the common distances you can pick it up pretty easily. I've pretty much left my compound bow behind and prefer to train with my recurve, just more satisfying to use IMO.

File: die-with-your-boots-on.jpg (178KB, 1200x1702px) Image search: [Google]

178KB, 1200x1702px

>>963588

So I grok the whole killing-for-fun thing, and the need to psychologically justify it by pretending humans need to eat meat to survive (we don't).

But preserving the dead body, posing and mounting it, and having it there staring at you in your living room...its so goddamn weird. It seems like a thing Jeffrey Dahmer would do.

Pic related.

>>963593
What the fuck happened there, sorry thread didnt mean to double post.

>>962359
>implying you weren't retarded and did it for like four hours straight

File: attachment-4-1.jpg (247KB, 600x401px) Image search: [Google]

247KB, 600x401px

I got this'n with muh blowgun.

>>963662

>50# Bear Grizzly, new to archery, too heavy to practice with
>can pull it back fine, but not nearly enough times to properly practice
>get a 1970's vintage 25# recurve on Ebay, gorgeous training bow
>shoot 100+ arrows with it, great practice session
>that same day, Bear Grizzly is sitting there still strung
>"I'll just pull it back a few times...wait, that feels funny. Ouch? WTF?"
>you see I didn't stretch first, muscles were tight after 25# bow
>pain gets worse and worse over next 72 hours
>locked muscles, spasms, knots, referred pain showing up in weird places
>cant sleep, could barely even type for a couple of days
>no shooting for 6 weeks

Yes, retarded, but not exactly how you would think. Now I stretch every. freaking. time.

>>963628

>>963702
>>shoot 100+ arrows with it, great practice session
>Yes, retarded, but not exactly how you would think.
No, that's exactly the kind of retarded I said.

>running a five mile marathon after sitting on a couch for five years
This is literally what you tried to do.

>>963765

100 arrows with a 25# bow is not a marathon. What are you on?

>>961677
Different anon but can a beginner start at 60? I'm pretty /fit/ but don't want to buy a bow that i can't shoot.

>>963856
He said five mile marathon though which kind of makes it more retarded desu

>>962153
Oak is a good start.

>>965137

No reason for a normal fit male to not start archery at #60. Unless you're a manlet, you will be perfectly fine.

>>965659
Starting off with a #60 bow is absolutely terrible advice. Even for someone of well above average strength, that is too much weight to work with while learning the proper mechanics.

Why do people always ask these boards for advice. You have to know its going to devolve into a bunch of idiots shitflinging and having conflicting opinions? You cant possibly expect to ever get an answer from any of us retards?

>hurrr anyone not startin on a 100# recurve is a weak little manlet just kys

>>961583
>my bow needs training wheels

>>962359
I started on a 45# when I was like 14 you numpty

>>965801
I was thinking 45, is that low enough?

>>963628
Becoming a cool taxidermy in your descendants' home actually sounds pretty neat.

At least until a poorly trained dog chews you up.

>>961671
I'd recommend OMP explorer 2.0. I'd say get the 32# model. Then you can buy stronger limbs down the line and switch it out yourself. You can find one for $100 I bet.

>>962359
I can get what you mean, but that may be pushing it a bit. I've had stacked bros try to pull my 70# back, and they couldn't draw it despite being stronger than me in otherwise.