[American Flatbow] Info on pyramid bow

bowbrummel

New member
Hi all, have been reading The Bowyer's Bible and am taking with the idea of building a pyramid bow using kiln dried hardwood. This is intended as a present for my GF and I need to build one with a 35# draw weight. Problem is, apart from the fact I've never built a bow before, I have no idea of the dimensions required to get a bow of this weight. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Not used kiln dried timber myself, but my advice is aim at making two, use the worst bit of timber first and just go for it, you will learn so much, you will then have a fighting chance with the second one.
Have you heard of the quality system "Right First Time"? well it's nonsense!
I have a system, WAQAP !
Wrong As Quick As Possible... ! It allows you to see and understand the problems and mistakes.
Two words of advice... don't narrow the handle early on, ant leave a little extra width at the tips. That will allow some adjustment of the string line, and the handle can be cut to agree with the string line when it's finished... rather than trying get the string line to match the centre line of the handle.
Most newbie bowyers start trying to make a 40# or 50# bow and end up with a 20# !
If you manage to make a shootable bow you've done well..
Del
PS Avoid the temptation to try and make it too short!
 

bowbrummel

New member
Not used kiln dried timber myself, but my advice is aim at making two, use the worst bit of timber first and just go for it, you will learn so much, you will then have a fighting chance with the second one.
Have you heard of the quality system "Right First Time"? well it's nonsense!
I have a system, WAQAP !
Wrong As Quick As Possible... ! It allows you to see and understand the problems and mistakes.
Two words of advice... don't narrow the handle early on, ant leave a little extra width at the tips. That will allow some adjustment of the string line, and the handle can be cut to agree with the string line when it's finished... rather than trying get the string line to match the centre line of the handle.
Most newbie bowyers start trying to make a 40# or 50# bow and end up with a 20# !
If you manage to make a shootable bow you've done well..
Del
PS Avoid the temptation to try and make it too short!
Blimey Del, you're a real asset on this forum. Thanks so much for the time you've taken to offer guidance!
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Cheers.
A few more words of advice.
It depends a great deal on your tools and skills. A good idea may be to base it on the timber available.
Say you have 1/4" or 3/8" thick material you can choose the width and length to suit.
An AFB and pyramid are not (IMO) the same.
The advantage of a pyramid for a relative newbie is you can keep the limbs at constant thickness and just taper the width from say 2" to 3/16" and you have a bow! Obviously it's not that simple as you will have to build up a riser section to allow you to narrow the grip.
You can experiment with all sorts of sheet material say 3 ply plywood ... I've even made a kids bow from hardboard! Quick experimentation with materials you have to hand can save a lot of time later and indicate the sort of curve you can expect.
Note all the figures above are total guesses, but say you start with 3/8" tapering from 2" to 3/16" and each working limb 30" long. If it's too weak you can take a few inches off the tips... if it's too stiff you can change the taper to 1 1/4" to 3/16"
Like I said WAQAP ! ;)
Nearly all bow making is a process of successive approximation!
Del
 
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