I usually don't predetermine a bows draw weight and length and go by a general sense of what I want and see what I get.
This week I finished an ash flatbow that I wanted to be in the 40 pound range at a reasonable drawlength. It now sits at 40 pounds on 26 inches. Its mass is 22.5 oz, and when using the mass principle i calculated its mass ought to be 22 oz. That seems fine! But, what if I wanted to draw this bow to 28 inches? That would mean I would remove some wood, not much probably. And the projected weight would increase since the drawlength increases, but the bow does not have the mass to support those extra 2 inches draw. My gut feeling says that the mass principle can be used as a means to tell you when a bow has reached its final drawlength. As it does in this case.
Now comes the question; can it?
This week I finished an ash flatbow that I wanted to be in the 40 pound range at a reasonable drawlength. It now sits at 40 pounds on 26 inches. Its mass is 22.5 oz, and when using the mass principle i calculated its mass ought to be 22 oz. That seems fine! But, what if I wanted to draw this bow to 28 inches? That would mean I would remove some wood, not much probably. And the projected weight would increase since the drawlength increases, but the bow does not have the mass to support those extra 2 inches draw. My gut feeling says that the mass principle can be used as a means to tell you when a bow has reached its final drawlength. As it does in this case.
Now comes the question; can it?
