Topic: Buildng a bow
Hello,
First time poster, found the website about a week ago but have known about trad. Korean bows for sometime.
The reason for my title is that I am wanting to build a bow that follows the lines and hopefully similar draw length of these wonderful Korean bows. I have built two small recurve bows for my children and enjoyed not only the process but the short length and how well they have performed (yes, I let my kids shoot them too ). The idea of making a bow as short as a trad. K. bow that can shoot an arrow with authority and yet be drawn past 29" has intrigued me for some time.
I am hoping I can learn from the board members here some of the aspects of these bows that I should know in order to start experimenting. My plan is to use standard modern materials (wood core, fiberglass and carbon fiber laminations, epoxy etc.). I have no qualms about the fact I may fail miserably before I get what I want but that is half the fun, seeking the truth of the matter, as it were.
My main concern is figuring out what the basic limb dimensions should be ie. limb widths, thickness etc. I live in western Montana with a lot of traditional bow hunters but I have not been able to find anyone with a Hwarang or Kaya to look at. From what I have seen in the pictures it appears the limbs are thinner in the midsection, where the limbs bend/arc the most and then begin to get a little thicker towards the ends where the "static" ends start, and near the riser area. Is this the case?
The limbs also look very narrow compared to modern recurves here in the states. Do the limbs maintain a fairly even parallel width to the ends or is there a consistent taper?
I was also hoping someone with a Kaya bow pulling 40-45 lbs. might be able to measure the thickness of the limbs along their length so I will have a baseline to start from when ordering the laminations.
I hope I am not being too forward for a first time poster and appreciate any help I can get form everyone here. I'm a knife maker with about 400+ blades (not a forger but do all fazes of construction) under my belt and would be more than willing to help with any information I can offer on the subject.
Thanks for reading this and appreciate your time,
Rod