flight shot

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Sat Feb 11, 2017 2:27 am

Sorry for the late reply. The arrow was no more than 6.5mm max diam, the point about 3mm and the nock a little less than the max diameter. For those great distances, the arrow must definitely be under 7mm and very slick.

The bow had the tips narrow and the outer halfs of kasans also narrowing, but nor excesively. Nothing special. I try to keep the sals as thick as possible, especially close to the grip, but I have seen such old bows too. Best of luck with your bows Ivar.

Adam

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Thu May 18, 2017 1:44 am

Here is another test:

790m (862 yards). The bow was 163lb, Dacron string, arrow 14.7 grams (about 230 grains). Machine shot.

I made another shot with the bow and a better arrow, but unfortunately the bow shed its string on release. Still the arrow went to 734m.

Below is the picture of the bow. It has little reflex, because I decided to reduce the weight by heat-deflexing the limbs, so the thickness of sals would remain as high as possible. The bow is 44in ntn and its mass is 409g.

I believe a bow of such high weight is quite capable to send an arrow well over 800m with a right arrow.

Adam

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Thu May 18, 2017 1:46 am

The picture:

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Thu May 18, 2017 7:22 am

Thanks for the pictures Adam.
It is very interesting to see you achieving these superb distances and closing in on the old records!
Is the arrow sectional Tonkin? What is the point made of and how heavy is it? What is the fletching made of? Also where is the balance point of the arrow?
The bow does indeed look to have very thick sals! Especially off the handle. How wide are the limbs in the sal area? How long did the bow season?
I have finally managed to source a load of excellent maple for cores and will be cranking out some more bows to try and follow your lead with these flight distances!
Many thanks for the post/photos.

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Thu May 18, 2017 9:35 pm

Heard this earlier today over on Facebook. Shit

There isn't really words to describe how impressive this is. It's so cool to see what's possible.

Several old bows I have seen have had delaminations between the horn and core in the sal-grip transition. It seems difficult to dimension this area correctly. I suspect this was something the old bowyers tried to push to the limit, to make the bows smoother. For pure flight, you have definitely solved the issue with this bow

- and it does make sense that this would be good for speed with light arrows too.

I'm also curious about the specs that Mike mentions. Especially the thickness of the sals. This must be closing in on the maximum the materials will take. D-section, or more rectangular? Flat/curved glue line?

Ok, you're not obliged to reveal all secrets

Hope for 800 in fall!

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Fri May 19, 2017 1:29 am

The arrow was 4-sections bamboo (could be Tonkin, I am not sure), about 24.5in long with very small horn point. It balances about 13in from the point. Thin rawhide vanes.

The sals thinnest part below kasans is 14mm total thickness and sals width is 27mm. The glue line betw. horn and core is flat (grooves match), the sal sections are well rounded rectangle, somewhat flatter on the back.

The grip is too long, for reasons unrelated to perfomance in this case. The bow seasoned for 1.5 year or a bit longer.

Yesterday, I tried to shoot the bow again, this time with an FF string. Bad idea - one of the (bone) nocks broke, but I will try again once repaired.

Good luck with your tests, I am hoping for 800+ soon.

Adam

pcoutin · Post by **pcoutin** » Sat May 27, 2017 10:08 am

Awesome!

You have tried very skinny FF strings (more stretchy and efficient due to lighter weight?) with thick loop serving? I've read in your book that you've tried all kinds of things to get the heavier bows to not blow up with FF strings... may not be possible with such low gpp

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Mon May 29, 2017 6:57 am

Adam, would you be kind enough to show the shooting machine you are using? I am making some heavy flight bows and I won't be strong enough to shoot them anytime soon. Some pictures would really help rather than designing one from scratch. I'm interested in the method you use to hold/release the string at the correct drawlength. Also do you have some sort of overdraw fitted and if so how? I presume you are drawing that bow to 28"?
Also many thanks for supplying the details of the arrow. By four sections do you mean that the finished arrow is square? I feel the sectional bamboo arrows are definitely the way to go. In my experiments with them the spine/weight ratio is so much better than any pure wood shafting I have come across.

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Tue May 30, 2017 1:01 pm

I put away the machine for now (grass too long), but will post a picture later. It is based on Ivar's except the bow is mounted horizontally. The release mechanism is similar to the crossbow releases, but it can be much easier to use a commercial compound release by modifying the trigger so it acts when touchedby a stop positioned along the guide at a desired draw length. The grooved guide is the "overdraw" (as in crossbows), but the arrows are still 24.5in long for 27in draw (only 2.5in overdraw, I should try 28in draw sometime for more distance) to simulate the Turkish siper.

The arrows are round of course. Six or more sections would be better.

Adam

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Tue May 30, 2017 8:16 pm

Happy to see that my machine has inspired. I have two youtube videos featuring it. It's basically just a crossbow-design with feet and a siper. Mostly made from oak. Feel free to copy, Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7T-_RxSDIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFDK3tp71M

I can't get over that 800 might be within reach. It's just crazy far. I'm nowhere near that, although I have some bows that will be ready for the end of summer that I have high hopes for. My best so far this year is 284 meters with a 42" 27 pound @ 27 inches. I thought that was pretty good for such a lightweight bow. I'd be interested to hear if any of you have tested other lightweight turkish bows?