Old friend, new lease on life in process....

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LoonWulf

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So this is a new project on an old bow lol. This was the first bow I ever shot/owned.
I got it back in highschool used. It went with me when I went to college, and somewhere along the way picked up a split right down the middle of the limbs.
I fixed that by drilling a hole this the limb at the end of the crack and adding a couple zip ties....cause that's how you fix stuff right?

About a year later I gave it to a friend of mine.

That was 20 years ago. He moved to the mainland for about 5-8 years, and when he came home the cracks were were running even worse. At which point it got stashed behind the couch till about 2 weeks ago when he found it with a broken string.

When I went to pick him up to go shooting last week, I saw it sitting in the back of his truck getting ready for a ride to the dump.
I honestly had zero interest in getting back into archery, stuff like that happens to me from time to time.
Anyway, I couldn't let it suffer such an ignoble fate, so it came home with me.

Now I SHOULD have taken some before pictures....but I didnt....just imagine a whole bow painted in blue sparkle paint with gold splash, that to this day, I don't know how I did.

I stripper the old limbs and other bits from the riser, and checked limb pocket angles and length.
This riser is about 21" and has 17° pockets, with a slight amount or reflex, so it should make a decent long draw bow.

I stripper the layers and layers of nasty paint, and then acid washed the riser. After giving it a wash and baking soda bath, it got some new paint....
IMG_20200224_191645.jpg IMG_20200224_191640.jpg IMG_20200224_191638.jpg
That yellow faded as it dried to a green, I'll get some new pictures.
Anyway that's where we are now.

I have a decision to make now. I have the parts to convert this to ilf limbs, or just cheap out and buy bolt down limbs.
I'm still not sure which way I'll go with it.
The ilf is tempting because I have the fittings, and the limbs offer more options.
The bolt downs tho will probably do everything I could ask of the bow, and in all likelihood I'll finish this, and give it away again.

Another plus(maybe) to this project, is it got me to take my hunting recurve out for the first time in a year or two, make a new string, and actually shoot it a few times.
 
Ya it looks nice painted. Plus one day down the road you will be glad you saved your first bow. I still have my first bow, which is rare for me. It's a old team Fitzgerald PSE, nothing fancy but shot great. It cracked a limb, one day I will try to get new ones.

I'd set it up with a real and line for some coconut fishing lol.
 
Those were Novas or Deerhunters, or something like that, wernt they? I MIGHT actually have a set of Nova limbs in my Archery box, I can go check later.

Ill be happy to have it up and running again.
 
I considered just cleaning it, making it a new string and just displaying it......but we don't even have any pictures on our walls.
These older compounds are sort of an end of an era for the mechanical bows, at least with mainstream bows.
 
I still use my old bows to exercise and practice out in the back yard.
Each one has its quirks, so each one demands a certain level of concentration if I am to shoot it well.

Anyway, I don't plan to ever hunt with a bow again, so modern bows don't interest me.
A failure on the part of myself or my bow will not lead to an injury to an animal.
 
My first bow was before takedowns existed. (Yes I am that old)
I don't remember the brand, but it had very pretty wood and laminated glass recurve limbs bonded to the wood handle.
45lb draw.
I still had it up to 2011 when the Central Texas wildfires claimed it and my compound.

You should finish it out and hang onto it. Maybe hand it down to a little LoonWulf someday!
 
My first bow was before takedowns existed. (Yes I am that old)
I don't remember the brand, but it had very pretty wood and laminated glass recurve limbs bonded to the wood handle.
45lb draw.
I still had it up to 2011 when the Central Texas wildfires claimed it and my compound.

You should finish it out and hang onto it. Maybe hand it down to a little LoonWulf someday!
Sorry to hear you lost your bows.
I've had and really like a couple solid bows, but takedowns are mostly what I've used.
The only really "nice" bows I've had were Martin HTDs, and a Jeffrey's longhunter

my others were all kinda like the one I'm building....shoots good but not very attractive.
 
Got some work done today.

Limbs came in. So I made the plates to fill the limb pockets.
I also drilled and tapped the riser for limb alignment adjustment screws, but I don't have the 8-32 setscrews yet....so there are philips heads in there right now. I'll have to make better side plates, that I'll probably glue to the limbs. the ones on there now keep the screws from splitting the limbs, but look awful.

After getting the bow assembled, I measured it out at 62-63". I made the string for a 63, and the bows slightly shorter than that, so it's got more twists in it than it should to get to 58"
I'll make another string after shooting this for a while and letting everything settle.

Draw weights on the heavier side, tho I don't have the scale to actually get a number. I'm guessing it's pulling very close to, or perhaps a bit more than the listed 60lbs.

I only shot it A few times just to grab a quick velocity and see how it feels.
Both were good, tho not fantastic, but for an untuned how I'm very happy.
After I get/make some heavier arrows (if this thing is 60lbs, my arrows are only 7.5ish gpp) I'll do some real tuning.

I still need to do a bunch of cosmetic stuff, and get an actual rest.
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I like it sorta old and new mixed in. Could you use a epoxy and mold the limbs to the riser. Like with devcon. glad to see the little ones are interested lol. 208 fps is not bad for a 440 gr arrow, plenty for hunting. How was the noise?
 
I like it sorta old and new mixed in. Could you use a epoxy and mold the limbs to the riser. Like with devcon. glad to see the little ones are interested lol. 208 fps is not bad for a 440 gr arrow, plenty for hunting. How was the noise?
I could, but I'm not positive I'll stay with the sage limbs. They are fairly nice considering the cost, but compared to my smaller wood recurve they are kinda stacky.
Ill probably make some sort of filler pieces for in front of the limbs for now and see how it goes. If it get too annoyed I'll go ahead and do an ILF conversion and I'll need that space back lol.

210s pretty snappy, even with a 7.5gpp, hopefully I'll be able to get 175-180 at 8-9gpp arrow.

Again considering the really light arrows, and 7" brace height, the things surprisingly low on sound and vibration. string follows not bad either, the only time i got wacked, the string slipped off my fingers and i let my wrist twist.
 
Need to get some bows started for the miniwulfs. I have a slab of maple about 5 feet long. Never made a bow with maple before.
Thats the first time either has expressed any interest. I got some time today, i might turn out a couple 1/2" PVC bows for them.
I'll have to buy some dowels to make arrows from....tho i guess they can just shoot the old random carbons I've got...I'm out of feathers also....
I IS spring turkey season tho....

I've never used maple for a bow either, I'd guess hard maple would work well, tho your probably gonna have to make a flat bow.

If the kids start shooting with any regularity, I'll make a couple small selfbows.
 
actually now that I'm thinking about it. i may remove the grip from the Pearson, and make oval grip plates to go straight on the riser. That would give me a bit less reflex, and this ended up with more than i thought it would....tho it still shoots pretty well, so maybe not.
 
Them pvc bows can be powerful and accurate. I've made them before. I had free use to pvc back then,sc120 makes a nice bow. I've read some of the cheap arrows on Amazon are good, you can get with feathers to and right spine. There -$40 per 12
 
Them pvc bows can be powerful and accurate. I've made them before. I had free use to pvc back then,sc120 makes a nice bow. I've read some of the cheap arrows on Amazon are good, you can get with feathers to and right spine. There -$40 per 12
Yep, i only buy name brand anymore when i want to show off, or need really heavy arrows (like for this new bow) lol. Almost all of my shafts are now blank carbons, which have been very good. They don't offer heavy shafting unfortunately.

for the kids, they get what ever i have on hand, or can get cheap. they will loose all of the arrows anyway.
 
I've always used the cheap Easton arrows never had any problems. You can make heavy arrows by skidding carbons into aluminum arrows. Or buy fmj's. If I get a turkey this spring I'll keep the feathers,
 
I've always used the cheap Easton arrows never had any problems. You can make heavy arrows by skidding carbons into aluminum arrows. Or buy fmj's. If I get a turkey this spring I'll keep the feathers,
I've shoved stuff into shafts before too lol.
That maybe what I do with the dozen carbons I ordered. i have a whole selection of flexible tube that should add weight but shouldn't effect spine TOO much.
If you do get a turkey lemme know, I don't make arrows from scratch that often but I've got the gear and I'll happily buy a wing feathers from you. I can shoot two this month if I can get out there, haven't seen as many of late tho.
 
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