Shooting and Breaking a Red Oak Wooden Bow

I've been getting some questions and comments on the durability of PVC pipe bows. The material cost, equipment cost and performance of PVC bows and selfbows have generally been on par with each other. So when comparing PVC bows with other bows, I usually treat them like selfbows.

So here's a little video of me shooting one of my older selfbows. It was carved from a red oak board about 2 years ago and has has about 300-500 shots through it. It is 40 pounds at 26 inches and is 60 inches nock to nock. While a short to medium length self bow, it is longer than most PVC bows I've made (there are exceptions).

The bow broke at around 29 inches of draw, which is an overdraw of about 3 inches. It broke in the lower limb, almost exactly at midlimb. The bow was tillered to be weakest at the midlimb on both limbs to lessen handshock and make the whole handle section non-bending. The midlimbs were both wrapped with artificial sinew and then covered in cloth.

If I seem slightly down in the video, it's just that any wooden bow that I make, no matter how much I dislike it, is a part of me. Seeing it break kills me a little inside, especially when it was broken purposefully. Most times when a bow breaks there's something to learn and it makes things easier. Here there was no real lesson, so I hope you guys enjoyed the video and took something from it. Thanks for watching.

Here's a little of my opinion on PVC bows and selfbows.

Both types of bows can be built by beginners with minimal cost and equipment and both can be expected to fling a properly matched arrow anywhere between 100-200 fps. Unlike selfbows, however, PVC bows have the ability to collapse, which draws a lot of energy away from a break and saves the bow and the user from a potentially dangerous failure. A PVC bow can also be made a lot shorter than a comparable wooden bow for the same draw. For instance, a 4 foot bow pulling 32 inches safely and consistently is possible with PVC, but improbable and very close to impossible for a non-backed bow (with any amount of safety).

A PVC bow that has collapsed can be easily repaired as new. A snapped or shattered PVC bow (as long as the PVC is sound and of a good quality and thickness) can be repaired with a sleeve of PVC fairly quickly and easily. In both cases, the bow can be up and shooting in as little as five minutes with extensive repairs taking less than an hour (not including fixing paint or coverings).

Of the many wooden bows that I have had break on me or others, there is little that can be done to repair the bow. There's no such thing as a collapse on a wooden bow. At best, the wood can buckle and chrysal out on the belly side (it looks like a fold sometimes), which can be fixed by carving out the chrysaled area and then a new piece of wood glued and secured in the empty void. You could also have a simple lift or splinter on the back that can be glued back down and secured with a wrap. Most clean breaks, unless they are in a non-bending section, cannot be fixed. An explosion, while possibly repairable, is usually not worth the grief. And as far as I'm concerned, it's less stressful to just build a new wooden bow than it is to fix a broken one. Most minor breaks can be fixed in an hour or so, I usually let anything glued sit overnight or more depending on what broke and how I fixed it.

Anyway, thanks for watching and I'll see you later!