LONGBOW CONVERSION TO WORKING HANDLE BOW!!

I was trying to turn a cat into a dog Good news. Good news. Good news. I think I finally figured it out after all of my stupidity I finally figured it out in my pursuit of learning how to make the best bow possible fastest shooting bow for practice for straight flight For hunting whatever it is I am learning a lot and I'm learning through failure and this is one thing that I Completely look past I'm trying to make this long bow into a Functional shooting bow and the limbs are too stiff and the handle keeps cracking and as I sat there On the couch the other morning just thinking about why this wasn't working. I remembered what I did when I built it and though the wood was too thin and so I put a cedar handle on it and then wrapped it in sinew and Glued it on there every time I draw the bow back I remember it cracking and the reason is because this has a working handle. It's too thin in the center So it's bending and I'm trying to tiller it to a long bow with a non working handle when really it has a working Handle, and so I'm trying to make I was trying to turn a cat into a dog Something that wasn't meant to be work and it has been an absolute disaster And so I'm gonna completely change my plan on how I am gonna finish this bow We're gonna take all this handle off We're gonna make a working handle bow and it's gonna completely change the tiller Let me give you an example of exactly what that looks like. You see a right here how it bends consistently through that's a working handle That's exactly what I need to do. I've been trying to do something more like C or D With a stagnant handle with this bow and that's not gonna work at all because it is too thin in the handle I actually took some pictures of this exact bow When I first made it and you can tell that it's tillered a whole lot more like the a picture here And then I have another example of something that's more like C or D where the handle is not working And it's another bow that I have made and used in the past and here that pictures as well you can clearly see the difference in these two pictures and It is very obvious my mistake here, so I'm gonna take this handle off I'm gonna make my first working handle bow and it's gonna be absolutely awesome I want to make the best bow possible on every bow I've made I've made like 15 or 20, but each one is getting better and this one's gonna get even better We have no more time to waste. So let's do this as I'm peeling this off. You can see See how it's cracking there That is the cedar to the old Osage This is so thin like that's half inch or less and I don't know I mean, I was new to bow making back then so I didn't Realize that it needed to be thicker to not bend and I was just trying to make a cool handle but I think this can work out really well if I make a working handle and I think I actually Might be able to put some reflex in it. I need to test the wood and See and I'll have to go about it cautiously because this Piece of wood is really old and I don't want to crack it and mess it all up But I may do that to make it the best shooting bow as possible It's a new day for me. It should be the same video for you guys I went back to the books and studied as much as I could about working handle bows and I learned a lot I learned a lot about the pros and cons different dimensions So I'm gonna get back to shaping this bow I'll show you what it looks like here in a little bit and I'll explain to you exactly what I am doing. Let's do this I've now got this bow to the roughed finish profile. I ended up thinning down the limbs a lot I want it to be a fast shooting athletic bow and that is Exactly what the bow design of having a bending handle can allow you to do Some people say the bending handle is easier to tiller But it's more dangerous in the sense that right around the handle if you mess up at all It will cause extreme set and the limb tips because the handle bends If it bends too much at all and any set occurs Basically, the rest of the limb is ruined and the bow is broken so I've got to be extremely careful with tillering it around the handle advantages of The working handle is that it has the lowest tip String angle and so at the tip this angle of the string is going to be the lowest which prevents stack which is very Very important for performance because the handle works and actually bends It means that I'm gaining back about eight inches of limb and those eight inches become Allow me to shorten the bow about eight inches if I need to which is really good to have it more compact Or I can keep it just the same length. And that means I have 20% more wood storing the energy and Compared to a D bow this stores a lot more energy because the handle bends I can also have a longer draw length and that's really important for me. I have fairly long arms My wingspan is like six eight and so I need that extra drawing. So that'll be very helpful for me also the width at the handle is suggested not to be less than an inch and a half and that I already notched in For an arrow rest when I was building the bow the first time and I'm at an inch and a quarter right there. So It's possible this whole project will end in splinters But I'm gonna be very careful try not to take any more wood off there than I need and possibly I can get this to work There's a couple pros and cons in the next video. We are going to Reflex the limb tips Creating a little more flick a little more fling in the arrow trying to make it a little bit faster And I like the looks of it And then I'm gonna start tillering it and we'll get this bow working. I'm excited to continue it So go out make a bow and have a wonderful day You