[Archers] archery loaner gear and equipment program - a thought

[John Atkins]

Folks if you go to his site, backyardbowyer.com, and click on Other, then
select Youtube you see his videos on how he makes his bows, breakage tests,
etc.  I’ve been told by others that the poundage is a product of the piping
used.  Thinner diameter, less poundage, also schedule 40 versus schedule 80.

 

My first concern was the effect of sun light on PVC piping.  My first job
out of college was running the marine aquaculture lab for San Diego State
University.  I learned how to plumb PVC piping from ¼ inch to 10 inch
diameter.  I KNOW PVC pipe.  One major issue with it is that after a year or
so in sun light it becomes so brittle that if you step on it, it breaks.  He
covers this in his videos saying that painting the bow protects it from the
damaging UV rays.  I bought a piece of pipe to try to make one to test it
out.  If/when I get it finished and tested I’ll report back.

 

My main reason from bringing this up is that I am beginning to hear more
about these bows from several folks in my area.  I expect that we will begin
to see these bows showing up on our ranges.  We need to decide how we are
going to handle them BEFORE that date.  i.e. Will we accept them, we will
reject them?  If we reject them, we need to have a good solid reason for
rejection.  I recall several years ago an archer took their newly purchased
bow to the range at Pennsic where it was rejected.  This was one of those
$40 black all fiberglass bows and the archer bought it from Elk Ridge
Archery which is a very reputable and SCA friendly bowyer.  The archer took
it back to Elk Ridge and told them what the marshals had said.  When Deb,
Joe’s wife and co-owner, took the bow back to the range to ask why it was
rejected, all they said was “That’s a bad bow”.  No justification or reason
as to why or what.  There was nothing wrong with the bow.  I would rather
not be in that position with these PVC bows.

 

Just saying,

cog

 

From: archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Garth Groff
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:00 AM
To: archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [Archers] archery loaner gear and equipment program - a thought

 

M'Lord Christophe,

I went to his site, but didn't see any tutorial on how to build these bows.
I'm thinking that the shaping would take some skill, and probably some
bending fixtures or jigs. But can they be made in the low poundages usually
needed for loaner use (mostly under 30 lbs., often closer to 20)?

On the safety side, I would really like to shoot some of these bows. They
should be thoroughly tested by several experienced marshals (who would
probably be waiting in a long line for a turn!) before any decision is made
about admitting them to our ranges. I am very concerned by his comments
about shattering at various temperatures.

On the practical side, I see he has added an outside arrow shelf to some of
these bows, but others are shot off the hand. Either type would be somewhat
difficult for a beginner to master, as opposed to a bow with a cut-in arrow
pass.

There should be no problem admitting a bow like this under questions of
authenticity. The rules say, "form and function of pre-17th century
archery", or words to that effect. After all, most of us shoot bows made
with "Ye Olde Fiberglass".

Yours Aye,


Mungo



On 4/24/2012 9:20 AM, John Atkins wrote: 

I personally purchased 2 adult and 2 child bows of the all black fiberglass
type.  I have more than enough “left over” arrows from my personal
collection to loan out as well.  I specifically selected these bows because
they can be shot left or right handed.  As most here will know, they run
about $35 - $40 each.  HOWEVER, I have recently been introduced to a
potential much lower cost alternative that could easily provide every single
group within our glorious kingdom several loaner bows.  Go to
backyardbowyer.com and watch some of his videos.  He makes bows out of PVC
piping and claims them to be up to 50 pound draw weights.  They look pretty
amazing.  He also covers the issues of bow breakage and some of the causes
for breakage.  So I guess my main purpose of this post is this question – as
the Atlantian archery community, how do we feel about these PVC bows?
 
        
 
 
        
cog
 
        

 

 
      
 
      


      
      


      
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