[Archers] More on PVC Bows

[Garth Groff]

M'Lord William and Friends of the Bow,

Thanks much for your response.

I am familiar with Mr. Tomihama and his many You Tube postings. Indeed, 
I have watched the film where he destroys one of his bows by weakening 
it with a torch. What bothered me about this was not so much what 
happened to the bow, but rather when he drew the bow before heating, it 
appeared to have different bends in the two limbs (or this could be the 
bow's angle to the camera): 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7FJFLWct4&feature=plcp .

Mr. Tomihama or Mr. Dunham seem to know what they are doing. Were either 
to bring any of their bows to a range I was running, I would respect 
their experience and give a certain amount of guarded trust to their 
bows. I still would want to know how many arrows had been shot from any 
bow they presented for inspection. In other words, has that particular 
bow so far been proven safe?

However, a new bowyer is another matter. How do we judge his or her 
experience? How many bows have they built? How long have their bows been 
in use? Have any failed? Is this a new bow, or one that has had say 100 
shots from it (that's roughly four royal rounds, barely broken in)?

We need to move cautiously with these bows, and judge each new situation 
on the side of safety. OTOH, it would be a shame to simply turn someone 
away who presents such a bow for inspection. Every situation is going to 
be different, and any experiences should be shared here among our 
archery community.

Yours Aye,


Mungo

On 10/8/2012 3:51 PM, Brian Boothroyd wrote:
> Lord Mungo, and others,
>
> I have been researching these bows for sometime now, and would like to
> offer a valuable resource to the group.
>
> A gentleman named "Nick" (Nicholas Ikaika Tomihama) (who is both a
> traditional bowyer and a PVD Bowyer, and written books on each) has a
> wonderful YouTube Chanel dedicated to the design, building, and testing
>  of PVC bows.  He explains and demonstrates how and why a bow will fail,
> and in some cases how a "broken" bow may be safely repaired.  He shows
> this through destructive testing of almost all the bows he makes.  He
> also shows destructive tests of PVC vs. wood bows of similar build.
>
> While I have not contacted him personally, I have been watching his video
> series for some time now.  He welcomes questions and comments on his bows
> and may likely give you a video response to any question presented to 
> him.
>
> You can find him on YouTube at:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/user/BackyardBowyer/videos?view=0
>
> As well as on FaceBook at:
>
> https://www.facebook.com/BackyardBowyer
>
> And his books are available from Amazon at:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Tomihama/e/B004Q2LJLM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_10?qid=1333277770&sr=8-10 
>
>
> I hope this information will help some of you in acquiring more 
> information
> on these PVC bows.
>
> Yours in service,
> Lord William of Scarborough