Could you self bow guys tell us the pro's and con's of these types of belly design in self bows.

One of the main goals in building a self bow is to distribute the stresses on the wood as evenly as possible so we get the most amount of work out of the least amount of wood. A flat belly accomplishes this. Sometimes there are reasons why we want to relieve some of the stress from the edges of the bow, a slightly crowned belly will accomplish this. I use a very lightly crowned belly mainly because it is easier to tool.

That is the one reason MoBowJam was held 20 years ago.I believe what was found was, there's not enough difference to amount to anything. The crown belly is for me, easier to build.

I agree not much difference but it is nearly impossible to use hand tools and make a flat bellied bow. Hand tools just don't work efficiently that way. Jawge

Dean made me a really short bow (56") because he knew I liked shorties.That style(other than a work of art) is best for longer(not short) bows.The flatbow is perfect for shorties.

Do a search here on this subject and you'll likely be privy to some of the best debates this site has ever seen.

And read this... http://www.bowyersedge.com/complements.html

It's not as simple as personal preference, or performance, or bow length. There are real, practical pros and cons and tradeoffs related to flat vs. radiused.

Badger said, "One of the main goals in building a self bow is to distribute the stresses on the wood as evenly as possible so we get the most amount of work out of the least amount of wood."

True, sort of. But 'distributing stress' is subjective and is only ONE of the main goals. There are others, which can vary depending on our intentions for a bow.

In fact, there are ways radiused bows distribute stresses better than flat bows.

Some of MY main goals when making a bow is to also make it as pleasing to the senses of sight and touch as possible. To make it durable and impervious to damage and wear during years, decades, of regular shooting and hunting are others. Radiused bows better fit the bill, imo. They are also easier to work on/navigate through construction in many ways, and in some instances... considerably more-so... from simply shaping and tillering the fades, glue joint integrity, to shaping and tillering the most character laden pieces you'll see. Radiused cross sections help facilitate.

Two things I've done with consistency since I started making bows is to push their limits, and since I can't stand flat flatbows, is to make them radiused. I've learned about tradeoffs along the way... and to coordinate the degree of radius with the wood type, wood quality, width, working length of limb, draw length, side profile, all of it. All such design considerations are relevant, and at least as important to stress distribution as the limb cross section.

Durnell, you got more hot air than a hot air balloon circus.

All that jibber gabber and ya didn't say squat, other than your personal preferences.

Prove that a radius belly is better than a flat belly bow.

Run tests through chronographs, conduct penetration tests.

Accuracy tests, long term durability tests.

I'll be waiting for your documented results.

I don't want to argue about this but here is a flat belly and flat back pyramid selfbow that I built. Durable ,I am confident in. Not sure about how it exactly applies to subject but it holds a 50# broadhead record. Yes it is easier to tiller when shaving off the edges and round the belly when taking off the last few pounds to hit a weight especially with humps and bumps on the back. Is this a good bow well of course. May take a bit more set but a good shooting bow . Just my experience . I am not a scientist! Arvin

Thank you RC, I was trying tho think of a diplomatic way of saying what you said and it completely eluded me.

Crowned bellies can hide set, in other words if the bow had some compressive damage at the crown it might not show up because the thicker limb tends more to pull it back into shape but the performance will still suffer.

I respect a lot of people on here who I occasionally tell them they are full of it and some of my good friends sometimes tell me I am full of it. The trick is not to take things personal.

I'm past offering test results and observations. Lots of folks would rather just stick with their opinions and confirmation bias. I'll just keep them happy, except to say I have no trouble making flat-bellied limbs with hand tools.

It's all in fun, Jeff just happens to be my mentor in bow building. Been to his shop many a time making bows.

It depends on the wood or wood/plant combo and it depends on the design. Its one of those things you cant really have an opinion on until you've made a few hundred various styles from a dozen various materials. After you've done that you start seeing things surface and you also notice reoccurrences. Mine are all radiused to varying degrees because flat is ugly to my eyes, again depending on the wood or wood/plant combo. The whiter the wood the flatter the belly will be. The wider the bow the flatter the belly will be, the more narrow the bow the more radiused the belly will be. Is one better than the other? At certain times for certain bows, yes.

Morning Chris..

Morning Roybert :)

I was just thinking about this the other day when looking over some self bows. This is just another reason what makes stickbow such an awesome site. I can ask the guys that have true experience in this. Thank you everyone for your input.

For the record, I do a slight radius on all of my BBO and trilam bows with an Osage belly.

LOL. All I said was hand tools are more efficient if they are worked on rounded or slightly rounded bellies. You have to work at getting the belly flat and even then....

Just think about it...with friction in mind.

I've noted that even when I thought the belly of the bow was flat it was very slightly, and almost imperceptibly rounded.

Of course, what we do is personal preference. :)

"...I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that." (Rick in Casablanca)

Jawge

Latest trilam with radius belly.

I was into flat belly when I was young but it has been curved for many years now.

The Shinto rasp is the ticket to a perfectly flat belly and/or mating surface for glue ups. I couldn't do bow work anymore without one.

The Vixen type file/rasps are also good tools to make flat bellies.

Pearly, Yer such a wussy..:)

Real men use a farriers rasp:)

The main reason I use a very slight crown on my belly is because when I get to final tillering I like to use a scraper. I only need to scrape down the center of the limb where the crown is. It will usually wind up almost flat by the time I am done.

From a board or a stave?

IMO, flat bellys work with boards and other flat-backed staves with their consistent edge thickness, but I sure haven't figured out how to make a flat belly on a tree-stave that isn't really just a series of hinges and stiff spots. Haven't seen one either.

From the gnarliest of staves, I can make perfectly tillered bows with perfectly smooth bellies (no hinges!) using Torges' method of crowning the belly a bit. I have no idea how someone can do it with a flat belly on a crooked stave- I know I can't.

Oh I see, elderly oc. Jawge

Buz, I don't know why that would make a difference?

Ttt

I like a pretty much flat belly unless the back has concave as it is on a lot of Osage, then I more round the belly for the same reason Badges said. Pappy

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