As it turned out, this was one of the easiest things I’ve tinkered with and thought some of you might find this little journey interesting—or not. I ended up with an outstanding recurve and thought some of you might like to follow along on the conversion.

mshockey, over on TradTalk had this LH Pearson XE Classic compound riser listed in the classifieds for a Warf project. Well… I kept an eye on it and thought, what the heck… It’ll make for a nice project for winter. As it turned out, he ended up gifting me the riser—thanks Marc.

I get the riser, take a few measurements and decided to make this a bolt-down T/D Frankenbow using ILF limbs and attach them like the Hoyt Dorado and GameMaster II series of bows.

I need to add alignment pins to the riser so I’ll need to take some measurements and convert a set of ILF limbs. First things first; I remove the cap screw and take out the spring and pin.

Got my eyes on this thread!

Now I need to press out the ILF fitting so it’s off to the vice. A 3/8” bolt and a block of wood with a 1” hole in the middle should do the trick (a socket would work as well to catch the fitting).

Next I need to make a set of “Dorado/GameMaster” bushings to fit over the alignment pin that I need to install. So… a 3/8” OD by ¼” ID copper water supply line should do the trick. I need to cut it about ¼” long; just enough to fit well over the pin and press them in to the limbs. Once they’re in, I'll push in a 3/8” plastic hole plug to finish them off.

Now I need to press in the new “Dorado/GameMaster” bushings in to the limbs so it’s back to the vice.

… and the limbs are now converted from ILF to fit a Hoyt Dorado or GameMaster riser and hopefully my new Frankenbow.

Now I need two ¼” alignment pins to fit my new bushings. I look in my cans and find a ¼” bolt with a long shank. I break out the hacksaw and cut two pieces off about 1/2" long and voila’, I have two alignment pins.

Now I need collars for the limb bolts. Off the local hardware for a piece of 7/16” OD by 5/16” ID (or there about) tubing for the U- notch in the ILF limbs. I need to cut it the same length as the depth of the limbs butts.

Neat project.....those are my favorite conversions.

Now it’s time to install those alignment pins.

I pushed the limb up against the collar, center the limbs in the pocket and mark the distance for the alignment pin.

I take some more measurements (just to be sure), get out the drill and some bits. I start by making a pilot hole with a tiny bit. Three bits later I had a ¼” hole ½” deep in pocket on each end. I then simply tapped in the pins. Wow… that was easy.

Job well done. Now if you can put that handle on the other side you are in business :)

nice, but if you need harden pins, you can get them at a hardware store and grind to fit for length. You should be set for a lot of enjoyment. very cool of course

Cool! Good to see the Frankenberg conversions are still going on…:)

Cool! Good to see the Frankenberg conversions are still going on…:)

Cool! Good to see the Frankenberg conversions are still going on…:)

After removing that cable guard receiver it looks like I can string this thing up and see what it looks like.

Measuring from center of limb bolt to center of limb bolt I have 18 ½”. Adding 5” to that means this riser is 23 ½” long. So… with medium limbs I’ve got a 66 and 1/2" bow. 13% of that length is 8.7” so that’s what I need for a starting brace height. I grabbed a 66” Flemish string, untwisted it a bit and strung the thing up, set the starting brace height, checked the tiller and was thrilled to find it 7 3/8” on each end--GREAT!

Not bad... not bad at all.

:^)

For ILF limbs, I put these charts together some time back. Some folks find them useful as a quick reference for lengths, projected weights, etc.

Now it’s time to begin the finish work.

The riser had a lot of chips so it’s time for sanding those out with some course paper, followed by filling the voids with Bondo.

After rough sanding and filling the cable guard receiver hole with Bondo, I think I’ll fill the limb pockets too. First I fill the voids in the bottom of the pockets with Bondo. Once it’s set and sanded, I attach the limbs and build walls for the sides.

I used tongue depressors attached to the side of the limbs with double-sided carpet tape. I filed those voids with Bondo and let it dry.

Here’s the before and after filling of the limb pockets:

Now it’s time to do the finish sanding. After cleaning with lacquer thinner, a couple coats of primer, a couple coats of OD green paint, a little black over spray and three coats of urethane and here's what the riser looks like.

... and the finished bow.

Here's a little better picture of the limb pockets before/after.

Very nice.

Nice !

Rick

Made yourself a very nice bow. Excellent job. >>>----> Ken

well done Sir, a bow to be proud of

Looks great.

Nice work! You made it look easy.

Wow, well done!

FANTASTIC! Join the F/S club and let us see how it shoots? You can be very PROUD of that finished RESULT!

Very nice Jimmy. I am impressed

Very nice

Very nice work and workmanship

"Nice work! You made it look easy."

Phil,

You can't believe how easy it was on the Pearson. I've since done another that was a bit tricky. It was a Barnett Banshee riser. It had deep limb pockets and floating limbs bolts.

The good thing about both these is the limbs weigh within a pound or two of what they're marked on a 25" riser.

I saw on another post that you were thinking about using a BB Warf because it does all that you need. Have you moved away from modern ILF bows to warfs and frankenbows?

I've owned a couple of warfs, never had a frankenbow but it's hard to justify spending several hundred dollars for a bow that doesn't shoot any better, and maybe not as good, as one inexpensive as a frankenbow or warf.

big mistake JIM; nice job, NOW we're all sending you all our risers to rig for us.

Not moving away except for my hunting bow, Phil. That Black Bear can do all I need.

I'll hang on to those others for 3D, etc.

I can say, the BB, Pearson and Banshee shoot and balance as well as any of the "modern" bows I've owned

The Pro-Line/Sage conversion that I posted on the Frankenbow thread is the third one I’ve done, I think. An XI Indian, a Browning and the Pro-Line. Had less than $100 in each of them and frankly astonished by how well they shoot.

Question on drilling the holes for the pins. I think they need to be at a 90 degree angle to the pocket, so did you find level and clamp riser in place? Or is there enough wiggle room to just eye ball it? Looks like a great idea and I intend to try it. Thanks Charley

This is one of my favorite conversions. I did my first one in 2008, and have done a number of them since that time.

I've done them by adding the index pin (I typically use a cap screw in the bottom of the limb pocket for that purpose), as well as by drilling and tapping a hole in the sides of the limb pockets to accept cap screws for vertical alignment.

charley wrote: "Question on drilling the holes for the pins. I think they need to be at a 90 degree angle to the pocket, so did you find level and clamp riser in place? Or is there enough wiggle room to just eye ball it? Looks like a great idea and I intend to try it. Thanks Charley"

I "thought" there was enough wiggle room to eye ball the drilling. Figuring if I messed up, I'd just drill another larger hole, fill it with Bondo and drill again. There's no pressure at all on the alignment pin. It's only there to hold the limbs in place until the bow is strung.

I'm sure it would be best to clamp the riser down and use a drill press--I just didn't think it was needed.

Frank,

I can see why this is one of your favoite conversion. I'ts so easy and you have so many options in limbs.

The more I look at this the more I think that I may have to give this a try this summer.

I'm impressed Jimmy, looks like it turned out good!

Oh... and one more thing.

If you can't find tubing to work for the collars for the 5/16" limb bolts, a 2315 arrow shaft will work just fine.

Just curious but why not just make it a warf conversion with the ILF detent fittings by machining the riser or using an adapter plate? Why a locator pin vs the ILF bushing?

ILF vs Bolt down

$10.00 vs $50.00 to $75.00

Done that vs Never did this

I couldn't do that myself vs this is so easy anyone can do it

Didn't want to vs Wanted to

Great job

I failed to let you know my first measurement for the pins.

I simply put some tape over the limb, slip them under the limb bolt and tighten it down. I align them best I can with my dial caliper and eyes and give the hole a shot of paint. That will give a template in the limb pocket where to drill the holes for the alignment pins.

Nice project thanks for sharing,turned out nice well done.

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