# Interesting - Stainless Steel limbs/Aluminum Riser



## Beastmaster (Jan 20, 2009)

This is from a show called "Man At Arms - Reforged". In this episode, they are recreating a bow from the Hunger Games with an aluminum riser (typical) and stainless steel limbs (!!!).

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/making-the-real-life-version-of-katniss-bow-from-the-hu-1742896060


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## Last_Bastion (Dec 5, 2013)

Huh. Well, that's different


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## StarDog (Feb 17, 2007)

What kind of string do you put on a steel limbs???


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## MickeyBisco (Jul 14, 2012)

StarDog said:


> What kind of string do you put on a steel limbs???


Ernie Ball.


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## archer4224 (Nov 3, 2013)

MickeyBisco said:


> Ernie Ball.


actually chuckled


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## Mr. Roboto (Jul 13, 2012)

Don't ever have to worry about those limbs delaminating


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## Bob Furman (May 16, 2012)

It's funny you brought this to light Steve. I recall seeing a couple of steel bows in the one of the archery shop's at one time back many years ago. I recall there were actually some patents that were applied way back in the 1930-1950's era. I guess they never went anywhere. I do recall they actually had a short lifespan due to limb and riser breakage. One would imagine that with all that steel that something will give at some point


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## Warbow (Apr 18, 2006)

Bob Furman said:


> It's funny you brought this to light Steve. I recall seeing a couple of steel bows in the one of the archery shop's at one time back many years ago. I recall there were actually some patents that were applied way back in the 1930-1950's era. I guess they never went anywhere. I do recall they actually had a short lifespan due to limb and riser breakage. One would imagine that with all that steel that something will give at some point


Weren't they kind of all the rage for a while? I think there are photos of them at various NAA nationals.

Anyway, so, uhm, why did they make metal limbs? Did the actual hero prop use them? Or were they just making a bad replica? (Can't watch the video at the moment, so I don't know what it says  )


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## SS7777 (Mar 17, 2012)

Warbow said:


> Weren't they kind of all the rage for a while? I think there are photos of them at various NAA nationals.
> 
> Anyway, so, uhm, why did they make metal limbs? Did the actual hero prop use them? Or were they just making a bad replica? (Can't watch the video at the moment, so I don't know what it says  )


According to Ralph Peyne-Gallwey, eccentric dude, steel prods were popular in fifteenth through seventeenth century Europe. Although, these probably the equivalent of spring steel, and they required ellaborate means of spanning the bow, windlass and cranequins. The later, sportier models could be spanned easier, but lacked the heavier draw weights of the earlier models. For the crossbow, it must have been an improvement, as earlier prods were made of composite materials, more advanced than a typical example English longbow. I always wondered why the technology was there, in Western Europe, to make composite bows, but never pursued by the people who used them, English, Burgundians, Dutch, etc. I suppose that's off topic.

Also would be curious as to what type of benefits they would have on a proper target bow, if any.


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## sprinke (Jul 9, 2015)

Warbow said:


> Anyway, so, uhm, why did they make metal limbs? Did the actual hero prop use them? Or were they just making a bad replica? (Can't watch the video at the moment, so I don't know what it says  )


I wondered about this myself. According to this article, Jennifer Lawrence used a Hoyt Buffalo ... definitely not steel limbs.

http://www.archery360.com/2013/11/j...x7-eclipse-arrows-hunger-games-catching-fire/


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## Last_Bastion (Dec 5, 2013)

I think in the books it was a steel bow, IIRC


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## Mr. Roboto (Jul 13, 2012)

Steel is a really good material. As long as the bending stresses never exceed 50% of the ultimate strength of the steel, it can be fatigue cycled indefinitely. Unlike with aluminum and magnesium which have finite fatigue lives regardless of how heavy or light the bending and resulting vibration stresses. Titanium is an extremely poor material for vibration because it is extremely scratch sensitive. In regards to bow limbs, to size them in such a way that a person can actually draw the bow by weight and draw length without exceeding the bending stresses and resulting stresses from the dynamic shock/vibration of the shot. I am quite sure that limbs have been and can still be designed and manufactured that will last forever even on an ILF riser. But then comes the efficiency of the limbs. We want faster arrows for the same stored energy in the limbs (a function of draw weight and draw length), this is where the mass of the limbs comes into play. The heavier the limbs by mass means that the arrow will launch as a lower velocity than lighter limbs for the same stored energy. That alone makes steel an undesirable material for limbs.


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## caspian (Jan 13, 2009)

Mr. Roboto said:


> Don't ever have to worry about those limbs delaminating


I would expect the archer to be in danger of delamination if they attempted to shoot the thing.


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## ShooterPhill (Feb 23, 2015)

Last_Bastion said:


> Huh. Well, that's different


yah, pretty much....


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## MartinOttosson (May 31, 2011)

I tried a few shots with a swedish steel bow once. The recoil was insane. I needed a week to heal my bow arm after three arrows 
The swedish made steel bows where commonly used in competitions in the 1950:s or something like that. 

http://c0728562.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/MI25213_HR.jpg


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## Darryl Longbow (Apr 11, 2003)

Look up sea fab bows, they were quite popular at one time. Dr Elmer in his book "Target Archery" talks about them quite a lot, I think he even won a target nationals with one. The strings were wire with a very built up serving.They were subject to breakage all at once and eventually fell out of favor. The sea fab was made in Sweden.


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## theminoritydude (Feb 11, 2013)

Mr. Roboto said:


> Titanium is an extremely poor material for vibration because it is extremely scratch sensitive.


Please elaborate. I'm trying to adapt Titanium for use in an equipment.


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## Shoot_first (Oct 1, 2015)

Mr. Roboto said:


> Titanium is an extremely poor material for vibration because it is extremely scratch sensitive.
> 
> .............................I'm trying to adapt Titanium for use in an equipment


+1 for, Huh????

Titanium is actually fairly good for vibration in that it dampens rapidly and mainly only propagates higher frequencies. A lot of course depends on what the alloy composition is.
In archery I can't see any good potential application for it's properties. Though light, it has too much elasticity for a Riser, but weight and corrosion resistance would make it a good candidate for Riser Hardware. There is really no other application that needs the strength/weight properties it has.......none that Alum. and SS can't fill at a fraction of the cost


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## Shoot_first (Oct 1, 2015)

Mr. Roboto said:


> Titanium is an extremely poor material for vibration because it is extremely scratch sensitive.
> 
> .............................I'm trying to adapt Titanium for use in an equipment


+1 for, Huh????

Titanium is actually fairly good for vibration in that it dampens rapidly and mainly only propagates higher frequencies. A lot of course depends on what the alloy composition is.
In archery I can't see any good potential application for it's properties. Though light, it has too much elasticity for a Riser, but weight and corrosion resistance would make it a good candidate for Riser Hardware. There is really no other application that needs the strength/weight properties it has.......none that Alum. and SS can't fill at a fraction of the cost


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## Mr. Roboto (Jul 13, 2012)

Titanium is extremely sensitive to crack initiation. Fatigue life is adversely by orders of magnitude for scratches that are only a few thousands of an inch deep. I spent several years conducting residual compressive stress testing to improve the fatigue life of titanium alloys. With deep enough residual compressive stresses, the material is fine, but most people don't know about it.


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## theminoritydude (Feb 11, 2013)

Thanks Roboto


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