# asymmetrical bows? what?s up with that ?



## GPW (May 12, 2012)

*asymmetrical bows? what’s up with that ?*

Guys , a while back , we stumbled across an article in an old issue of Primitive Archer. It was about Hidatsa Indian bows . Being curious about this , I quickly bent up a 60” PVC quickee' bow to try it out ... And this thing is amazing !!!... shoots fast, flat arrow flight, and no perceptible (annoying) hand shock , arrow pass is 4” below bow center, handle below that ... not as “extreme “ as a 7’ Yumi bow . Another curious thing , although the brace height is only 5” , the string doesn’t slap my wrist ... very strange !!! Wish I had a wood/fiberglass one ... just for testing purposes of course... and maybe a little hunting ... bet it would be a real “shooter” ... 

Any of you guys ever try an asymmetrical bow , know anything about these ? Seems to be very little info on them except the Japanese ... and that’s more “ritual” than my idea of fun . Any information would be much appreciated , before I start harvesting trees...


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

No ideas huh ? I just got booted off PA for asking about this and not being “all natural” ... “primitives” ... W T ...? :BangHead:


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## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

Why? Because of the PVC and fiberglass mention? That's a shame 

I've never made them, but I would think that there might be a vibration point in the bow, like finding a good spot for silencers on a bow string. All that wiggling back and forth, there has to be some point where if you hold it and apply a different degree of leverage, it will help make those vibrations cancel out to a degree. At least, I would think so?


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## ArcherFletch (Jul 8, 2012)

Subscribed... I don't know why it is but I have heard that in the case of the yumi bows it helps allow longer draw lengths? The first time I saw them I thought it looked really dumb but it has been growing on me.


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## Razith (Mar 24, 2013)

The asymmetrical design was also to help shoot from horseback I believe. I know with the samurai, your bow and naginata were pretty much your primary weapons in battle, so being able to use them both from horseback had a great advantage. I've shot a few yumi, and they do certainly take some getting use to.


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

The test one I made (PVC) is only 60” , so no horse required .... Shoots like a normal bow... but feels Good , shoots straight... this is the Hidatsa Indian version... not like the Japanese at all ... 

Kegan , apparently the mere mention of anything unnatural gives someone there the "red arse”, and I got reported ... but it’s funny how they never object to B-50 and artificial sinew.  .. Primitive pretenders !!!

It was mentioned the bow was fine tuned by adjusting the hand placement , so your spot on about that ... I just lucked out and got it right and it has no apparent hand shock that you’d notice ... Sweet !!!


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## Todd the archer (Feb 7, 2003)

I think some of the hungarian bows were made asymmetrical as well. Reported to shoot better as well. Think I read it on Kassai web site.

Todd


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## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

Vibration accounts for some of the biggest loss of delivered energy, so I would suspect finding that perfect spot to "balance" the bow/tiller by hand placement would be an easy way to achieve better vibration efficiency?


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Maybe that’s why it seems to shoot so fast and smooth .. I dunno’ ...

Got my eye on a nice wrist dia. Privet tree tree in the backyard ... the only Straight one ... Going to “Harvest" (hack it down) it and tie it to a board with the spacers to get the required shape , just like the indians did ... Got some nice Ash growing here (what they used ) , just MUCH Bigger ... Take one of those down and I’d have bow wood for years ...


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## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

Any branches? How long are you looking for with this bow?

According to TBB vol. 4, vibration soak up a lot of energy. If you reduce the vibration, it all has to go somewhere, and if it's not noise or hand shock, it's got to be arrow speed


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Kegan , the woods here are beset with Privet , and Many other small trees suitable for making some bows ... woods so dense they grow up pretty straight for a good height , then branch out ... so we can easily get 6’ of nice wrist size straight trunk if we want ... The big trees are always giving limbs ... mostly rotted , but sometimes the storms blow down fresh material ... which we try to save the best parts of ...
Thinking this bow should be ~ 60” just going from the PVC prototype , which shoots super ... ~40# for my old muscles. That’ll work ... or not ? 
For the Red Oak thingie’ 72” ... I’ll be making several of these bows , after all these years , it’s just something new to get excited about ...


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Just had a thought ...  Don’t have a horse , but do have a boat .... shooting from the boat (bowfishing) ... same difference eh ... sorta’ ?


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## kegan (Aug 28, 2006)

I wonder how length affects the degree of necessary offset, or if it's literally just a bow to bow sort of deal? Art Young shot his 5' ELBs with the arrow launching from the center, which makes the bow a little less symmetrical than a full 6' bow. Makes me wonder if that had anything to do with it?


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## Sanford (Jan 26, 2009)

GPW said:


> Another curious thing , although the brace height is only 5” , the string doesn’t slap my wrist ... very strange !!!


Maybe the string doesn't rebound as much closer to the ends than the middle - seems plausible in the string tension and travel at different points. Might just be one of those necessity issues that led to the innovation of off-gripping of a real long bow with a shorter brace to begin with: "hey, it doesn't hurt as bad if we grip it down here "


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## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Sanford , could be huh ? I don’t know how far this goes back , but if you take an un-tillered branch bow , you end up with an asymmetrical grip position ... and the top limb bending more ... 

Kegan , I sorta like the idea of moving your hand around to get the best shooting ... but as it goes , it was said in the article , that nocking position wasn’t critical ... I have no nock set on my test bow , just shooting what feels right , shoots Great ... I could easily mark the Paracord for the fine tuning ...more testing is indicated ... making more bows


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