Some PVC archery fun!

[Dannytsg]

I have spent most of the weekend shooting and fine tuning my new 55# compound bow. Whilst doing so my you daughter wanted to get in on the action and I for one am very keen to start her off learning now.

I have purchased her a youth recurve bow, however it is yet to come with glorious Royal Mail. This weekend I set about boding and making something for her to has some fun with in the garden.

A quick search of my man cave resulted in finding some paracord and PVC pipe left over from an allotment irrigation project. Ideal stuff to set too making some archery items.

First on the list was something for my daughter. I opted for a piece of 3/4" pipe and cut it to 4ft in length. After cutting knocks at each end I felt it wasn't right and decided that a crossbow was more the order of the hour. Another half an hours time, some cable ties, and 1 1/4" pipe later and we had a Crossbow that worked!

https://vimeo.com/132660877
Draw weight on this is a tad over 10lbs and it's a simple design. She loves it.

Having some 1 1/4" PVC left over I decided to throw together a quick recurve/longbow for some low power fun shooting for me. I cut the pipe into a 5 foot length, notched the ends and then added a paracord bowstring which was measured 4" shorter than the length of the bow. Once strung I reinforced the handled, wrapped it with tape and added a small wire arrow rest. Draws 25lbs and shoots nicely.

https://vimeo.com/132661103

So all in all a productive and fun weekend for us all. Well worth trying for some fun and for anyone interested in more complex techniques and PVC bow building search for Backyard Bowyer in YouTube.

 

[Madriverrob]

Like the idea , good example of urban bushcraft ! Could save your life come the zombie apocalypse ��

 

[bambodoggy]

Brilliant, looks like lots of fun. I got my 6 year old a child's recurve for christmas but at 15lbs it's still a bit of a struggle for him to draw properly.....might have to make him a PVC bow in the meantime

Cheers

 

[Dannytsg]

Brilliant, looks like lots of fun. I got my 6 year old a child's recurve for christmas but at 15lbs it's still a bit of a struggle for him to draw properly.....might have to make him a PVC bow in the meantime

Cheers

No problem. The PVC pipe works well as its got a minimal elasticity that does reduce over time. You can bolster the power of these bows by adding an inner core of fibreglass poles but that's for another day

 

[bearbait]

You may like to check out BackyardBowyer's channel on YouTube. He's done a lot with PVC bows.

 

[Dannytsg]

You may like to check out BackyardBowyer's channel on YouTube. He's done a lot with PVC bows.

He does amazing things with PVC for bows. Well worth a look for anyone interested

 

[badoosh]

Brilliant watched the backyard bowyer a few times amazing stuff but looks like a lot of work.
Yours looks more simplified,which is ideal.
Q: were did you get the pipe from,only the stuf the Byb uses is quite expensive over here and me being careful(tight) .
Cheers

 

[Dannytsg]

Brilliant watched the backyard bowyer a few times amazing stuff but looks like a lot of work.
Yours looks more simplified,which is ideal.
Q: were did you get the pipe from,only the stuf the Byb uses is quite expensive over here and me being careful(tight) .
Cheers

I used standard floplast PVC pipe for the bows. For the crossbow you will see I reinforced the center with an outer skin of 3/4" pvc which was slotted to fit.

For the recurve bow I took some 1 1/4" pvc about 8 inches long, cut a slot about 1/8" wide along its length and pushed this into the 1 1/4" pipe until it was in the center. This reinforced the handle section for the inside to stop the pipe creasing and then the outside was wrapped with tape. This added stiffness prolongs the life of the PVC.

The only difference between schedule 40 and normal floplast is the wall thickness of floplast is thinner than schedule 40 as its rated to less pressure.

 

[badoosh]

Cheers Dan,be keeping my eye out for pipe now. Think this is my new project.
Draw weights pretty good do plenty of damage in ****
Take it the paracord works fine?
Cheers

 

[Dannytsg]

Cheers Dan,be keeping my eye out for pipe now. Think this is my new project.
Draw weights pretty good do plenty of damage in ****
Take it the paracord works fine?
Cheers

The paracord works well. Over time it will start to stretch slightly but nothing that will effect the bow I any major way.

 

[mrcharly]

For the recurve bow I took some 1 1/4" pvc about 8 inches long, cut a slot about 1/8" wide along its length and pushed this into the 1 1/4" pipe until it was in the center. This reinforced the handle section for the inside to stop the pipe creasing and then the outside was wrapped with tape. This added stiffness prolongs the life of the PVC.

Great stuff - but - that ain't a recurve.