I am 71years young and starting building bows in 1999 . I am still learning and loving bow building! For such a young man as yourself I am proud of all your accomplishments and I have learned a lot from you and your work! And enjoying some of your antics too! Keep up the great work! 😊
Kramer! I have just stumbled on to your channel at 4:33 am on a sleepless night. I am an Avid Traditional Archer, 65 yrs young and am delighted to see a young man so enlightened! Take some advice PLEASE from an old fart and PLEASE USE SOME EYE PROTECTION WHEN TESTING A QUESTIONABLE BOW!!!!! I would hate to see such a bright young person as yourself injure an eye when it can be so preventable. Keep up the good work and look forward to more from you. If you ever make it to an Iowa Traditional Bowhunters Society or Nebraska Traditional Archers event I hope to meet and shoot with you.
Watching youtube videos has made me wanting to be blacksmith, prepper, outdoorsman, living out of the nature. And now also bowmaker. You got me hooked and subscribing to your channel with your enthusianism about making bows and testing unordinary things in process.
Duct tape has a bio reactive glue. Over time it will practically fuse the fibre to the wood. This is also the reason why you should never use duct tape to restrict people. After as few as 2 hours it has basically fused with the top layer of skin.
I sure hope this guy gets more subs, he's so genuine and his excitement about his craft is infectious. I've never even drawn a bow but he's got me considering trying to make one lol
I made my first flat bow when I was a teenager, probably 2010 or so. I had to mess up like 10 hand made staves before I got one to work, but it was for sure a pain in the ass, but the satisfaction of making a bow, making your arrows, fletching and then taking an animals with it is unlike anything else.
you should you can make them out of anything really, theirs some great pvc pipe ones ext that take almost no tools, you can do it over a boiling jug if you have nothing else, then you can make a better one and a better one lol
Hey Kramer! I have to say, your channel during this pandemic has actually gotten me properly into archery. I just ordered my first bow yesterday and am looking into getting the equipment needed to make my own bows. I've always enjoyed archery but never actually bothered to purchase my own bow before. Just used rentals, so I'm excited to properly break in my new bow. As for this video in particular, I'm not surprised that duct tape makes for a good backing on a bow. Duct tape is amazing when dealing with tensile forces and when heated it's adhesive melts a bit. This causes it to seep into the pores of material below it so that when it cools back down the seal is practically cemented in place. Duct tape is only really weak to shearing force which when you were trying to stretch it out your finger kinked it causing the force to change from tensile to shearing. Which is why it tore right where your hand was.
I used your duct tape backing technique as a last ditch effort to save a recurve bow that I bought at a thrift store. The bow had a finger joint in the center that kept failing... until I put about 5 layers of duct tape and built up the handle. Now it works great!
When you were getting to about 33"" I was begging you to stop. I felt the bow deserved to live. But I appreciate your heavy testing there was a lot to learn from that.
"And remember Stay positive" is exactly what i needed to hear in my life right now!. Thank you for making these videos. I will be working on my first bow SOON! And when my son is a couple years older we will make one together.
I'm honestly not surprised it held up. Duct tape is essentially a self-adhering fiberglass and contact cement mixture. The fact that you did 3 layers and then heat fused it caused a few things to happen, you caused the wood to expand, allowing the glue to better penetrate the material, the glue also was able to leech through the other layers and grip onto the previous layers fibers essentially tripling the fiber density and hold.
"You can fix your bow in the woods, with just duct tape. And acetone. And a heat gun." Cool channel, I can almost feel my wife rolling her eyes as I explain why we need to go to Lowes.
thank you! I have a long bow that cracked by the handle area. used t-rex duct tape to make a handle (covering the crack) and a long strip to back the bow. t-rex tape it thick and super sticky. Saved my bow! Thanks!
Im sure if one was in the forest with a cracked limb,one could use a fire to melt the tape to stick to the back of the bow. Also one could wash the bow with water then heat it with fire slightly to clean the back before putting duck tape on the back. Keep up your happy work man!! Good luck🙂🙂
I agree it's worked amazing, for the temporary fix. I suspect, that the duct tape ages poorly. I believe as it ages the fibers become more brittle, less flexible, and the glue powders... I wonder how yours holds up, as is, vs with an outer sealant....
I don't know if you can buy this normally, but, in the aerospace world they use a kind of carbon fiber strip tape that hardens when heated for composite materials. It's what you use to make carbon fiber panels n such'. It makes a very durable material if you alternate the grain patterns and fire it. Might make a good bow backing? *(source: me, I used it in Uni before I switched degrees.)*
I've seen quite a few builds using fiberglass tape, but I haven't seen any using high tensil filament tape. You can easily find filament tapes with tensil strength well over 100lbs, I've seen some as high as 600lbs. I wonder how they would work as a backing...
Ive though about this soo many times. Even on a Bad splinter, you could pull the fiber from the tape and wrap it around the limb first. Then the backing of another few layers and bam. I love this vid!
I have a self bow of solid fiberglass built in the early 70's that I picked up at a flea market about 14 years ago. About 3 or 4 years ago a fiberglass splinter lifted in the back of it. I put a band of duct tape around it about 3 layers thick (may have been 4 I really don't remember) and it has held up very well. Now as to how to make it look good? That's easy! They make duct tape in tons of colors and patterns now-a-days! Duct tape, by the way, also makes a very effective "2 feather" fletching for arrows! I have several arrows that have lost fletchings after multiple "shoot throughs" that I replaced in the field with duct tape, and still shoot great! You can make a "3 feather" fletching with duct tape it just takes a bit longer and makes the fletching heavier.
For those of you who don’t know when a bow breaks especially a traditional wood bow hurts a lot in fact I’ve actually broken my hand from a 90lbs longbow I used to have all the built up energy went right into my handle, my hands fine know though I still shoot my bows I’m a little cautious now though lol
just a quick wonder, three layers of duck tape would the glue between each layer act as a shock absober providing additional elasticity between the layers. Love the videos
Only recently found this channel... Its great, you keep it simple and thinking outside of the box with material is great. Cant wait to see more "WILL IT BOW" As for materials to use, how about recycling some old gardening tool handles (rakes, picks, etc) there usually made from a good hard wood and you will need to finger joint them or something. And maybe some thing like denim, glued on as the backing material? Agree with some of the others, some basic safety gear in the workshop would be good. Safety glasses at a minimum when testing the bows. Keep up the good work...
Try using paracord as a bow backing. I imagine you could glue it on like you would with sinew, but paracord is so elastic you'd likely need it under some tension while gluing. Also, try medical gauze as a backing. I've often used resin with medical gauze in place of fiberglass for my own projects, though I've never tried it on a bow.
I've found that layered duct tape can make an extremely tough material, I'd say way tougher than leather of the same thickness. You should make a lighter board bow and bend it towards the back and than layer duct tape on it, before stringing it normally, kind of how they used to make composite bows back in the day. It would be interesting to see how it effects the draw weight. Do it for science! :D And seriously, how have I not known about your channel yet?! Damn bullshit ass UA-cam algorithm!.. Also, you should grab some safety glasses for a $1 at Harbor Freight - a shattered bow limb to the forehead is just another beauty mark, but one to the eye can end up pretty badly.
Having made Stab-proof body armour that a Mate of mine then, while I was wearing it, hit with a wooden sword? I agree, Duck tape is fucking _something else._
Mythbusters actually tested duct tape for how much weight it could hold. It was something like 60 lbs before a single strip snapped. In hindsight, this result makes perfect sense.
If I'm not mistaken, Duct Tape gets kinda brittle after a while, so even though it may be great to salvage a bow to extend it's lifespan a few Months, I'm not sure how long it will actually hold up
Layered duct tape is probably stronger than suede or other low density leather products that lack the grain of the same thickness, but a dense full grain section of leather such as the sole bends is way stronger than an equivalent thickness of duct tape laminate.
I do windsurfing, you can go up to +50km/h with the force of the wind pushing the sail, if your 7mt tall sail breaks, you can use duck tape to repair it, my sail have 2 patches of duck tape, they are there since 2017, and they hold up very nicely. We are speaking about a lot of force and salty water riping of material for years, duck tape is NNNNice.
My dear friend, I tell you friend because I really liked what I saw in this video. I put on the back of my bows , linen cloth or animal tendon, but at the duck tape I never thought !!! The way you showed is a brilliant idea !!! I subscribed to your channel and congratulate you !!!
This video has an underrated structural engineering grade analysis of the forces involved in his cantilever system (his bow in this case). It would have been an A+ conceptual answer on my engineering quizzes.
Great idea...but....I would have put it on the tillering rack and drawn it back just enough to open the crack, without it breaking, and squeezed some epoxy into the crack and then released the tension (and remove the string) then let it set up. Then put a full length fibreglass backing on it (or one your several other good, suggested materials). I'm sure it would be better than duct tape as a "permanent" repair. Its really amazing stuff and works great in a TON of uses but duct tape over time, tends to start to "lift" on the edges, due to the fact that it's not a "hard" type of adhesve and a loose "woven cloth" substrate...and over time the adhesive will tend to squeeze out and will get sticky around the grip from hand abrasion. Its great stuff and though it IS a "long term" repair, it's still only a "temporary" fix...but still a great idea, without a doubt!!! I'm sure you must have already known all this. Just making an observation and maybe some advice, if not. Kudos for thinking "outside the box"👍I really like your channel! You really bring great energy! I like that! It makes it interesting and entertaining to watch! Thanks!! 🎉
Would you recommend switching out the glasfiber tape for duct tape when making one of those low-cost bows? I got the idea that it would eliminate one of the "24 hours" making moments that the glasfiber and woodglue needed. Love your videos!!
There were Native American tribes that would use deer sinyew under rattlesnake skin in the same way on their bows. It would increase the life of the bow and if done right could increase the range a little.
loving you builds, I've only tried to build one bow so far. It was built from a yew board with no sap wood so I backed it with what I thought might be ash, and a backing of hockey tape and try bond ( perhaps I should have heat gunned it to) It was 60 inches ( cause that is how long the board was. ) I got to aggressive in the tillering and blew both limbs off of it before I ever got it to full draw ( it was close but I shouldn't have pulled to full draw.) Anyway I've gotten another build out of it, making two limbs and a riser. I'm not quite ready to start actually start the build past the glue up stage,,,, actually I've chickened out at the point I'm at but your vids are helping me sum up the courage to try again. Keep them coming
Heh, I'd been looking at making a carriage /bow myself but it never occured to me to recycle old skis. I shall probably watch and see if he does one before I try myself though!
@@raphaelbeinhauer9242 Takedown I've seen but the classic carriage bow was only in two pieces, the handle was a socket on the lower limb. I've not seen that yet and would enjoy some pointers.
Kramer, a question...Where can one find design plans for a deflex reflex longbow with measurements for free? Ducktape...Who would have thought? Goes to show.
Awesome video. Adam and Jamie from the Mythbusters would be proud! Jeff Krug fixed a split using electrical tape! It still holds and that was two years ago.
I wasn't so surprised to see duct tape work, it's a stretchy canvas with a moderate adhesive on it. But I'm very surprised to see it work THAT well. Now I'm curious to see how well the non adhesive side would work for finger tabs. Keep up the great work!
When you stretched the duct tape, u must of ripped it, because its almost impossible for human strength to stretch duct tape till its fail point, duct tapes tensil strength is like 3k psi
Yeah I was gonna say, one end of his hand managed to tear into it crossways. If you put this on some sort of clamp system with a grip to let you pull it perfectly evenly, I'm pretty much positive it'd be impossible to actually pull this apart.
Duct tape, any cloth/scrim-backed tape would work. It's basically no different than a thin fabric glued to the bow. Heating it probably helped for exactly the reasons you mentioned
That's awesome, do you think adding several layers of duct tape on the back of a pvc bow would somehow make it stronger? Or perhaps wrapping it entirely? Thanks, great video!
Amazing test. I wish you have posted how it changed the speed of the bow. Also, would you wrap this bow in string to hide and secure the tape. Many "traditional" asian bows come with fiberglass wrapped in cow hide.
The bow is also pulling every inch of the duct tape the same.... almost. Same concept as the original wood. When you pulled the duct tape, you made a single point of weakness. You could do the same with the wood of the bow. Once you pull it all with the same force, end to end, it becomes strong. Which allows the box to last as long as it does.... if all that makes sense. Anyways, the duct tape is stronger than you needed it to be to fix the bow. I’m surprised that anyone’s surprised it worked. It’s simple physics. I just suck at explaining lmfao
Wow this bow limbs performed and bent so well. This bow would have been a great horn and sinew composite bow. The way the limbs was bending shows it would be amazing with horn as a belly and sinew as backing.
Awesome video. I'd recommend some safety glasses when you drew the bow back so far. You never know what could happen. Be safe and keep making awesome videos.
Honestly I was worried about his face, head, and back. Had that given it could have easily sling shotted around and literally stabbed him in the back with the splintered ends. But thankfully it didn't. I had that happen with a fiberglass bow that broke so I shortened the arms and worked great in tests. In full draw however the upper arm slid from the handle and did what I described. Thankfully it wasn't "very powerful" and was blunt.The scariest thing that ever happened to me is when my 20+ year old, 35 pound Shakespeare recurve delaminated while I was stringing it. I'm glad it happened at that point because if it had given it would have shreaded my hand (each layer of wood in the center of the bow between the belly and back turned to splinters right in the center of the grip). The trick is to try to "fail safely" because failures will happen.
So hey, recently i watched a video where someone (Tod's workshop, excellent channel) made a crossbow out of essentially the worst wood he had lying around, so scrap wood. He said it wad from a garden box. He used that and a bunjee cord for the draw string. And i was wondering, could this perhaps, also be done for a bow? You could make an episode in this series out of it. But of course only if you want to. :D (Merely a suggestion.)
I am not that surprised to be honest. Duct tape is made of 3 components: a rubber based adhesive, a thin cloth (that is where the little strings come from when you rip it; this can be cotton, polyester, nylon, rayon or fiber glass), and a polyethylene backing (which also makes it water proof). By itself, each one of those sounds like a decent option for backing (performance dunno, but at least in terms of not breaking), but together they enhance each other beyond the sum of the parts. That is why the thing is so strong and versatile. Speaking of rubber... what about a bow using an old tire for the back?
I know this video is several years old, but holy cow!!! I just finished my first successful bow. A hickory board bow. It's my third attempt. I just don't trust the first two... however... they might just need 3 layers of heated duct tape and revisiting. This WILL happen. To quote Sarge, from Red vs Blue, "It's for science!" 😁😁😁
@@nittayoshifumi8252 Yes. The kind used for taping cardboard boxes for shipping. It's used a lot for adding strength to styrofoam wings. Not so good for compression loads, but works well under tension.
That was crazy. After a while I hoped you would stop and not break the bow, as you now obviously have a very good bow Duck tape, works against/for everything. Great video.
I'm on my second attempt at making a bow and all i have for the backing is duck tape... was gonna leave the backing but will give it a shot now... great video man
Having just put a box cutter into my forearm a few weeks ago, I was really nervous just before 5min when you were "talking with your hands" and that knife was just waving around
The other thing I was going to ask you about it is if you have ever tried a tin (oil/wax treated denim) backing? There are plenty of videos on making tin pants. The advantage is it's tough, waterproof, flame retardant and somewhat cheap.
I once had a front quarter pannel of my car destroyed by a deer. All I had to fix it was a roll of grey digital camo duct tape, and a smaller roll of standard grey. So I used both and made a pannel. Drove my car like that for a couple weeks while I svaed money and looked for a new pannel. When I removed it the duct tape had "cured" and harden.
I used multiple layers of duck tape on my snowblower chute a few years ago. it lasted for 2 years. through snow and large chunks of ice striking it repeatedly. I've seen the Mythbusters do everything with duck tape from repairing heavily damaged cars to making a flyable aircraft. I knew your bow wasn't going to be destroyed. you've just extended the life of it. and with duck tape. it's infinitely repairable.
Have you ever done a takedown bow? I tried doing one with some old Cross Country Skis. Unfortunately one had a long gouge in it that I did not see so one of the limbs hinged pretty bad. (first attempt at a self made bow)
decades ago they would a shaved down the back of it then put a sinew backing on it. called it a day, now people put duct tape on it... crazy times... I think the shave and sinew would last much longer however.
Gorilla tape has a higher stretch resistance than duct tape. There are also a bunch of colors of duct and Gorilla tapes available. You said at 13:15ish "I don't know how to make it look good..." That's just one possibility and a potential better material for backing, if you were making one from scratch.
I found a cheap recurve bow in the road, it had been been hit by a vehicle and had a pretty bad crack on the limb. It was one of those cheap Bear bullseye X bows, but I figured my kids could play with it and it snapped as soon as I tried to string it but maybe someone tossed it because it was already hopeless🤷♂️
This episode was brought to you by duct tape thank you all for coming out tonight .on the next episode we will see if duct tape can fix 'hold it hold it hold it' duct tape can fix anything or at least muffle the sound. LoL 😂 . Look if woman don't find you Handsome you at least need to be handy 😉 good channel here I like to watch things being use for something there not ment for . keep up the good work
I once played with the fiberglass tape used to mud & tape drywall joints and tested stiffness when epoxied to yardsticks and was disappointed with how little strength it added. Looks like I should have tried duct tape (or a fiberglass tape with a lot more length-wise fibers). You're frequently saying, "I'm so afraid to draw this back all the way". Why not just wear safety glasses (or better yet a face shield) and a long-sleeve shirt? That would seem to reduce the injury potential by 90%.
you need to get one of those big plastic face shields (and a thick coat/ throat protection) so you can do your tillering with iffy bows a little more safely (and accurately, as i imagine you can't help but be gentler than normal use for reasonable fear of catching a limb with your eye socket.) I figured it wouldnt work at all, for one reason or another. now the only thing you have to be aware of is temperature change, as the adhesive on that duck tape will get very brittle if it ever gets cold. your videos are informative, and entertaining. well done!
yes, all that are lost in wood have a tape and heatgun with them, is the most basic thing to have. but i prefer to have lighter and some food cans. and it is easier to have a knife and find a goof branch of tree and do a bow
Surprised the hell out of me. Have only just stumbled across your channel but glad I did and happy subscriber. I would buy strings from you but I made my own Endless loop and Flemish jigs so kinda make my own. Keep the videos coming as they are a pleasure to watch and really informative.
He can use his duck tape bow for duct hunting.
nah man, the mutated anthrax is for duck hunting
#dad joke
Damm 😔
@@Duck-mf he said duck tape to hunt duct
haha I see what you did there :P
Two words: Eye Protection.
Proof that duct tape is like the Force. (It has a light side, a dark side, and binds the universe together.😉)
Seriously, if you KNOW the bow is fukt and might explode in your face...why? For someone that has masks and goggles for the woodworking...tsk tsk
69 likes
Bows don't explode when they fail. They just go slack.
Have you seen him on the band sander? Sets my teeth on edge.
Eye Protection. That's exactly what I was thinking about.
I am 71years young and starting building bows in 1999 . I am still learning and loving bow building! For such a young man as yourself I am proud of all your accomplishments and I have learned a lot from you and your work! And enjoying some of your antics too! Keep up the great work! 😊
Kramer! I have just stumbled on to your channel at 4:33 am on a sleepless night. I am an Avid Traditional Archer, 65 yrs young and am delighted to see a young man so enlightened! Take some advice PLEASE from an old fart and PLEASE USE SOME EYE PROTECTION WHEN TESTING A QUESTIONABLE BOW!!!!! I would hate to see such a bright young person as yourself injure an eye when it can be so preventable. Keep up the good work and look forward to more from you. If you ever make it to an Iowa Traditional Bowhunters Society or Nebraska Traditional Archers event I hope to meet and shoot with you.
Watching youtube videos has made me wanting to be blacksmith, prepper, outdoorsman, living out of the nature. And now also bowmaker. You got me hooked and subscribing to your channel with your enthusianism about making bows and testing unordinary things in process.
Duct tape has a bio reactive glue. Over time it will practically fuse the fibre to the wood.
This is also the reason why you should never use duct tape to restrict people. After as few as 2 hours it has basically fused with the top layer of skin.
Another reason why duct tape wouldn't be used on human skin is because many people are allergic to the adhesive.
That’s horrible!
I sure hope this guy gets more subs, he's so genuine and his excitement about his craft is infectious. I've never even drawn a bow but he's got me considering trying to make one lol
I made my first flat bow when I was a teenager, probably 2010 or so.
I had to mess up like 10 hand made staves before I got one to work, but it was for sure a pain in the ass, but the satisfaction of making a bow, making your arrows, fletching and then taking an animals with it is unlike anything else.
i hope u have made one?
you should you can make them out of anything really, theirs some great pvc pipe ones ext that take almost no tools, you can do it over a boiling jug if you have nothing else, then you can make a better one and a better one lol
Hey Kramer! I have to say, your channel during this pandemic has actually gotten me properly into archery. I just ordered my first bow yesterday and am looking into getting the equipment needed to make my own bows. I've always enjoyed archery but never actually bothered to purchase my own bow before. Just used rentals, so I'm excited to properly break in my new bow.
As for this video in particular, I'm not surprised that duct tape makes for a good backing on a bow. Duct tape is amazing when dealing with tensile forces and when heated it's adhesive melts a bit. This causes it to seep into the pores of material below it so that when it cools back down the seal is practically cemented in place. Duct tape is only really weak to shearing force which when you were trying to stretch it out your finger kinked it causing the force to change from tensile to shearing. Which is why it tore right where your hand was.
I used your duct tape backing technique as a last ditch effort to save a recurve bow that I bought at a thrift store. The bow had a finger joint in the center that kept failing... until I put about 5 layers of duct tape and built up the handle. Now it works great!
When you were getting to about 33"" I was begging you to stop. I felt the bow deserved to live. But I appreciate your heavy testing there was a lot to learn from that.
Hobbyman omg I was doing the same thing. I was like please just stop.
Yeaah, it's so hard even to make a bow... Imagine to break it
"And remember Stay positive" is exactly what i needed to hear in my life right now!. Thank you for making these videos. I will be working on my first bow SOON! And when my son is a couple years older we will make one together.
I'm honestly not surprised it held up. Duct tape is essentially a self-adhering fiberglass and contact cement mixture. The fact that you did 3 layers and then heat fused it caused a few things to happen, you caused the wood to expand, allowing the glue to better penetrate the material, the glue also was able to leech through the other layers and grip onto the previous layers fibers essentially tripling the fiber density and hold.
"You can fix your bow in the woods, with just duct tape. And acetone. And a heat gun."
Cool channel, I can almost feel my wife rolling her eyes as I explain why we need to go to Lowes.
You're telling me you don't have duct tape at home?
@@raphaelbeinhauer9242 i do but i don't have a long enough extension cord to power the heat gun
Never mind the extension cord you could find a power outlet somewhere ... in a stump or something?
Or.....you could use heat from a fire
@@rustyshackleford4845 Heat source at home/workshop = electric heater? OK. Heat source in the wilds = bonfire, lighter, portable stove... Ok, solved!
I'm thrilled it not only didn't break, but outperformed your wildest estimates. This is rad as hell.
thank you! I have a long bow that cracked by the handle area. used t-rex duct tape to make a handle (covering the crack) and a long strip to back the bow. t-rex tape it thick and super sticky. Saved my bow! Thanks!
"i dont know how to make it look good"
you buy patterned duck tape
😂😂🤟
Camo Duct Tape FTW
Green Bay Packers duct tape... problem solved - that'd be a purdy bow
My 60 pound limbs have leopard spot duct tape on the backs and my 50 pound limbs have zebra stripe duct tape. Easy, quick recognition.
Or pink duct tape
Im sure if one was in the forest with a cracked limb,one could use a fire to melt the tape to stick to the back of the bow. Also one could wash the bow with water then heat it with fire slightly to clean the back before putting duck tape on the back. Keep up your happy work man!! Good luck🙂🙂
I agree it's worked amazing, for the temporary fix. I suspect, that the duct tape ages poorly.
I believe as it ages the fibers become more brittle, less flexible, and the glue powders...
I wonder how yours holds up, as is, vs with an outer sealant....
the most underrated archery channel, really nice quality, very informative, and amazing overall. This channel deserves 1+ million subs
I disagree
@@Zaque-TV So, we agree to disagree.
@@Zaque-TV Then why are you here
@@Zaque-TV what's ur favorite?
I don't know if you can buy this normally, but, in the aerospace world they use a kind of carbon fiber strip tape that hardens when heated for composite materials. It's what you use to make carbon fiber panels n such'. It makes a very durable material if you alternate the grain patterns and fire it. Might make a good bow backing? *(source: me, I used it in Uni before I switched degrees.)*
I've seen quite a few builds using fiberglass tape, but I haven't seen any using high tensil filament tape. You can easily find filament tapes with tensil strength well over 100lbs, I've seen some as high as 600lbs. I wonder how they would work as a backing...
Ive though about this soo many times. Even on a Bad splinter, you could pull the fiber from the tape and wrap it around the limb first. Then the backing of another few layers and bam. I love this vid!
I have a self bow of solid fiberglass built in the early 70's that I picked up at a flea market about 14 years ago. About 3 or 4 years ago a fiberglass splinter lifted in the back of it. I put a band of duct tape around it about 3 layers thick (may have been 4 I really don't remember) and it has held up very well. Now as to how to make it look good? That's easy! They make duct tape in tons of colors and patterns now-a-days! Duct tape, by the way, also makes a very effective "2 feather" fletching for arrows! I have several arrows that have lost fletchings after multiple "shoot throughs" that I replaced in the field with duct tape, and still shoot great! You can make a "3 feather" fletching with duct tape it just takes a bit longer and makes the fletching heavier.
For those of you who don’t know when a bow breaks especially a traditional wood bow hurts a lot in fact I’ve actually broken my hand from a 90lbs longbow I used to have all the built up energy went right into my handle, my hands fine know though I still shoot my bows I’m a little cautious now though lol
The glue probably melted into the splinter and helped to close it as well as the support from the layers of duct tape.
just a quick wonder, three layers of duck tape would the glue between each layer act as a shock absober providing additional elasticity between the layers. Love the videos
One of your first bows I’m glad it didn’t break
Can I use duct tape instead of drywall tape and wood glue for a bow backing?
I'm glad I found this channel. I've only watched 3 videos so far but I'm hooked.
Only recently found this channel... Its great, you keep it simple and thinking outside of the box with material is great. Cant wait to see more "WILL IT BOW" As for materials to use, how about recycling some old gardening tool handles (rakes, picks, etc) there usually made from a good hard wood and you will need to finger joint them or something. And maybe some thing like denim, glued on as the backing material? Agree with some of the others, some basic safety gear in the workshop would be good. Safety glasses at a minimum when testing the bows. Keep up the good work...
Try using paracord as a bow backing. I imagine you could glue it on like you would with sinew, but paracord is so elastic you'd likely need it under some tension while gluing.
Also, try medical gauze as a backing. I've often used resin with medical gauze in place of fiberglass for my own projects, though I've never tried it on a bow.
I've found that layered duct tape can make an extremely tough material, I'd say way tougher than leather of the same thickness. You should make a lighter board bow and bend it towards the back and than layer duct tape on it, before stringing it normally, kind of how they used to make composite bows back in the day. It would be interesting to see how it effects the draw weight. Do it for science! :D And seriously, how have I not known about your channel yet?! Damn bullshit ass UA-cam algorithm!.. Also, you should grab some safety glasses for a $1 at Harbor Freight - a shattered bow limb to the forehead is just another beauty mark, but one to the eye can end up pretty badly.
Having made Stab-proof body armour that a Mate of mine then, while I was wearing it, hit with a wooden sword? I agree, Duck tape is fucking _something else._
He has goggles, that's the asinine part - he has a full suite of PPE for the shop -.-
Mythbusters actually tested duct tape for how much weight it could hold. It was something like 60 lbs before a single strip snapped. In hindsight, this result makes perfect sense.
If I'm not mistaken, Duct Tape gets kinda brittle after a while, so even though it may be great to salvage a bow to extend it's lifespan a few Months, I'm not sure how long it will actually hold up
Layered duct tape is probably stronger than suede or other low density leather products that lack the grain of the same thickness, but a dense full grain section of leather such as the sole bends is way stronger than an equivalent thickness of duct tape laminate.
Wow! Lol! This video had it all. Mystery, intrigue, suspense, action, and a happy ending! Deserves an Oscar for something! 👌
I do windsurfing, you can go up to +50km/h with the force of the wind pushing the sail, if your 7mt tall sail breaks, you can use duck tape to repair it, my sail have 2 patches of duck tape, they are there since 2017, and they hold up very nicely. We are speaking about a lot of force and salty water riping of material for years, duck tape is NNNNice.
My dear friend, I tell you friend because I really liked what I saw in this video.
I put on the back of my bows , linen cloth or animal tendon, but at the duck tape I never thought !!! The way you showed is a brilliant idea !!! I subscribed to your channel and congratulate you !!!
This video has an underrated structural engineering grade analysis of the forces involved in his cantilever system (his bow in this case). It would have been an A+ conceptual answer on my engineering quizzes.
I have done this myself, my grandad gave me a old bow with a splinter on the top limb, ducktaped the whole bow worked a treat.
how many layers did you use?
3 I think and flexible super glue in between the duck tape
Great idea...but....I would have put it on the tillering rack and drawn it back just enough to open the crack, without it breaking, and squeezed some epoxy into the crack and then released the tension (and remove the string) then let it set up. Then put a full length fibreglass backing on it (or one your several other good, suggested materials). I'm sure it would be better than duct tape as a "permanent" repair. Its really amazing stuff and works great in a TON of uses but duct tape over time, tends to start to "lift" on the edges, due to the fact that it's not a "hard" type of adhesve and a loose "woven cloth" substrate...and over time the adhesive will tend to squeeze out and will get sticky around the grip from hand abrasion. Its great stuff and though it IS a "long term" repair, it's still only a "temporary" fix...but still a great idea, without a doubt!!! I'm sure you must have already known all this. Just making an observation and maybe some advice, if not. Kudos for thinking "outside the box"👍I really like your channel! You really bring great energy! I like that! It makes it interesting and entertaining to watch! Thanks!! 🎉
Would you recommend switching out the glasfiber tape for duct tape when making one of those low-cost bows?
I got the idea that it would eliminate one of the "24 hours" making moments that the glasfiber and woodglue needed.
Love your videos!!
Did you try the duct tape bro?
There were Native American tribes that would use deer sinyew under rattlesnake skin in the same way on their bows. It would increase the life of the bow and if done right could increase the range a little.
awesome! Kramer, I think I'll try it on a 4' recurve I have been toying with.
loving you builds, I've only tried to build one bow so far. It was built from a yew board with no sap wood so I backed it with what I thought might be ash, and a backing of hockey tape and try bond ( perhaps I should have heat gunned it to) It was 60 inches ( cause that is how long the board was. ) I got to aggressive in the tillering and blew both limbs off of it before I ever got it to full draw ( it was close but I shouldn't have pulled to full draw.) Anyway I've gotten another build out of it, making two limbs and a riser. I'm not quite ready to start actually start the build past the glue up stage,,,, actually I've chickened out at the point I'm at but your vids are helping me sum up the courage to try again. Keep them coming
Kramer hi,
I have a question,did you use any glue under the duck tape or only 3 layers of duck tape heated together??
Does it also work if your bow is completely broken? So a bow that is in 2 or more pieces?
You alright man ,,, not afraid to be yourself ... feels real good ,,, doing business with you ,,, thanks 👍👍👍
Have you ever thought about using old ski's to make a takedown recurve bow.
Heh, I'd been looking at making a carriage /bow myself but it never occured to me to recycle old skis. I shall probably watch and see if he does one before I try myself though!
@@MrGrimsmith There are some videos of that online.
@@raphaelbeinhauer9242 Takedown I've seen but the classic carriage bow was only in two pieces, the handle was a socket on the lower limb. I've not seen that yet and would enjoy some pointers.
@@MrGrimsmith Hmm interesting. I haven't seen anybody make something like that either.
A couple weeks ago I was staring at an old pair of xc skis wondering the same thing.
Will cardboard bow? Cardboard and resin?
Kramer, a question...Where can one find design plans for a deflex reflex longbow with measurements for free? Ducktape...Who would have thought? Goes to show.
Awesome video. Adam and Jamie from the Mythbusters would be proud! Jeff Krug fixed a split using electrical tape! It still holds and that was two years ago.
@@kramerammonsarchery I would rank that episode as one of their best.
Don’t forget their duck tape sailing boat. Even the sail was duck tape.
I wasn't so surprised to see duct tape work, it's a stretchy canvas with a moderate adhesive on it. But I'm very surprised to see it work THAT well. Now I'm curious to see how well the non adhesive side would work for finger tabs. Keep up the great work!
When you stretched the duct tape, u must of ripped it, because its almost impossible for human strength to stretch duct tape till its fail point, duct tapes tensil strength is like 3k psi
Yeah I was gonna say, one end of his hand managed to tear into it crossways. If you put this on some sort of clamp system with a grip to let you pull it perfectly evenly, I'm pretty much positive it'd be impossible to actually pull this apart.
You should try a flat pice of pvc as a bow backing since they make bows out of it maybe it would make a good cheap synthetic backing
Duct tape, any cloth/scrim-backed tape would work. It's basically no different than a thin fabric glued to the bow. Heating it probably helped for exactly the reasons you mentioned
Dies adding a backer increase the pound age of thr bow or speed? Or just the durability
That's awesome, do you think adding several layers of duct tape on the back of a pvc bow would somehow make it stronger? Or perhaps wrapping it entirely? Thanks, great video!
Amazing test. I wish you have posted how it changed the speed of the bow. Also, would you wrap this bow in string to hide and secure the tape. Many "traditional" asian bows come with fiberglass wrapped in cow hide.
You can fix the universe with a bit of duct tape and WD40
You should do a block and tackle setup with your test rig so it's easier to pull. Love the channel!
i use duct tape to back my 140 lb bows
The bow is also pulling every inch of the duct tape the same.... almost. Same concept as the original wood. When you pulled the duct tape, you made a single point of weakness. You could do the same with the wood of the bow. Once you pull it all with the same force, end to end, it becomes strong. Which allows the box to last as long as it does.... if all that makes sense. Anyways, the duct tape is stronger than you needed it to be to fix the bow. I’m surprised that anyone’s surprised it worked. It’s simple physics. I just suck at explaining lmfao
You could also probably now do an external sealant, as you would with any other fabric?
Wow this bow limbs performed and bent so well. This bow would have been a great horn and sinew composite bow. The way the limbs was bending shows it would be amazing with horn as a belly and sinew as backing.
Awesome video. I'd recommend some safety glasses when you drew the bow back so far. You never know what could happen. Be safe and keep making awesome videos.
Honestly I was worried about his face, head, and back. Had that given it could have easily sling shotted around and literally stabbed him in the back with the splintered ends. But thankfully it didn't. I had that happen with a fiberglass bow that broke so I shortened the arms and worked great in tests. In full draw however the upper arm slid from the handle and did what I described. Thankfully it wasn't "very powerful" and was blunt.The scariest thing that ever happened to me is when my 20+ year old, 35 pound Shakespeare recurve delaminated while I was stringing it. I'm glad it happened at that point because if it had given it would have shreaded my hand (each layer of wood in the center of the bow between the belly and back turned to splinters right in the center of the grip). The trick is to try to "fail safely" because failures will happen.
So hey, recently i watched a video where someone (Tod's workshop, excellent channel) made a crossbow out of essentially the worst wood he had lying around, so scrap wood. He said it wad from a garden box. He used that and a bunjee cord for the draw string. And i was wondering, could this perhaps, also be done for a bow? You could make an episode in this series out of it.
But of course only if you want to. :D
(Merely a suggestion.)
How about 14 layer duck tape bow?
i wish you had the scale attached when you were trying to break it on the tiller. What was the draw weight at 40"?
I am not that surprised to be honest. Duct tape is made of 3 components: a rubber based adhesive, a thin cloth (that is where the little strings come from when you rip it; this can be cotton, polyester, nylon, rayon or fiber glass), and a polyethylene backing (which also makes it water proof). By itself, each one of those sounds like a decent option for backing (performance dunno, but at least in terms of not breaking), but together they enhance each other beyond the sum of the parts. That is why the thing is so strong and versatile.
Speaking of rubber... what about a bow using an old tire for the back?
I know this video is several years old, but holy cow!!! I just finished my first successful bow. A hickory board bow. It's my third attempt. I just don't trust the first two...
however...
they might just need 3 layers of heated duct tape and revisiting. This WILL happen.
To quote Sarge, from Red vs Blue, "It's for science!" 😁😁😁
when you think about the applications duct tape is designed for, it makes sense.
Oddly enough, clear packing tape will probably perform better under tension.
It's used a LOT in the RC aircraft hobby.
Cellophane tape?
@@nittayoshifumi8252
Yes. The kind used for taping cardboard boxes for shipping.
It's used a lot for adding strength to styrofoam wings.
Not so good for compression loads, but works well under tension.
That was crazy. After a while I hoped you would stop and not break the bow, as you now obviously have a very good bow Duck tape, works against/for everything. Great video.
I'm on my second attempt at making a bow and all i have for the backing is duck tape... was gonna leave the backing but will give it a shot now... great video man
Having just put a box cutter into my forearm a few weeks ago, I was really nervous just before 5min when you were "talking with your hands" and that knife was just waving around
Something that could also help is putting a little glue under the slinger before putting on the backing
They sell all kinds of cammo, snakeskin, and woodgrain printed duct tape. Plenty of ways to make it look pretty.
The other thing I was going to ask you about it is if you have ever tried a tin (oil/wax treated denim) backing? There are plenty of videos on making tin pants. The advantage is it's tough, waterproof, flame retardant and somewhat cheap.
I once had a front quarter pannel of my car destroyed by a deer. All I had to fix it was a roll of grey digital camo duct tape, and a smaller roll of standard grey. So I used both and made a pannel. Drove my car like that for a couple weeks while I svaed money and looked for a new pannel. When I removed it the duct tape had "cured" and harden.
I used multiple layers of duck tape on my snowblower chute a few years ago. it lasted for 2 years. through snow and large chunks of ice striking it repeatedly. I've seen the Mythbusters do everything with duck tape from repairing heavily damaged cars to making a flyable aircraft. I knew your bow wasn't going to be destroyed. you've just extended the life of it. and with duck tape. it's infinitely repairable.
Try surgical tape with the EA-40 coats in between.
Another one is boiling pine sap and sand then coating.
Have you ever done a takedown bow?
I tried doing one with some old Cross Country Skis. Unfortunately one had a long gouge in it that I did not see so one of the limbs hinged pretty bad. (first attempt at a self made bow)
>"Duck Tape" in the title
>"Duct Tape" in the description
I am being toyed with and I don't like it
Duck is a brand of duct tape.
And "Duct Tape" in the content! Wow!
Both are correct.
Duck tape is the force. It has a light side, a dark side and binds the universe together!
decades ago they would a shaved down the back of it then put a sinew backing on it. called it a day, now people put duct tape on it... crazy times... I think the shave and sinew would last much longer however.
Gorilla tape has a higher stretch resistance than duct tape. There are also a bunch of colors of duct and Gorilla tapes available. You said at 13:15ish "I don't know how to make it look good..." That's just one possibility and a potential better material for backing, if you were making one from scratch.
This Just Proves that Duct Tape Can Fix Everything
Will you make a video comparing fiberglass backing to the tape backing?
I found a cheap recurve bow in the road, it had been been hit by a vehicle and had a pretty bad crack on the limb. It was one of those cheap Bear bullseye X bows, but I figured my kids could play with it and it snapped as soon as I tried to string it but maybe someone tossed it because it was already hopeless🤷♂️
You could use an exterior layer of camouflage or black duck tape.
This episode was brought to you by duct tape thank you all for coming out tonight .on the next episode we will see if duct tape can fix 'hold it hold it hold it' duct tape can fix anything or at least muffle the sound. LoL 😂 . Look if woman don't find you Handsome you at least need to be handy 😉 good channel here I like to watch things being use for something there not ment for . keep up the good work
best duct tap commercial i ever saw.
I once played with the fiberglass tape used to mud & tape drywall joints and tested stiffness when epoxied to yardsticks and was disappointed with how little strength it added. Looks like I should have tried duct tape (or a fiberglass tape with a lot more length-wise fibers).
You're frequently saying, "I'm so afraid to draw this back all the way". Why not just wear safety glasses (or better yet a face shield) and a long-sleeve shirt? That would seem to reduce the injury potential by 90%.
you need to get one of those big plastic face shields (and a thick coat/ throat protection) so you can do your tillering with iffy bows a little more safely (and accurately, as i imagine you can't help but be gentler than normal use for reasonable fear of catching a limb with your eye socket.)
I figured it wouldnt work at all, for one reason or another. now the only thing you have to be aware of is temperature change, as the adhesive on that duck tape will get very brittle if it ever gets cold.
your videos are informative, and entertaining. well done!
make twine, and use sap to keep the windings appart on the belly. and wrap the whole area it is splintered.
I would love to see you make a horn bow. I've found limited documentation on the subject but the idea and principle are so enticing.
Question? Was given ugly gold leaf wrapped wooden Turkish horse bow can I just overlay with gorilla tape and it still function
Thank you for a great video!! Loved the story time at the start!! xx
@@kramerammonsarchery you are very welcome!! I loved it xx
Can you make a bow using engineered flooring strips, splicing and glueing them together? If you need some I have cases left over.
yes, all that are lost in wood have a tape and heatgun with them, is the most basic thing to have. but i prefer to have lighter and some food cans. and it is easier to have a knife and find a goof branch of tree and do a bow
Surprised the hell out of me. Have only just stumbled across your channel but glad I did and happy subscriber. I would buy strings from you but I made my own Endless loop and Flemish jigs so kinda make my own. Keep the videos coming as they are a pleasure to watch and really informative.