I am building a osage longbow for my boy who is only 1 year old now. Its to be for him when he is 3-5. Could any of you guys measure the draw length of your 4-5 year old? Just take a yard stick and stick it in his/her chest (not hard) or I should say place it. And have them hold thier hands together and measure to the tips of thier fingers.

In other words, have them hold thier arms straight out in front of them and measure from thier chest to thier finger tips. I hope its not more than 15".

I made this thing 36" tip to tip. And max draw is really 14, and pushing 15.

Right now its 10lbs at 10" draw. And feels way too stiff for a child.

Big, sorry I didn't see this before I got my son off to daycare this morning. He is 4. If you don't have any help by this afternoon I will measure his draw length when he gets home. Good luck.

Big, I just laid one of my son's shirts on the ground. I laid it flat out with arms out. I measured from the centerline of the chest to the end of the cuff and it measured exactly 20 inches. Not sure if that gives you any help.

Brett

I hope the real measurement isn't 20". This bow can only handle 14" draw. [:-]

Let me know tomorrow if you get a chance to measure. I sure appreciate it.

Big, I measured my son and he is between 13 and 14 inches using the method you asked. Hope this helps.

Brett

When my son was 5 I got him his first bow. He was roughly 15" at that time.Sounds like you are in the right ballpark.

big not sure this helps you , but its all i got. my 3 yr old is about 12.5 using your method.


Good Luck

Thanks guys, I guess that rule is correct. A guy on Primitive archer told me, take the childs age and add 10 to it.

So I guess I will knock some poundage off of it. Right now its 10lbs at 10" draw. I want him to be able to shoot it from 4-5.

Here is the tiller so far at 10". I am going to get the outer limbs bending some more. I know when I was a kid, I would have loved a real osage bow.

That is a great looking bow. I know I would have loved a bow like that as a kid. Instead, I bugged my parents for every bb gun and ninja sword I could get!

I agree, excellent looking bow! Big, my son's draw is just at 23" and he is turning 13 in a week! So it looks like the rule is pretty right on, add 10" works in most cases!

Your right on your way to start building. We have some great resources with Kent and Russ, Chris.