Black widow bows

[Andrewlonghi]

Thinking hard about pulling the trigger on a new black widow bow. This would be my first one and first custom bow ever. So many options and choices to choose from. What would be a good choice for the wood?. Wanting to stay around 45-48 pounds at 28” more then likely will be shooting off the shelf. Unsure about weither to go with quiver inserts in the riser or use one that straps around the limbs.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I like bocote. My Black Widow, my Robertson, and my Toelke are all bocote. It usually has a lot of figure and it darkens over time. With Black Widow, I would ask for no red and or white (the phenolic or whatever it is that they use in the lamination). Although I like bocote, I think black and white ebony bows are the prettiest bows out there.

 

[nevadabugle]

Wood is mostly all a personal preference. But I error on heavier woods as I like heavy mass weight in the riser. Bocote and cocobollo are my favorites for looks and weight. And I could not disagree more with @BAKPAKR, go red and black! Its such a timeless throwback to the widow design language.

When I had mine build I had every bushing installed that I could. The way I see it is you don't have to use them, but if you ever want to, they are there.

I just received my widow about 2 months ago. Was about 7 months from order date that I received.

I had wanted a widow for 25 years, and was lucky enough to win a drawing that the Alaska Bowhunters Association was doing for a $1500 credit towards a custom widow. So glad I finally got one.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Wood is mostly all a personal preference. But I error on heavier woods as I like heavy mass weight in the riser. Bocote and cocobollo are my favorites for looks and weight. And I could not disagree more with @BAKPAKR, go red and black! Its such a timeless throwback to the widow design language.

When I had mine build I had every bushing installed that I could. The way I see it is you don't have to use them, but if you ever want to, they are there.

I just received my widow about 2 months ago. Was about 7 months from order date that I received.

I had wanted a widow for 25 years, and was lucky enough to win a drawing that the Alaska Bowhunters Association was doing for a $1500 credit towards a custom widow. So glad I finally got one.
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My PSAX is a mirror image of yours (left hand) with red, but 62”.

BTW - luv the autumn orange.

 

[nevadabugle]

My PSAX is a mirror image of yours (left hand) with red, but 62”.

BTW - luv the autumn orange.

Good choice!

 

[6mm Remington]

Toelke makes really nice longbows and recurves. They might be worth looking at. My son has a longbow.

Martin Hunter is a superb recurve. I own one and love it. Martin builds a great product also.

 

[nevadabugle]

My PSAX is a mirror image of yours (left hand) with red, but 62”.

BTW - luv the autumn orange.

Those arrow make the bow. Total throwback to a different era.

I may have gone hog wild with them. I had a half dozen from some old bow set up, and i was able to tune them perfectly out of this widow. So, I then tracked down as many as I could, since Easton discontinued the AO FMJs, and bought like 8 dozen of them so I would not run out!!

 

[BAKPAKR]

My bocote bows.

Toelke



Robertson



Black Widow



The Black Widow is a relatively heavy bow.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Your best bet for wood combos is to look at their Instagram page for a few days… something will pop.


I liked a limb quiver on the PMA I had. It toned down the tiny bit of post shot buzz I was getting. They have a bunch of different grip options and I don’t love any of them. I eventually sold my widow and moved to other bows but not for any great reason. If I bought another one I’d make sure they could put a true jaeger style grip on it. I need a crisp edge for hand location.

 

[Andrewlonghi]

My PSAX is a mirror image of yours (left hand) with red, but 62”.

BTW - luv the autumn orange.

Mine will be left handed also and 60”

 

[lelliott8]

Not my photo but ive always loved the zircote/dark handles with no red in them.

 

[Beendare]

BW is a solid choice. That design points well though you can get a little better performance with other bows.

IMO, The way they laminate the riser with all of those stripes makes it to where spending a bunch of $$$ on fancy woods gets lost in the design. The good news is that even the standard woods look good.

From what I'm hearing, the carbon limb option gives you about 2-3fps with an avg arrow.

 

[wytx]

If you want to use it for elk hunting in Wyoming get a 50# draw weight.

 

[nevadabugle]

If you want to use it for elk hunting in Wyoming get a 50# draw weight.

Does WY have a minimum draw weight of 50? Silly if they do. My wife has killed many critters including multiple elk with 43-48 pound recurves.

 

[Andrewlonghi]

thanks guys for all the info, I’ve seen a few bows with red in the riser and some without all are beautiful bows….what about choices on limbs material not sure if they offer it but was thinking about a hardwood with carbon?

 

[lelliott8]

Just pick one you like the look of. Bocote and Myrtle are probably the most popular and for good reason. Carbon wont effect performance noticeably so skip it IMO unless you like the look.

 

[nevadabugle]

thanks guys for all the info, I’ve seen a few bows with red in the riser and some without all are beautiful bows….what about choices on limbs material not sure if they offer it but was thinking about a hardwood with carbon?

I called Toby and asked if they would do hardwood on one face and carbon on the other and he said no. So you are left with either carbon or wood.

I really wanted carbon on my build, but I already have lots of metal risers with carbon limbs, so I decided to go full wood for the looks.

 

[ZDR]

Call Roger at BW once you start getting some ideas of what you want. He is incredibly patient and a great source. BW has more custom options than they advertise

 

[ZDR]

Here’s my new PSAX as an example of what I mean, a wenge riser with wenge spliced into the limb tips

 

[LostArra]

Does WY have a minimum draw weight of 50? Silly if they do. My wife has killed many critters including multiple elk with 43-48 pound recurves.

Yes
Agree it's silly but it's Wyoming (wilderness hunting?)