The Touchwood Taipan is a 60 inch take down recurve designed for traditional archery and hunting. Named after the Taipan, the world’s most venomous land snake, this bow is silent and nimble. Traits that are worthy of its predatory namesake.
The riser is a blend of Beech and Bintangor wood while limbs are composite dual layered maple and black glass. An absolutely beautiful combination. The bow looks so elegant and premium, you will hardly believe its affordable price.
Generally, hunting bows are shorter and lighter than target bows to make them easier to handle and carry around in the bush or while trekking. This bow definitely fits into that category. The riser is 19 ¾ inches long, light weight and uses a bolt system or sometimes called beginner limb fitting system to the limbs. You screw the limbs onto the riser using large bolts. The limb pockets themselves are reinforced with aluminum plates. As far as I can tell, Taipan limbs are not sold separately. I have yet to test whether limbs from other bolt on bows fit into this riser.
When you get the Taipan, you get the riser, limbs, string and wool for shooting off the shelf in the box.
The Taipan is so beautiful that it is exactly the kind of bow you would like to mount on your wall and display. Make no mistake though, this pretty little looker is a great shooter. For such a short bow, it draws surprisingly smooth. Unlike a lot of the other wood limbed bows I’ve shot, the Taipan starts to stack really late. I started to feel stacking at full draw. A full 29.5 inches before stacking on wood core limbs. Not bad at all for such a reasonably priced bow. All other bows I've shot at this price range, including much longer ones, start stacking as early as my pre draw set. Stacking, in archery terms, is the sudden increase of stiffness when drawing back a bow past a certain point. Generally, wood limbs stack more when compared to other limb materials. Smoothness in archery is how evenly drawing a bow back feels. Boy is this bow smooth to draw. Even when stacking starts, the increase in stiffness feels gradual and even. Not at all sudden and abrupt like a lot of wood core limbs from bows at this price range. With how smooth the bow is and how evenly it stacks, the Taipan is easy to hold your aim with even for extended amounts of time.
This bow is quick and very quiet. During testing, I could barely hear the bow when shot. The sound of the arrows hitting the target from 18 meters away were audibly loader than the bow. This even when I set the brace height too short. The shot itself feels quick and snappy though I would not consider it aggressive by any stretch. This being hunting bow, meant for shooting shorter distances, you don’t really need an aggressive shot a lot of Olympic Recurve shooters look for. Post shot, I barely felt any hand shock. The limbs react and settle quickly especially considering the string the comes with is made of Dacron.
I can’t really think of any negatives specially when considering how affordable this bow is. Maybe a couple of flaws in the fit and finish but for a full-fledged hunting bow at the price of many beginner or club bows, I really can’t complain. It looks incredible. It draws really smooth and shoots quick and quietly. It looks crazy beautiful and feels totally premium.
The Touchwood Taipan is a classy little hunting recurve that delivers on all the essentials for a bow in this class and more. You will be surprised at how it breaks expectations. It sure does live up to its moniker.
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