first day shooting red oak board bow

[Orkraider]

Hi all. I said I'd have more pics of my bow when it was done, so here goes.

I've mentioned it before, but just in case, it's 72" long, pulls 70# at 28" draw, 1 1/2" wide and 5/8 thick at the fades, down to 3/8 each way at the tips. It's backed with linen, and another piece of thin fabric with a pattern that was meant to be decorative, but got 90% lost in the finish, lol. Coated with a brush on polyurethane / stain combo. Wrap is black leather from a salvaged purse.

So far, it shoots like a dream. I took it out to the archery range and shot for 3 hours. I'm still learning the whole instinctive shooting thing, but at 15, then 20, then 25 yards, I was managing to get most of my arrows on the paper target (that was a big deal for me, lol). As I was just getting ready to leave for the day, I walked off to 70 yards just for jollys, to see if I could hit the target; I had to "walk" my arrows up to it, but the last one hit just a few inches from center. (I'm claiming luck here, not skill, just to be clear)

I met a very nice couple that day, they were shooting nifty compound bows; I let them try mine, they let me try theirs, and they were kind enough to take pictures of me. They've said that they might be interested in making a bow or 2 themselves.

Here's the pics, and thanks again to all the help on here; I can't wait to get started on my next bow, and I'll be counting on all the advice from y'all to do it. =) Riley, in Saint Paul MN

below: nocking an arrow



below: taking aim


below: the full draw pic

[Pappy]

Looks good ,glad you got a shooter,be careful letting others shoot you bow,especially compound
folks,or at least let them know what the draw length is,some try and see how far they can pull one back and that could mean disaster for a selfbow. Nice work. 
   Pappy

[Orkraider]

Thanks for the heads up, Pappy; It was thanks to here, and prolly a post by you, that I remembered to go over that stuff. ;-)

[half eye]

Very Nice !!! That thing looks way to stout for this old man, but looks like youre doing just fine with it. Like Pappy said be carefull letting other people draw it, or at least make sure your arrow length wont allow them to get "stupid" with it.

Now that this one turned out how ya liked it, ya know that "build another one" critter is sneakin up on ya.....again nice job
Rich

[Orkraider]

Thanks, Halfeye.

The "build another one" bug has already bitten me in the butt really hard.

My plan for my next bow is to do a pyramid bow.

I want to stick with red oak for this one, as it's cheap and easy for me to get.

My goal is a 72"  bow, with a target weight of 75# at 28".

I want to do the linen backing again, as that seemed to work well the first time.

I'm going to be doing research on here and online to try and figure out what dimensions of wood I'll need for this bow; I don't want to find out again the hard way that I was shooting for too much weight with too narrow a piece of wood.

I also want to avoid the amount of set this one has, which is a heinous 3.5 inches or so.

I'm going through Jawges site with a find toothed comb, but if anyone else has any tips on layout dimensions for my next bow, i'm all ears. (and a bit of gut, if you look at the pics, lol..)

Thanks again, all.

Riley, saint paul MN

[riarcher]

70 yards! 

Funny. When I first started (60's) most folks said to shoot over 50 yds right from the beginning.
I still agree with that idea.

That bow looks beautiful! Especially for a first.

[Parnell]

That does look great for a first.  Congratulations on your shooter.  No way I would've drawn 70 lbs. when I started!
As far as reducing set, Induce some reflex and heat treat the limbs before, at mid, and toward the end of the tiller.
I wasn't applying near enough heat when I began.  I was shown that you can heat to the point of it being near a char but not quite...

[Josh]

Nice bow man!  Tiller looks great on it.  Looks like a fun day at the range too.   

[Orkraider]

Thanks very much. =) I'm going out to shoot again today, and I'm excited about that, but all I can think about is my next bow, lol.

[George Tsoukalas]

Very  nice work! Well done. Jawge