Red Oak board bow

[Stephen Zachary]

Hi guys. Ive been on this site reading for quite awhile. i took the plunge and bought a red oak board bow. 70 inches unstrung pulling about 40-50 lbs. The reason is the limbs take quite a bit of set while shooting. Its eassy to bend backstraight after its unstrung. it really was my first try and i cut a little out of the handle so both my son, who is left handed , and me , who is right handed can both enjoy it. im going to get another board and make the next one with a handle and make it strictly right handed cutting so the arrow is closer to center. My question is when looking at the rings which side should be the belly and which should be the back. I backed the first bow for safety reasons and will probably back this one also. Looking forward to building and posting pics on the site , you all are a great bunch of people to learn from. Another thing i was wondering is that i faded the limbs to the handle for appearence sake but most board bows show fading only on the first 15 inches. Thanks

[medicinewheel]

... Its eassy to bend backstraight after its unstrung. ...

Don't do that!

Welcom to PA! - How about a picture of your first bow??

[Stephen Zachary]

Am i damaging the bow by bending the set out of it? It seems to loose quite a bit of oomph with the set. Ill have to download some of the images. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Why the set only after firing, all during tillering it took no set.

[medicinewheel]

Am i damaging the bow by bending the set out of it? ...

I would say so, yes. Set comes from wood cells being damaged by compression, if you strain them only to compres them again when you pull the bow, it'll get worse.

[Stephen Zachary]

Thanks medicinewheel. Am ready to start another one just for me, My dad has just about every power tool known to man and i got a inside line on wood from a local lumber yard which sell several different types of wood. its hard down here in da bayou to find hickory and osage, not to mention the cost . I like the face that i can pay 12 dollars for a board and turn it into a bow. I have a son who is into all sort of ancient weapons so its something we can enjoy together. So when determining which side is the belly and back which way do the grains need to be oriented?

[Cameroo]

I think you might be confusing set with string follow.  The bend in your bow immediately after shooting is not set, it is string follow.  It is perfectly normal for a bow to have some string follow after a shooting session.  After leaving it unbraced for some time after shooting, any permanent curve that remains is referred to as set.

Another suggestion - you don't have to cut a shelf into the bow, you can just crazy glue a wedge of cork on the side (or both sides to make it ambidextrous), so that you can have a shelf without weakening the bow.

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, you can damage it. Also, not a good idea to "cut a little" out of a handle that bends. If you want to make your own board. There are some things to consider for your first. First make a bend in the handle bow. Do not narrow the handle. 1.5 in wide will bet you 50-55#.  1 3/8 will get you 45-50 # if you do your job. Two, choose straight grained stock with no knots. There's info on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[sulphur]

most red oaks bought at lowes or home depot are qtr sawn like the outer 3rds of these boards.  it really doesn't matter which side you use for the back.  if there is any natural reflex use that for the back.  to help with string follow follow a few rules.  1. pic the densest board, redder is better and feel the weight compared to the others. 2.  adequate design  at least 2" wide and 66" long nock to nock.  3.  careful tillering, never overstress the wood early.  only pull it far enough to see a flaw.  when you exercise the limbs after removing wood do not draw farther than it took to see the flaw.   4.  don't go for to much draw weight 50-55#  is a about all i go for on red oak anymore and it will really stress the wood if it stays together at all.  most of my red oak board bows have 1.5 to 2" of string follow.  remember after your bow is broken in it will lose about 5# of draw weight, take that into account when tillering.  and dont forget the pics!

[Stephen Zachary]

Thanks for all the replies guys . Looking forward to learning alot from you all.