newbie! :)

[Mastersiomai22]

hi guys, and i am new in this forum as well as in to archery and bow crafting, and the reason that piqued my interest in bows and archery is that, bows and arrows are both graceful and deadly in combat and hunting. and so i have a question, what bow should i start making and how? might as well toss in some archery tips if possible




thanks very much in advance and i hope for a pleasant stay.


P.S
i was thinking of making  bow out of bamboo.. since yew and other hardwoods are kinda rare from where i am from.. and bamboo is really easy to find here

[Weylin]

Where are you at and what kind of woods do you have access to? I don't know much about all bamboo bows but they seem to be more complicated than a wood bow. I recommend making a simple, straight, long wood bow either from a board or  stave if you can get one. Also, find someone nearby that's willing to show you the ropes. That will go a long way. Good luck and post pictures. 

[Mastersiomai22]

well i live in the Philippines, and in my area it seems that the most of the wood that i find is bamboo but there are certainly other types like 
Rosewood,mahogany, narra and bamboo

[twisted hickory]

hi guys, and i am new in this forum as well as in to archery and bow crafting, and the reason that piqued my interest in bows and archery is that, bows and arrows are both graceful and deadly in combat and hunting. and so i have a question, what bow should i start making and how? might as well toss in some archery tips if possible




thanks very much in advance and i hope for a pleasant stay.
Hello and welcome,
I myself am kinda new to this bow making. You will find loads of people who are willing to help and get you started. My first bow was a stiff handled hickory bow with 4 inch handle and 1 inch fades. If you want I can give you some dimentions that work for a 50 lb bow. I would reccoomend starting with hickory staves, they are forgiving and will shoot good even if tiller is a little off.
Greg


P.S
i was thinking of making  bow out of bamboo.. since yew and other hardwoods are kinda rare from where i am from.. and bamboo is really easy to find here

[Onebowonder]

well i live in the Philippines, and in my area it seems that the most of the wood that i find is bamboo but there are certainly other types like 
Rosewood,mahogany, narra and bamboo

In the Philippines, you might look for Guava wood.  I've not yet used it myself, but I am given to understand that it makes a good bow.  When I lived in the PI, I was not yet into this addiction of making bows, but I did do some woodworking and cabinet making work. 

An easily obtained beginners bow material in the PI would be Rattan, though it is tillered a bit differently than other woods.  Search the archives of this site to find posting about Rattan Bows.

If I were in the PI still, I would try to find and attempt to use some of the wood from Jackfruit and Breadfruit trees.  These are both cousins to Mulberry and Osage, and might likely have excellent bow making properties as their cousins do.  Again, I've never tried these, but I would certainly like to have the chance to try them.

There are literally hundreds of tropical wood species that are there that may be excellent bow woods, but have not been tried by many bowyers here, simply because of availability issues.  If you live in a logging region like Mindanao, you might check with the loggers or mills and see if you can cheaply aquire scraps or offcuts to test with and determine which ones might prove to be of bow making quality.  There is one wood I recall for having excellent compression strength.  It was VERY straight grained, finished smooth, and had a reddish color.  We called it Pitong, but I don't know what the commercial name might have been.  It may have been a lower grade of Mahogany.  Again, ...I don't know if it would make a bow or not, ...but I've wanted to try for years now and no longer have access to it.

One of the biggest problems you will have there with making your own bow wood is going to be moisture.  The humidity there is so high, that you will likely need to build yourself a drying box in order to get the any wood there to a workable moisture content in a reasonable amount of time.

Welcome to the boards, and best of luck with your efforts.

OneBow

[bushboy]

Palm wood .

[bushboy]

Search : filipino aeta bow and arrows.have fun!

[Mastersiomai22]

i found it, and thanks for the suggestion guys.
rattan is abundant here, so i'll go and find and buy some

so, i want to try making my own bow before going into archery, so now i really want to know what are the steps that i need to do in making my own bow.

[DarkSoul]

If the steps were really THAT simple, there would not be:
- Twenty thousand years or bowyery history.
- Shelves full of books.
- Dozens of bowyery forums/message boards.
- Countless websites about the subject.
- Boxes and boxes of videos and DVDs.

The information is all there, it's just up to you to locate the right bits.

[Joec123able]

If the steps were really THAT simple, there would not be:
- Twenty thousand years or bowyery history.
- Shelves full of books.
- Dozens of bowyery forums/message boards.
- Countless websites about the subject.
- Boxes and boxes of videos and DVDs.

The information is all there, it's just up to you to locate the right bits.

Haha yep he said it

[oscar3b]

The first step in my opinion would be finding your draw length. The easiest way to do this is to measure your wing span from finger tip to finger tip (in inches I know this works anyways.  I'm not sure what you would use if you use the metric system) and then divide that number by 2.5 

As far as length is concerned I would start long if I were you, because it is easier for your bow to survive the tillering process if it is long and wide.  How tall are you?  I would probably make a bow about as tall as you are all things depending.  I would also make probably start with a bow that is anywhere from 1.5 to 2 inches wide near the fades, which is the area just above and below the handle.  This is the widest part of your bow. 

There was a great tutorial that someone had on here not too long ago that was great at showing the process.  I can't find it right now.  However if you look for pyramid bow build I think it will come up.  If you need more help let me know.  You can send me a message or what not.  I don't know much, but what I do know I will freely share.

[bushboy]

Most any hardwood will make a bow with proper design,ibeit some may have to be backed.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Get The Bowyer's Bible. It outlines the basics of making bows. You only need volume 1 to get going.
Google Jim Hamn Bowyer's bible.
Its around $20. A good investment in my opinion.
For bamboo, if the walls are 1/2 inch thick or more, just take a section of it-
http://sensiblesurvival.blogspot.com/2012/03/build-bamboo-survival-bow-in-30-minutes.html
I did this with a cane from a flower-shop.

'boo is pretty tough.
http://www.zateev.net/ontarget/bodies/rattan.html
I don't think you need to back it. Its tough in tension.
Slow means its probably weaker in compression. You might want to try to make a stickbow- bunch of sticks tied together to emulate tiller "bending"

[k-hat]

Welcome!  Shaun, a member here, posted a while back a bunch of rattan bows he did.  He even had some adult sized arrow flingers in there (usually rattan is used for kids bows).  I recall it performed quite well, and is nearly unbreakable.  do a search as mentioned and you should come up with info aplenty.

[Mastersiomai22]

would it be possible for me to use all bamboo for a longbow?

or should i try making a bamboo backed rattan bow?