First attempt at a bow, have some questions

[Xalexon]

Hey guys, I've been doing some research over the past week and I think I'm about ready to try my first bow from a board. I'm more or less decided on an american flatbow but I've got some questions.

1) Length: Pros and Cons? Other than being unwieldy is there any reason not to make an 80" bow? Now I'm no expert but it seems that longer working limbs would mean less stress on the limbs when pulled to full draw when compared to shorter limbs. I feel like this would make the tiller more forgiving. Now I've never shot an 80" bow, but assuming I'd be comfortable with it, should I?

2) Wood: My local home depot has pine, spruce, poplar, red oak, and maple boards available. Should I choose one type of wood over the other? From what I can tell, red oak is most common among them but is it the best wood for a board bow?

3) Design: Although I've read that pyramid style bows are easiest to make, I really like the american flatbow design. With that being said, I've seen some varying designs. Some sources have an un-tapered limb for the first half or so of the limb followed by  tapering down to 1/2" at the tip like in this vintage projects link:

http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/Flatbow-plans.pdf

Others have the limb taper as soon as the handle ends down to the tips like so:

http://archerytalkblog.com/?p=18500

which is the better design and why?

Assuming there's nothing wrong with a longer bow, I'd like to make mine roughly 80", any idea how to scale up designs to that size? Would the tips still be 1/2" wide? Would the belly still taper to 3/8"? Without knowing the exact length of the bow I intend to make, how can I go about scaling layouts for myself?

I should mention that I want a bow that shoots no less than 50# at 28". This is the hunting req. for where I live.

Thanks for all the help.

[PAHunter]

First let me say you have the right attitude!  You don't just want to be told what to do but why.  I'll give my 2c on some questions.

1) Lenth: too long will be heavy limbs that are slow and may produce more hand shock.  But yes longer limbs distribut the burdon and are safer to build.  Your draw length DL x 2 + 10 for a stiff handle (if you have a handle) is a good length.  So if your DL is 28 go for a 66'' bow or 68-70 to be extra safe.  no need for 80.

2) red oak is probably the best option from HD.  But you want straight growth rings on the side edges with as little grain run off as possible.

3) At a glance I really like the design of the first link.  For red oak go 1.5 (which is what a 1 by 2 board will be i beleive) to 2 '' outside fades until about 1/2 limb then taper to the ends.  thicker = safer but taken to an extreme and agian you just have too much mass (weight) in the limbs and it will be slower.  where you taper in is somewhat arbitrary with the general rule the further out you do NOT taper in the safer the build is but the heavier/slower the limbs are.  1/2 way is a good rule of thumb at first. 

Everything in this craft is a balance.  Extremes are rarely good.  Hope that helps some.  There are a bunch of great board builds online that I'm sure people will direct you to.  Good luck!

[JW_Halverson]

Your draw length will be VERY short for an 80" bow.  Typically the 80 inchers are English War Bows and draw over 100 lbs of draw weight and are pulled back 31 inches!  Unless you and thousands of your friends intend to invade France thru a time machine, maybe think of something shorter.  An 80" flatbow of a 50# draw at 28 will be kinda sluggish.

Stress on the limbs is what does the work.  No stress means it does less work.  There is a point of diminishing returns, usually referred to as a broken bow.

Since you have access to some bow wood in board form, I would recommend the red oak or maple.  American flatbow, pyramid, no worries!  For that design, you can build your bow by an old formula of "double the draw length plus 10%".  Add a few extra inches for margin of safety and your 28" draw length gives you a bow about 64" long.  Easy peasy.

As for layouts, follow the layout on the vintage projects is pretty dang classic, hard to beat, too. 

As for choosing your boards, that is really critical and can spell doom no matter how you are careful with every subsequent step.  You can polish a turd, but you cannot make a good bow with bad wood.  Someone is likely to post Jawge's board bow links.  DEFINITELY go read those!  They are time well spent!

[PAHunter]

Unless you and thousands of your friends intend to invade France thru a time machine, maybe think of something shorter. 

I may have wet myself.     

[Xalexon]

Thanks for all the help guys!

I guess I'll to stay away form overly long bows for now. My own draw length is 30" but I'm planning on sharing this bow with a friend who pulls back to 28" and wanted to make sure he can use it to hunt legally. So, 30x2 + 10" = 70", does bringing it to 72" for an even 6 feet sound good?

I drew out some very rough preliminary plans on mspaint, do these dimensions look alright? I hope they are clear.

[bubby]

most guys draw length with a wood bow is shorter than they think, but no matter if you have a 30" draw go 72", six foot ain't to long and it ain't to short, if maple or oak, i'd use white over red, I would start 2" wide at the fades if you want a hunting weight bow that will be a good starting point, the second bow if it tapers from the fade to tip is a pyramid bow, it's not that they are easier to build per say, but make imo a more durable bow as the stress is evenly distributed, although the afb is a classic, either way you go with design or opinions enjoy the ride

[PAHunter]

Yep I like those back demensions!  You will have a great chance of success.  As for the side profile, yes that's the idea but you'll just have to read the wood as you go.  But yes it will gradually taper form the fades to the tips.  usually the last 8'' or so of the tips don't actually bend which is desirable.  Take is slower the further into the tiller you get and check the draw weight (DW) often.  Never draw more than your target DW.  You can estimate DW by adding 2.5# per inch to your intended draw -1 (-1 to account for some finishing and set).  So if you are currently at 10'' draw and it's 40# you take 28-1-10=17*2.5=37ish; so your estimated DW at 28'' is 40+37=77 and you would still have some wood removal to do.  Hope that makese sense. 

[Renacs]

If your friend is going to shoot one have him help and make two. And then you have someone to help with arrow making.  Thats the hard part. At first.

[Xalexon]

Looks like everything's set then. I'm buying the board today, I think I'm going to go with red oak.

My friend and I used to make arrows out of 3/8" dowels from home depot, they didn't shoot all that well but they were a whole lot cheaper than the $6 fiberglass arrows our local hunting store provided. We were reluctant to shoot expensive arrows as we had a tendency to lose arrows in the brush.

My friend is a skeptic, he doesn't think this will work out. I'm set to prove him wrong  I'm sure he'll be building his own board bow when not long after mine's done.

I'll update you guys on the build as I go along, thanks again

[lebhuntfish]

Very very good information guys! I love learning stuff from question I never thought to ask!

[George Tsoukalas]

Xalexon, did you choose a straight grained board?
My site has info.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
Jawge

[Xalexon]

Hey guys, just soaked a few rawhide dog bones and I think I have a problem. None of the strips of rawhide are as long as my limbs, they're roughly a foot long and half a foot wide. Can I still use these strips to back my bow? Would I put them side by side? Or layer them? Thanks

[adb]

You need to find a piece of rawhide that will cover the entire length of each limb. It's fine to overlap at the grip. The thinner the rawhide, the better.

[Don Case]

I think you have to try again. I bought the biggest dog bone I could find. It was huge. The longest piece was 32". You have to lap them at the handle I believe.
Don

[adb]

Tandy sells great full rawhides in goat and deer. Nice and thin, plus 1 hide will yield many pairs of backing strips for a few bucks a pair.