Faux bow trade 2022

[Allyn T]

Hi all,

I wanted to start this thread for anyone like me that wanted to do the bow trade but wasn't confident enough or experienced enough to do it. I figured if anyone wanted to join this we could post everything along the same lines and follow the same deadline and see what we all ended up with. At the end there wouldnt be any trading this would just be for ourselves or maybe for a friend. This is just a fun exercise in bow building with a timeline to make me get off my dupa and do it.

[Allyn T]

Figured I would start. I'll making a bow to my specs, 50-60 lbs at 29 inch draw

[mmattockx]

Ha! This is perfect, I'm in.

I was on the fence about joining the trade mostly due to how much stuff I have to do with our new house and the acreage yard work that will be coming with spring. We were going to be building a garage in the summer as well but wood prices have delayed that until fall or spring 2023, so I suddenly have way more spare time that could be used to make a bow.

I already have the next two bows designed. The first is a 66" NTN static recurve, ~40lb @ 28". That is the one I will be documenting here. The other one that is lined up is a 66" R/D design, same weight range at 28". If the summer goes really well I will get it posted up here as well.


Mark

[BetterTrees]

This seems fun. I thought last year that I would feel ready for the bow trade this year, but I definitely did not. I'll pick out a stave when I am home this week. I want a nice longer stiff handled bow for hunting this coming season.

[Allyn T]

Welcome guys the more the merrier : )

[Black Moshannon]

Alright I'll post my next build here. Its a white oak stave destined to be a 50# 64" D bow. This is going to be an attempt at a more survival style build in the sense that I'm going to work the stave from wet to finished without letting the stave dry as a large chunk of wood. I probably cut this stave a month and a half ago and I cut it down to floor tiller size and let it dry in a form to induce a little over 2" of reflex. Now its still seeming to be pretty wet, and surprisingly flexible and limber. It literally feels like a wet noodle, even though the moisture meter was reading from 10 to 14 percent. Maybe its a lot wetter inside and maybe white oak really stiffens up when it hits a lower moisture content. I can feel by hand that the wood is still too wet. Im going to keep slowly reducing and floor tillering while it dries. The wood comes off real easy right now.

[Deerhunter21]

Aight, im in! i got either a persimmon stave to work with or a blank that i cant remember what the wood is!

[Deerhunter21]

Marking out all the high spots I feel,

[Deerhunter21]

.

[Allyn T]

Good deal deerhunter. I have a hickory bow already roughed out for me(it's been chilling in my living room for many months.) I was recently gifted a hackberry stave so to pay it forward I'm gonna make it into a bow for a friend that has been providing me with turkey feathers recently.

[BetterTrees]

Alright, I dug through the rack and pulled out something I feel is special but not terribly difficult to work with.
It's a 66" redbud stave with virtually no snake and no visible knots and a reasonable amount of natural reflex from a 10" diameter tree. I have the other three quarters still, and I'm really excited to see how this wood behaves.
There's a tiny bit of end checking, probably because I just slapped a thin layer of Elmer's glue on it, but it looks like the sapwood is the most affected.
I'm thinking I'll chase it down about four rings to where it starts to get that striking color, seal the back, and then get it to floor tiller this week. It has only been split and setting indoors for about six months, and I know the center is super wet.  After that, it will be setting in the damp, still garage for close to a month to stabilize around 11-12% while I'm on the road.

The goal is a 64-65" 1-7/8"-2" wide pyramid-ish profile drawing 45-55 at 25".

Deerhunter, persimmon is cool wood! I wish I saw more of it.

[Allyn T]

Man I've eyeballed a lot of red bud trees but never cut one, I'm interested to see how that turns out

[TimBo]

The one time I had some redbud to work with, it checked severely.  I would get the sapwood off ASAP and seal the back and ends very thoroughly.

[Black Moshannon]

Worked this oak stave down some more, it really feels damp after taking off more wood. Will probably have to spend a couple more weeks drying as a smaller piece.

[Black Moshannon]

Ok I'm switching to a 60" piece of hickory while that oak dries. Going to make a little 40 something pound bow to play with in a month when my shoulder is recovered from tendonitis.