Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: tiknuttle on August 07, 2009, 10:21:36 pm
-
This is my fifth failure at making a bow. I keep getting saplings with to many knots. Due I need to cut down a bigger tree. Maybe a bigger tree wont have as many knots or it will have more wood to work around? Or maybe I need to try a deferent species of wood. Ive currently tried sweetgum, soft maple, and a sort of swamp oak tree. I live in northeastern N.C. close to the Virginia line. Any suggestions or tips on making a bow would be helpfull thankyou.
-
Build a couple of board bows first cause they are more forgiving and can be backed easier. Most of my board bows cost less than twenty bucks each with backing. Get some successes under your belt and then go on to stave bows. The closer you get to completion the slower you go. Have fun.
-
I made a couple of board bows they broke. I think they wore to dry and brittle from being kiln dried.
-
We understand. I've made 8 bows. They were all learning experiences (yeah, they broke). But I sure am learning alot about what DOESN'T work. I feel like Edison searching for the lightbulb. Keep at it. You'll succeed and love it when you do.
-
i naver made a board bow, i started right in on osage. i havent had to many break but osage is hard. dont give up, when you do get on made it will be good.
-
I agree, make a board bow or two. Back them with hardwood veneer or a slice of the board turned around and glued back on. I really think that many failures come when fellows try to make 60-pound bows out of wood that will better serve a 40-pound bow. Wood can do two things when strained: bend or break. The proper thickness and width in any individual piece of wood will determine which of these two things happen when you string it up and pull. Personally, I'd rather have a working bow that pulls 40-pounds than a pile of broken sticks that I WANTED to be 60-pounders.
Frustration? get used to it. Satisfaction? yup, the first time you make a bow that works the satisfaction will bring you to your knees............start with a stick and make a bow, a weapon, a tool that can feed you......it is magic, really. So, stick with it. Be frustrated. Never give up.
piper
-
I agree with islandpiper. I have scaled down several bows to pull in a lower poundage range to save the bow. Keep at it because the first four arrows out of a new bow will give you a feeling that is hard to describe, kind of spiritual, kind of cool.
The last two bows I made came from a red oak board stave that would have made a 45-50 lb bow. I needed a couple of children's bows for a workshop I'm doing next month so I split the two inch stave into two one inch strips, backed them with linen canvas and built the children's bows to pull around 20 lbs at 24 inches. They are fun to shoot.
Keep at it and if you ever get to western NC come and visit and we'll do some shooting.
-
keep a bucket of cold water handy...when you start to get going too fast, or straining the bow too hard...dunk your head...god, i wish i had done that two nights ago: i'd still have my cool decrowned yew bow...
-
Don't work on bows when you are frustrated. Take it slow and easy. You should have hickory, locust, ERC, red oak, white oak and a few others in your area. Find saplings with no knots and check out Gordon's build along. He is very successful with sapling bows.
-
Thank You everyone for the advice and encouragement
-
We've all been there. ;)
-
Sapling bows are harder to make than they look. I would start with either a board or a full-width stave.
-
What type of wood do you recomend for a board bow? Do they sell them at lows or home depot?
-
The home centers usually have red oak.....sort through them for the straight one.
Hickory is very forgiving and easy to work, but you'll have to look in the right place for a hickory board.
Maple boards are available in my local Lowes, your's may have them too.
Look around and see if you can find some Cherry flooring.....or maybe a stick of Ipe.......if you know a flooring guy you might be able to beg one off him. Or try your local flooring supply store that deals with the average citizen and tell them you need just one more stick of Ipe to finish a job, then find the straight one in the bunch. Are you near a boat building shop? they have good wood and lots of boatbuilders are interesting, nice guys who will help another craftsman on his journey as long as you are not competing with them.
Or.............look in the trading section of this forum and maybe you can get a board in trade for something that you can supply like five pounds of cheese or pair of wool socks.......
Never say never. Wood is EVERYWHERE!! piper
-
Keep at it and do some studying>>>> you will get it soon. I know for me there where several "ah-ha" moments when i would find just the right tools or techniques. keep going you will do great.
Best of luck,
Mike
-
tik i would suggest looking up hardwood lumber suppliers in either google or yahoo in your area. A good hickory or ash board is a wonderful thing. its also easier to find compatible boards in those species. make the grain runs straight from end to end on the side edges or as close as possible. Woodcraft stores and Rocklers are examples of stores that sell hardwood lumber. a good hickory board bow shoots pretty darn good, ash as well. I agree that you really need some full width staves if you chose to go that route.
-
Hey man, don't give up. I have a closet full of broken bows as I was learning to make them. Lots of them weren't even broken during tillering, but rather during a phase when I had no idea how to work with my tools. Others broke after several hundred shots. For various reasons, I gave up at that point. Now I'm back into it. Broke one bow just as I was bracing it for full draw (I'm slightly suspicious that I need a bow stringer...), and just finished one last night, though it's out of tiller and took massive set (mostly from being strung, picked up an inch and a half or so each time the brace height was increased), so I'm gonna pike the weaker limb and recurve the whole thing when I get the chance. Then I'm gonna run out to the hardware store (lowes. I find the home centers are easier to find good wood at. The hardwood store by my house has so much wood in it that getting a look at every piece is damn near impossible, and very few pieces have decent grain, whereas at lowes and home depot, it seems that one in ten pieces is usable, and 1 in 4 with a backing.) and buy a nice maple board and get cracking again. And then I'll do it again! Its a matter of practice.
Try and analyze why and how each bow broke. Did you ignore/miss a hinge? Did the wood get too dry? Was it a bad piece of wood? Knowing exactly why and how each one broke will teach you more than anything else.
-
remember one thing!!! If you ain't breakin' you ain't buildin' . I think someone famous said that but i'm not sure!!! ;D
-
Nobody famous, LOL, sulphur. I said it. If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin'. tik, there's info on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/