Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Saxton on August 23, 2013, 07:44:46 pm
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Im looking to make a bow quick from a green tree or limb around 50#. What's the best way to go about this . I Know good things take time . What I am looking at is a kind of survival situation challenge / want something to take a deer with by Oct . Also half dozen arrows . I leave the head steel since I haven't done much knapping .
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any bow made from green wood will have disappointing cast- that is it will not shoot an arrow as fast as one made from dry wood. your 50 lb bow will shoot like a 35 pound bow. If you must do it, rough it out to about 3/4 inch thick and let it dry as long as you can. By the time you tiller it out, it will have several inches of set. choose a wood that tolerates fast drying, like vine maple.
not that you asked, but i I wanted to test my survival ability, i would practice trapping small mammals.
You could make a quickie bow out of an oak board.
do you have another bow you could use for hunting?
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Go find a 4 inch sapling such as hickory. Cut it down, split in half, debark both halves and draw knife the entire bow profile. Next polyurathane the back and ends only. On day two floor tiller the bow staves. Let them set in a cool place with air circulating over them for a week. Next put both floor tillered staves in a car with the windows up to quick dry them. Watch for cracking if they start to crack they are drying too fast rehydrate. This should get a shootable bow in about 30 days. At 30 days tiller the bow and go huntin :)
Note: this is not ideal but will get a shootable bow in most cases. I always end up w cracks when quick drying.
Greg
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Yep as stated a bow from green wood will shoot incredibly slow and won't put a lot of energy into the arrow. You got realize there's no rushing in bow making your best bet is a board bow but still if youve never made a bow it's gonna take a few try's. I doubt you're gonna make a decent bow get accurate with it and then take a deer by October just not going to happen
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its possible.. IF you buy pre-seasoned wood :0
buy a red oak board 1x2 70" long and make a bow out of it. Unbacked. Shoots good...
my fave is a #55@28 red oak board bow 68" long, bendy handle. Shoots really fast... and the funny part is... I re-tillered it 3 times.
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+1 on Twisted HIckory's description. I've done this with a hackberry stave and got pretty lucky, it made a great shooter.
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+2 for Twisted Hickory. I did it with walnut and although it took some set it had incredible cast.
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This ash thing went from tree to bow in one month.
http://imgur.com/a/HfHii
Split and belly split, debark, and profile in one day, floor tiller two days later, half tiller a week after that, finish tillering one week later, apply finish after three days, using a closed up car in the sun after floor tillering to speed drying.
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You want a survival bow? Go directly to Lowes, buy a package or two tomato stakes. Tie them togeather into a bundle bow. I made a 50 lb bow like that and it shoots great. Took all of 30 min.
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I made the 'One hour bow' from Hazel with just an axe. But like everyone has said being green it wasn't a great performer.
Go wide and flat.
Del
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Jw and David,
Glad to see someone agrees w me :) I have made 4 that way and it works great. Just gotta watch for cracks. I am going to be down to quick drying maybe cause I went through 14 staves so far this year. ;)
Greg
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I don't know what your skill level is, but you can make MORE than a serviceable bow in the time allotted. Wood, once dried quickly, is still soft wood. Performance will degrade quickly. Now, if you don't want that to happen, then do this:
Do as advised, cut you some hickory, shape the bow out immediately, and seal (I use painter's tape myself) the back, ends and fades. Here, you want the bow as close to finish dimensions as possible. It'll dry quicker that a way. Finish out the handle and fades. Trick is to remove as much wood as possible for quick drying.
Now, in 4 weeks, if kept in the house between 40-50% RH, you can then induce some reflex as you heat temper it's belly without fear of checking from the heat. That'll make for a better performing bow. But, you can do better. Depends on how big of a gambler you are. Belly may be hardened at this point but most of your set will come from the back's fibers stretching. Gotto tighten those up as well. A very light heat tempering will take care of that. A backing of some sort will provide some extra measure of confidence here.
Good luck, and keep us posted...........Art B
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cool I have a palmer recurve as my main bow . Just thinking it was a fun idea , challenge to see it done by Oct 1st .
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artcher1 I was thinking of adding the the reflex with a hot rock I think I remember reading Ishi used this method any advice? also can I heat temper with just a fire ? and I also have a bunch of HHB growing around here not much hickory but I could find some
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Well, what are you doing wasting time in here...clock is ticking. tick tock, tick tock! ;D
Don't forget to post pics as you go!
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I haven't used a rock or fire for heating but I reckon if ol' Ishi could do then I suppose you could too. Give it a try. Time's a wasting.......Art B
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artcher1 I was thinking of adding the the reflex with a hot rock I think I remember reading Ishi used this method any advice? also can I heat temper with just a fire ? and I also have a bunch of HHB growing around here not much hickory but I could find some
Cut a couple of the HHB and get to carving....Lets see a 30 day bow ;)
You will become addicted.
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Day 1
Aug 27 , Found the smallest HHB I could, as you can see it was scraped up by a down tree . I was worried about it being damaged, but after cutting it down all was good (one on the left ) . I wanted to use the top being thinner but was pretty knotty. The base was about the straightest piece I've found on the property . Was afraid of messing it up trying to split it so I started chipping away the belly with the hatchet . got quite a bit done will be back at it tonight and tomorrow . I sealed it up with kilz2 latex . I'm trying to keep it down to basic hand tools . hatchet , knife , sand paper , file, etc. Its already starting to like a bow got more done then what is in the pics . Will have a update in a few days . What you guys think ?
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Keep us posted, it will be an interesting experiment.
Grady
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Day 3
Aug 30, after 3 days with the hatchet this is what I have it down to . I'm at about an inch thick at both nocks and about 1"- 1 1/4" on the limbs . Should I keep going with the hatchet ? Or let it cure some before I take any more off ? I sealed it back up with kilz and its in a cool dry spot right now .
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If it were me, I'd go for a bend in the handle cus that'll dry faster than a deep handle and won't likely check in the deep handle area. Keep going.....you're going to be less than an inch thick at the handle to about 1/2 in thick at the tips. Take enough off till it just starts to bend at floor tiller and it'll season much faster. You're going to be down past the center of the stave (limb-trunk whatever) all along the length and you won't get any checking on the belly side but keep that back sealed up cuz you don't want any checks on the back side. I've no experience with HHB but I have with American Hornbeam and it checks like crazy if you remove the bark while green and don't seal it (and takes some crazy drying reflex if it's not strapped down while seasoning). Leave it full width (don't shape the profile) until it seasons more or it might warp sideways also.
A perfect model to follow is this post that Don put on about the same time as yours http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41947.0.html
And he's even using HHB..................
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(and takes some crazy drying reflex if it's not strapped down while seasoning).
yea I can see that already
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Okay update , Sept 1 and 2
I got this thing whittled down to a pretty stick finally :D its been in the retro camper which is out in full sun It gets nice and toasty in there . Sealed it all back up with kilz and going to let it sit for a while . I've been scraping some sinew out of what I have left in the freezer ,which is mostly leg packs and some back strap . Trying to eat it all up anyways to make room for some new meat . I think will have enough to put one layer on for a backing . I don't have a draw knife , so when I get to the tiller I was thinking of using my hen rooster survival knife , rasp and file ? Any other Suggestions or advice would be appreciated . This is fun >:D oo and if cut some dogwood for arrows just bundle up let season and sand down ?
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Looks great!
If that were my stave I would go for a handle that is 7/8 thick from the center of the boe taper it down to11/16 at the limbs 5 in from your center mark. Carry that thickness to the nock ends.
Width wise I would do a parallel limb to mid of 2in then taper to 7/8 wide tips.leave the handle full 2 in wide as it will warp some. You want enough material in the handle and tips to get the string in the middle of the handle. Let it dry at around 50% humidity for a week or two then put it in a car in the sun for a week and start floor tillering. Leave the ends and back covered to prevent checks.
Hope it helps :)
Greg
Ps. A good farriers rasp will be your friend.look for them at a local feed mill or farm and Gardner supply store. If ya look on line save edge is the best, i know this from being a farrier for 16 years before I got my RN.
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if that were my stave I would make it approx 2" wide at the handle and taper to 3/8ths tips. no tricks- setback, recurves, sinew...
and see how she bends. Then let it sit for a week in mom's car.
then tiller it out.
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Okay so I'm going to try introducing some reflex to the tips the Ishi way with the hot rock . should this be done after tiller ? or at what point? The description on how he did it is very vague , I'm assuming that steam should be involved with a cloth , foil or something . I almost want to say from what I read he did it before it was seasoned fully . Any Ideas ?