Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Stick Man on March 17, 2015, 09:40:06 am
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First I wanted to say how much I enjoy lurking around on this site and checking out the works of art that you guys produce on a daily basis. Just to let you know I am very interested in building my first bow, I have an Osage Stave that I bought back in January sitting in the shop for just that purpose. Just bought a Drawknife, file set, and some rasps. Anyway I am a man of little free time unfortunately. I have a 4 year old and 10 month old and work full time, the wife works later at night and weekends. Was curious how long the process takes from start to finish for some of you guys. I know this changes from person to person and from build to build but was just looking at averages. I'm not really concerned with how long my build would take per say. I know since this is my first bow that the law of averages don't mean squat to me, especially with me choosing an Osage stave with sinew and flipped tips for my first build (All or nothing right). Was just curious how many bow hours you guys put in per bows from start to finish. Lets use a example of Osage stave, flipped tips, sinew, skins. Thanks for your opinions
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I'd say around 30 hours for a straight limbed selfbow.
Jawge
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5-12 hours is pretty common for me depending on what Im after. There is a lot of hurry up and wait in this hobby.
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I'm usually 10 - 15 hrs, but will work 4 hrs one day than not be able to get back to it for a couple days or maybe a week later. It always seems when i get rollin something else pops up. I really admire these guys that pop em out on a regular basis.
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I would break it down into stages if it were my first bow. This way you can watch on line videos and come here for questions and advice.
Clean up the stave and chase a ring on the back, if you have to chase more than one keep doing it until you get a perfect ring.
Make sure you have a way to secure the bow while you work before you even start or you will be fighting it the entire time.
When I have first timers come over to make a bow they usually come over for about 4 4 hour sessions and then take it home for final sanding and finish. It may take you a bit longer if you don't have anyone right there giving you hands on instructions, take your time.
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I'm in your boat as well. A 4 and 1 1/2 yr old. I work second shift the wife works days. Just get after it when ya can. It's not a race. Take your time and ask lots of questions. Where ya located?
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Do you have to remove the bark and sapwood, or has it been removed already? Such a bow would take me at least 30 hours including processing sinew and applying it, skins, dye, finish, leather, string, the works.
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No one has said it so i will, your starting with the king of selfbows, osage, why sinew it? Most people crawl before they walk and you want to go from the womb to the Olympics, not that it can't be done but sinew is an unnecessary step, learn to chase a ring and tiller a bow, there is a ton of information that needs to be learned and a selfbow is a good place to start
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300-450 hours depending on what design you choose. ::)
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5-12 hours is pretty common for me depending on what Im after. There is a lot of hurry up and wait in this hobby.
+1
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I use all hand tools, so I typically invest 20-40 hours per bow. I often heat treat bows and reflex or recurve tips, so that adds time. I generally don't back bows with sinew anymore, though I used to a lot. If I back a bow with anything these days, it's usually rawhide.
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I agree on the sinew, no reason for it. Simple self bow will shoot just as well.
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20hrs with hand tools and heat treats and skins. I agree with Bub and Badger no need to sinew on your first one and especially since is osage. But its your baby so you do what you want to. Take it in stages and eat that elephant one bite at a time.
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I'm on my first bow, as well. I have a couple of Osage staves. I started chasing the first ring and then found that I went 2 rings below my ring on one edge near the tip. That really slipped up on me quickly ::). Maybe I can cut around it. If not, I suppose I need to remove a lot more wood now. It is not as apparent as I thought it would be chasing that ring. I have another dark (old) stave that I am working on at the same time. I am taking this second ring chase a lot slower. I will heat treat if needed, but no reflex for me. It is already easy to screw up your first bow. I'm not going to make it harder than I have to. The fancy stuff will come in time.
Best regards,
Jess Prater
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I'm in agreement with Jawge, 30 hours each for the first half dozen osage bows you make. Thats about how much time I spent each of my first ten bows, all osage. Of course I only had a couple books and no internet
but wanted to make the best selfbow ever. Even after all that time spent on them they weren't all that good when done but they all survived and I learned a lot.
I also agree to skip the sinew unless that is really what you want. I'm well over a hundred bows made in the past 17 years and haven't sinewed one yet, had the desire to a couple times but never had the need to.
Welcome to the obsession.
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About 30 hours per bow for me too.....especially if you have to remove the bark and sapwood. You will gain a little speed and confidence after ten bows or so, but it's still a time consuming process if the bow is well crafted.
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People ask this all the time but I never really time myself. If I break it down I suppose about 30 or so without sinew. But it can vary a lot. The tools you use, or don't use, play a big role.
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I with Jawges /Greg 30/35 hours for me most of the time. :)
Pappy
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Until I witness it with my own eyes, I'm flat-out calling BULL on the 5 hour sinewed osage recurve bows! :o
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who said that?
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Until I witness it with my own eyes, I'm flat-out calling BULL on the 5 hour sinewed osage recurve bows! :o
I highly doubt Chris is talking about a sinew backed recurve when he throws out 5 hours. I think everyone is giving times for the bows they build, not neccesarily the example in the original post.
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I wasn't thinking sinew when I said 4 sessions 4 hours each for a student builder. Sinew can be time consuming.
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Until I witness it with my own eyes, I'm flat-out calling BULL on the 5 hour sinewed osage recurve bows! :o
Not counting cure time and actually working on it time I bet there's a few folks around i know that might be able to pull that off if given a perfect osage stave. 5-10 mins to run a ring...10 mins to have a bending blank off the saw...10 mins to clean up and have it floor tillered ready for recurving and sinewing...30 mins per tip to bend and shred ur sinew while that's happening If ya wanna get technical and add the waiting time of watching ur wood get steamed...2 hours to sinew... And that still gives ya and hour and a half left to finish tiller n shoot it in which is plenty of time. Not that I'd wanna build a bow this way,but just playing devils advocate and think it could be done by the right person.
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It could definitely be done in 5 hours if it's just straightforward work and you have the right tools.
But that's turning things into a pie eating contest.
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I like pie.
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Well perhaps we need to further qualify things then. When I speak of how long it would take me to make such a bow, I'm counting everything involved at my regular pace, enjoying myself while making the best I'm capable of... not how fast I could possibly crank out something 'serviceable'... like it was a race and my life depended on the time... instead of the bow :^)
Heck, I'll bet it takes me 2-3 hours just to final sand and apply the finish. At least aother hour for the string, rest, grip, etc.
The last sinew and fish backed osage recurve I made fought me most of the way and I bet I had 50 hours or more of actual working time in it.
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Time doesn't make a great bow, bowyers do.
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Taking a different tack on this question. No idea how long it takes me as I have never timed it or even thought it was necessary to do so. I love making bows. I can get lost in what I am working on and finish one rather quickly. Other times I can work on one all day and make very little progress, usually because I am talking with the guys and just enjoying the day. It's my leisure time. My guy time. My alone time. I will get one to a certain point and set my mind on getting it finished. I'm ready to shoot it. Ready to post it on PA, or maybe just ready to start another one, but it is rarely a timed event for me.
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Jeff. Just cus you cant doesn't mean nobody can. :P :-* All the times for each step I posted are proven times by more than one person. And they had a smile on there face enjoying it the whole time. A very experienced person knows exactly how to take off wood in a jiffy even at a normal pace. On a normal day and in my normal time I can have a bark on osage stave at a decent floor tillered stage in an hour easy without breaking a sweat. And the outcome can still be a kick @$$ bow,and more than just a "serviceable" bow like ya say. To each there own...just don't say it can't be done cus you can't and wouldnt like too.
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I wouldn't recomend a newbe to rush but just from personnal experience I will very often finish an osage stave to bow in 1 session with plenty of computer breaks inbetween. No power tools, I would guess about 4 hours actual work. The sanding and finish if I decide to do so would likely take a couple more hours but I seldom get around to it. Not rushing just working at a level Ilike to work at. Several years ago I turned out about 2 dozen board bows in a weekend for a reincatment group, no sanding or finishes. That was all power tools.
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Though I can get jazzed up and pump a few bows out quickly, generally I enjoy taking my time and enjoying the process. It's not a race and I could care less if I'm quicker than last time. Not to get all deep up in here but I found enjoying the process is the key to most things in life. Well and lots of pie! :o ;) ;D
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Thanks for all the great opinions and answers to the post guys, I wasn't to worried about the time either was just curious about averages times that some of you professionals take. As far as why I picked Osage, well because I swing for the fences I guess. I really bought this Stave prior to delving into the different species of wood and how easy or hard to work these species are. I was cruising eBay and came across the Osage Stave that look straight, didn't have any knots, and there wasn't very highly priced. I might take the advice of not using Sinew on this bow. I just like the idea of incorporating material from the animal I plan on hunting with this bow into the build. Also plan on using Whitetail deer horn antler for the tip overlays. I like the idea of the little added performance coming from the animal I will be hunting. Anyway again thanks for all the great responses and discussion on the topic. Some of you guys really are masters of this craft no matter how long you take lol
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I'm in your boat as well. A 4 and 1 1/2 yr old. I work second shift the wife works days. Just get after it when ya can. It's not a race. Take your time and ask lots of questions. Where ya located?
Im in South Carolina
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Really depends as others noted.
Standard Osage with no knots and straight, (yea it happens), only have to go one ring down, 15 hours.
Lots of pin knots, add about 3-5 hours. Have to go down 5 rings, add 3 hours. Put on skins or rawhide backing, add 4 hours. Add horn tips, add 2 hours, nice leather grip, add an hour, on and on.
Last summer I finished a yew longbow with slide on horn tips, and takedown sleeve and I bet I had 50 hours in that thing. First time I ever fitted tips onto a bow like that, and first time I make a takedown.
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Depends on my own mood at the time .... and how many mountain dews i drank, how many days till the Classic.... how long till hunting season, what songs are playing on the radio, etc... I have learned to savor the process more lately, but I have picked up an osage stave, seen a bow hiding in there somewhere, and gorilla tillered/attacked it till I was shooting it three or four hours later. That's just using hand tools. Some of those quickly built bows have been real good shooters and are still hanging on my rack. I have never worked with sinew backing so I don't know much about that. These days, I usually work on one off and on for a couple of weeks, and I am enjoying it more all the time. I think by putting in an hour or so of well thought out work on a bow and then coming back to it again and again, with fresh eyes and hands each time, I end up with a better finished product.
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When I first started making bows, I moved ahead so cautiously I had a month in each bow. Now that I have a few under my belt and know exactly how to proceed, I can start one in the morning and be shooting it in the afternoon. Do I do this often, no, too much grunt work, and not any fun at all.
My normal now is to work on a bow for a couple hours a day, put it down and chase rings on another stave, glue up some billets, split a few quarters or just goof off in my shop on other projects.
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Thanks for all the great opinions and answers to the post guys, I wasn't to worried about the time either was just curious about averages times that some of you professionals take. As far as why I picked Osage, well because I swing for the fences I guess. I really bought this Stave prior to delving into the different species of wood and how easy or hard to work these species are. I was cruising eBay and came across the Osage Stave that look straight, didn't have any knots, and there wasn't very highly priced. I might take the advice of not using Sinew on this bow. I just like the idea of incorporating material from the animal I plan on hunting with this bow into the build. Also plan on using Whitetail deer horn antler for the tip overlays. I like the idea of the little added performance coming from the animal I will be hunting. Anyway again thanks for all the great responses and discussion on the topic. Some of you guys really are masters of this craft no matter how long you take lol
Im a fence swinger myself who ran before I learned to crawl. I know the feeling. My advice? Tear it up man, if that's what you want to build. Its your bow, your build, your hunt and your time.
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I'm with Chris, build whatever u want. There's no time limit. I have an Osage bow I chased and roughed out within 2 hrs. I also have a black locust bow I have about 12 hrs into. And it's not even bending. Each person is different and each piece of wood is different. Find what works for u and go with it.