Couple of suggestions;

(1) Forget compound peak weight. Look for a bow no more than 5 pounds over your compound let-off weight.  Has to do with where in the weight maxes out in the draw range of motion.

(2) A starter bow will likely get upgraded in poundage and quality.  Save your excess coin for the next bow.  What you want now is just a functional stick to learn the basics.

(3) Learn basic form ………. if possible from an instructor.

Good luck !!!

Welcome Adam and yeah to what Richard has to allow.

Have fun and don’t overthink it…

Ralph

Hi Adam

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you are jumping right in . I think getting a good inexpensive starter bow is the way to go . If you have any tradbow shops within reach or a local bowyer, I would go visit and try out some of the bows available. If there is an archery club in the area with tradbow folks, you can attend and handle/shoot some bows to see what you might prefer.

Let us know how it goes , always happy to chat about traditional archery here

Picking up a copy of the Traditional Bowhunters Handbook by TJ Conrads is also a good idea – loaded with tradbow info. Since you are interested in making your own longbow, I would also recommend The American Longbow by our own Stephen Graf.

Scout aka Ray

Adam

Check out Rocky Mountain Specialty gear- large inventory of of trad stuff.  3 rivers off course and custom king . Bear and Martin Archery still make good bows —-

Since you are a carpenter you’ll definitely be ahead of most folks who try to make their own bow.

Scout aka Ray

Hello Folks,I  as well, am new to the Trad bow world. I have a query in the arrow area.  I see folks using “cactus juice” to harden woods for use in bow risers, SO, my question is: Has anyone used this hardening process on wooden arrow blanks? Any thoughts on this? I’m a semi-bored, fully gimped up veteran, so I have time to do this, but welcome any thoughts, experience on this matter as something worth the doing or am I peeing up the proverbial rope?… Thanks for your input, in advance.

Hi Gene

Welcome to the Trad bow forums .

Not sure what ” Cactus juice ” is comprised of , and have not personally tried to ” harden ” risers or arrows so can’t give any pertinent comments. Hopefully another member who has experience or knowledge of the process will comment.

Scout aka Ray

I don’t know what cactus juice is either, but there have been attempts to strengthen arrows over the years with various chemicals and processes.

There were Bill Sweetland’s ForgeWood compressed shafts.  Forgot the name of the fellow that was doing that after WWII.  Heat and compress the wood (in board form) at the same time.  Then dowel the shafts.  Super strong shafts.  But heavy.

There were Dan Quinland’s chemically hardened Super Cedar shafts.   Pull a vacuum on the shafts, then inject a polymer under pressure and wait for it to soak through the wood.  Makes the shafts heavy.

There’s a bunch of cool things to experiment on with wood.  Trying to improve its strength usually results in a really heavy product.  Sometimes too heavy to be practical for some of us.

Making wood arrows from the ground up is a blast.  I think you will have fun with it.

I like your commitment to coffee.  I feel the same way!

Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin is a premium, professional grade, heat cured resin for impregnating wood and other porous materials to make them harder, more resistant to moisture, and to add integral color with dyes.  Cactus Juice is easy to use and does not significantly change the color of most woods. It’s not solvent based and can be reused again and again.

Stabilizes and hardens punky wood
Eliminates significant wood movement due to changes in moisture content
Add integral color with dyes that go through and through
1 year shelf life
Non toxic
Non flammable
Easy soap and water clean up
Reuse excess until gone

AND there are dyes you can add to it… I may just try setting up something and try it… Being particular to green (have a lefthand greyling green Kodiak magnum) I may try some green dyes or maybe blue( my other fave color)… If I get bold enough I will post something ……thanks guys for the info!

Thanks for the info…and the history… Something else to research and read… I added the cactus juice info to another reply…below yours👍

Question;

Does Cactus Juice increase the weigh of the wood to a noteworthy degree ????

Thinking out loud …………… Cedar shaft, dip about 6 inches of the point end in the Juice. Add strength & weight to the forward end without the hassle of footing the shaft. ????