new to forum, new to traditionals.

[thatoneguy1991]

#3500

well hello everyone, i just recently over the last couple of months have gotten extremely interested in traditional bows, and hunting with them. i am a successful wood worker, and am looking into building my first long bow just for some giggles as it will be my first bow ever. I was going to make my first bow out of red oak from homedepot because im not considering this to last an extremely long time but jut to get the feel of making the bow, and taking some game with it most likely going to be rabbits and other such things…so heres my real question, does a longbow need to be backed with anything or do i face the ever dreaded splintering from it being under tension?

[David Petersen]

#20608

Hello oneguy — Welcome to tradbow. I have built maybe three dozen wood bows, some selfbows, a few unbacked board bows like you’re considering, but mostly hickory or bamboo-backed board bows. Red oak is no great shakes as a bow wood and even with a light draw bow the only way to assure it will have much of a life at all is to make it quite long. I recommend that if you’re going to do this, start out right with a real bow wood, like osage orange, which you can usually mail order as boards for around $20 … or else back it with pignut hickory or, preferably, bamboo. A red oak bow backed with boo and not real short will take a significant “set”, or permanent bend in the direction it’s braced. And it won’t be fast. But it should not break right away either. If you have a bad experience building a bow because you use inappropriate materials, it could turn you off trad archery as well as bow-making before you even get started. IMHO. Others may have other ideas and suggestions. Good luck. Dave

[thatoneguy1991]

#22984

well the thing is, im low on money, and i guess im not really a skilled woodworker, i just did some wood working in school…and as i have found with this maple board i got i just messed the thing up lol, i guess i dont have the right tools, cuz i dont have a draw knife,and i dff dont want to buy one at 50 bucks 🙁 so what tools do you think i should get, i have a rasp set, and a stanley surform rasp, but non of them really made any kind of impact to the board, very little shaving im deff taking this stanley back but i think i would keep it if i already had a draw knife, or something similar because i tried using just a knife and it went to deep down to the back of the bow and just messed the whole thing up…im kind of angry, and dont know where to go from here…

[Steve Sr.]

#25184

Another welcome to Tradbow here!

I’m hardly the person to ask about building bows out of boards or anything else but…..

This person is!!

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/archer.html

Tons of information as well as a link to contact George but many of your questions will be answered within his webpage.

Building your own bow is definately a worthy project yet one I have not yet attempted. I’ve too many other things within Trad shooting and hunting to master to keep me busy.

Keep us posted on your work!!

God Bless
Steve Sr.

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