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I have the most experience with hickory. Hickory is very tough and it won’t break as easily if you cut throught grain on the back of the bow. It is the best wood for beginners. Oak has broken on me before without a backing. The oak and walnut will probably work if you laminate a 1/4″ layer of hickory for a backing. Since you have access to these that is the way I would go. Poplar is too soft and I don’t recommentd it. If you are making flat bows, keep the limbs at least 2″ wide at the bases and gradually taper to the knocks. I like 68″ for my bow length. Any shorter and you might risk breakage with a beginners bow. Also if you maintain the rectangular cross section without rounding off the edges to much you can make a thinner bow without sacrificing bow weight. Take wood off of the belly of the bow and only scrape or sand the back (side away from you).You will need a tillering board to check the tiller as you go. I highly recommend the Traditional Bowyers Bible set from 3 Rivers. Hope this helps.
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shoot01 wrote: I HAVE THE CHOICE OF RED OR WHITE OAK, WALNUT, POPLAR I CAN GET A PEICE OF HICKERY OBOUT 3/4 INCH THICK AND 4 INCHS WIDE AND 7 FEET LONG ANY OF THESE MAKE A GOOD LONG BOW. IT IS ALL SEASON WOOD
THANKSYou could rip the 4″ hickory board down to 2″ and glue on a 10″ peice for the handle. Could use a different wood for the handle.
The all hickory would be my first choice. once you have made a bow you might try laminating a slice of hickory to the oak or walnut. If you have red cedar, I’ve heard of using that with a hickory backing.
To lay off the handle I divide the bow in half 68″ is 34″ then I draw a center line at 34″ and a line down the middle of the bow. I then lay off the handle 4″ to either side of the center or an 8″ handle. The handle will be about 1-1/4″ thick. You can give it some curves for a palm swell if you want. The base of the limbs will be 2″. The knock end will be about 1/2″ wide. I would begin the limb taper about 12″ from the limb base/handle. Use a straight edge to lay this off. Now you can cut all this out with the band saw. That was the easy part. I use draw knives, scrapers and rasps to work the limbs down to the knocks taking wood only from the belly (side facing you). I round the tips off to a blunt point and cut the knocks about 1/8″ deep with a 1/8″ round file. About 3/4″ from the tip cut a 45 degree angle from front to back of bow angling to the back toward the handle. Go slow taking the wood off the belly and tiller often. The tiller shape will tell you where to take off wood. You want a smooth curve with no flat spots in the curve. As you get closer to the final shape use only the scraper or rasp and be careful, taking too much wood will make a good bow weak very quickly. Resist the temptation to round off the edges of the limbs, that will also weaken the bow. Just sand the edges smooth. You can round off the edges in the handle area for comfort.
Hope this helps. -
This is just a question but what type of equipment do you need to build a bow. I think I would like to give this a try. When talking with elders in the sub acrtic region of Canada, they remember seeing their elders using white spruce branches, the really big ones that had dried at the base of the tree.
SB
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StandingBear wrote: This is just a question but what type of equipment do you need to build a bow. I think I would like to give this a try. When talking with elders in the sub acrtic region of Canada, they remember seeing their elders using white spruce branches, the really big ones that had dried at the base of the tree.
SB
Standing Bear,
I use only hand tools. Here is a list in the order I use them.Hand Saw – to cut the stave to length
Hatchet – to reduce the stave to a rough shape.
12″ Draw Knife – to shape the bow and handle area
Spoke Shaves – to to continue shaping but takes off less material
4 Way Rasp – final basic shaping
Cabinet Scrapers – This will remove tool marks and do fine wood removal while tillering
1/8″ round file – cut the string knocks
Sandpaper of various grits – depends on how smooth you want it.
Duncan -
Shoot01:
You are asking the same questions I asked when my interest leaned to building one of my own. To date, I have completed a white oak longbow ( broke in three pieces first drawing ), two black locust flatbow design ( wood developed hinges – failed) and I now have an ironwood shaped, but, not completed and a whole pile of hickory staves. The hickory seems strong, nice grain and easy to work and the ironwood, well, it works like iron – tough and really needs sharp tools to bring it down. Conclusion to date: Will be working on a hickory self bow, leaving it long and trying for that first successful flight from an arrow. -
Buckhorn73 wrote: Shoot01:
You are asking the same questions I asked when my interest leaned to building one of my own. To date, I have completed a white oak longbow ( broke in three pieces first drawing ), two black locust flatbow design ( wood developed hinges – failed) and I now have an ironwood shaped, but, not completed and a whole pile of hickory staves. The hickory seems strong, nice grain and easy to work and the ironwood, well, it works like iron – tough and really needs sharp tools to bring it down. Conclusion to date: Will be working on a hickory self bow, leaving it long and trying for that first successful flight from an arrow.Buckhorn,
I had the same results with oak and ash. I have heard that locust is a good wood if you can find the right stave and the hinging problem is typical. Hickory is very forgiving and most likely to give success. It can develop some string follow though over time. I found that the longer I let it air dry the less string follow it will develop. I’ve even had some good shooters that were not exactly straight.
Just my 2 cents, Duncan
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