Got a couple billets from a California bowyer named Paul Rodgers. The red handled bow is the same one I was trying to troubleshoot the riser in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bowyer/comments/1up86mx/near_flawless_yewexcept_riser_issues/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1, i ended up regluing a yew riser and reshaping the faded a little and it has held so far.

Red handle is 45@28, 72” long with jatoba tip overlays and green is 43@28 and 71” long with cow horn tip overlays and a walnut handle overlay over the splice. Glued on cork arrow shelf.

The goal was to maximize comfort in shooting so i left them pretty long and flipped the tips a little, I really like the early draw weight smoothness and performance that comes from flipping the tips on a longish flatbow.

Both bows had a touch of natural deflex in one of the billets which I used as the top limb so it does look like I have a ton of positive tiller but it feels pretty balanced to draw to me. Finished with tru oil. The full draw pics are from pre-riser troubleshooting on the red bow hence different handle colors. Thanks for looking!

65” ash flat bow. the top limb is the one that’s ended up wider. prop twist in the handle.

Im not sure about thickness of it as well (its rowan so im not even entirely sure it will do for a bow)

I've been thinking about making my own arrows for my crossbow out of tree branches, if possible. But I don't know how doable this is, can you do the easily enough or do you need perfectly straight wooden dolls. Edit i'm aware that with a compound crossbow the arrow would break. but i'm using a Homemade recurve style Crossbow.

How bad is this? I’ve maybe shot it 500-750 times. That layer of carbon runs all the way up the top limb.

I'm in WA, and struggling to find a good wood for making a bow with, the best I can find is a 40mmx40mm spotted gum batten. Is this wide enough to make a beginner's bow with? Or should I look elsewhere for better material?

when tapering the bow from top to the handle should I have width be mostly the same until 5 inches to the handle where I then begin sloping it to level or should I have a continuous slope?

Countless hours of work, frustration and patience + inhumane expedition to sun burning desert to make final photos....all gone in a fraction of a second Merciless sound of cracking wood and your brain needs time to understand what happened. Well, welcome to bowyers reality : sometimes you will do all the correct steps and still you will fail! We have an appointment after a summer mother*****r !!! You will sing, oh yes you will !!!!

I am writing a novella in which my main character is an archer. Zi ends up in a place zi must escape, (life and death matter) and zi hasn't any of ziz archery equipment of course. So, as a result, my oc finds the bare minimum, primitive supplies to create a bow and a decent number of arrows, (zi uses an old sack for a quiver, as well.) I am merely looking to figure out what one would absolutely NEED, some alternatives for certain tools due to lack of supplies. But mostly, I must know good techniques zi can use. (This oc of mine is also a craftsman, so zi would be very skilled at making things like this.) Thank you A TON in advance! (This knowledge will help me greatly) also, note that my oc is located in an underground realm where they don't have access to wood. That said, I have other solutions for such (they're VERY creative with materials in this realm 'cause of this) I just wanted to throw that out there. (Sori for rambling.)

Join us.

​

I don't have many tools available, I have two bench clamps, a heat gun and a wooden board to which I mounted two plastic disks so that the PVC can have a tapering

But having said that, why did it turn out this way? Can I fix it?

First: an experiment that doesn't break new ground but it's cool to see with my own eyes. I made 4 sugar maple bows in a row from the same board over the last two months. Gave three away, kept the last one, which has near identical stats to a hickory bow I made in March.

Both bows draw 45 lbs at 27" after shooting in, have the same 1.5" width, very similar bend in the handle design (not exact), but the hickory has ~6" it doesn't need.

Hickory: 68" length

Bow #4 sugar maple 62" length

Maple shoots a 350 grain arrow at 150 - 155 fps - was just over 160 fps initially

Hickory shoots the same arrow 140-145 fps

EDIT: these speeds might have been relatively useful but were way off actual speeds. I stand too close to the chronograph while firing. Big thanks to u/Wambachaka for challenging the results. The maple bow shoots >180 fps and the hickory at ~170 fps with this light arrow. These bows do not suck. My measurements do!

The maple bow throws more arrow and less bow. It's less dense and it's shorter.

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Second: the only real innovation from all of the dialing in with the same BITH design repeatedly is that I finally answered a question I've had for about a year now. What is the minimum wood removal possible from a 0.5" dimensional lumber sugar maple board for a good hunting strength bow? It may not be the right question, but it's a question that I wanted to answer.

Answer: for a 27" draw, 1.5" width, 62" length, profile tapered to 3/8" for 20" from the tip", you get about 45 lbs draw without removing any material from the middle ~10" of bow. I think this bow only took about 2 hrs to make, draw knife for profile, block plane for thickness. I found that a little light trapping goes a long ways, especially at the tips. It's a very forgiving, good performing design. Tiller it as symmetrically as you can and you can micro-adjust the handle and nock positions as needed to shoot straight as it shoots in. I also use tie-wraps nocks for the same reason (and because they are light)

pics: bow #4 maple vs hickory same stats, bow #3: 35 lbs at 26", that same bow before sanding, bow #2: 12 lbs 16" for a tall 7 year old who likes orange and blue, bow #1: 26 lbs at 24" that shot a 250 grain arrow 147 fps. All from the same 6" good-but-imperfect sugar maple board

Alright who is ready for some Candy?

Arrows with rawhide and wool lashings

Cottoneaster bow with awesome backset due to heat treating. Heat treating works wonders. I heat treat mine to a schorched black

Heat treating jig that I use over wood fire to get backset(we all love arched backs right?) Also works great for correcting string alignement. I can clamp the tips out.

Got bored and decided to make a bow. Using an axe, hand planer and a knife.
Wood is some kind of oak.

I'm making my first bow, and am short on money, so I'm doing a fair bit of research to help make sure it has the best chance at life that it can.

I bought the best 1x2x8 board I could find between home depot and lowes, between red oak and maple. The grain is quite straight and most fibers seem to go end to end, but one end of the bow is warped width-ways. I cut off the most warped section for the bow handle since Dan Santana's maple board bow guide thins it, but it still have some warp left.

I tried to steam it twice. Both times, I covered it with towel and aluminum foil, steamed the peak of the warp at the center of the pot, and let it go for an hour, then within 30 seconds got it clamped straight. Both times it bounced back after 24 hours. Not sure if living in Tucson AZ makes this more challenging or what.

I also read on here that some people follow the grain on warped boards, but it's not clear to me what that means, or if that applies here. Like follow the center-most grain end-to-end, and treat that as the centerline, and basically draw a slightly warped and wiggly blueprint onto the wood as the profile? Or is this so small that I just ignore it? The warped end has a bit more runoff than the rest of the board.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm very excited, and very nervous

Edit: picture in comments

Im making my first bow and just trying to get the a rough idea for when I make an actual attempt. Im whittling down my branch and wondered if I’m supposed to shave wood of the back of the branch too? Or only from the belly. Just don’t wanna make any catastrophic mistakes, the little ones I’ll figure out on my own

Pretty much the title. I live newlar the blue mountains of washington state and have access to well over 1000 acres to look for bow trees. I have walked about every last inch of this area. In the last five years I have found 1 pacifc yew. Due to the dry climate it is scarce and usually more of a shrub then tree with branches maxing out at about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. The yew I found maybe had a half an inch in diameter on the longest branch. I have heard juniper and tamarack as potential bow wood but have had even less luck in finding these.

The primary trees I come across are primarily Douglas fir and grand fir.

I have some white pine, ponderosa pine and a handful of ceder. Im at a loss for what wood to go for as all of my reading has said not to use these woods as its likely they will not work as they are all soft woods not suitable for bowyering.

I've looked into what the Nez Perce tribe which was located near the area used and most of what I found was that they would harvest large amounts of yew from.other areas and bring it with them as they migrated around the area and would occasionally use elk antlers. I have found several elk antlers but im pretty sure I want to master wood bows before I carve up an elk antler just for it not to work.

I think I might have to make a board bow but would like eventually to be able to find a tree that I can make into a bow tree or even a way any of the firs could make a bow that has a draw weight of 50 lbs and not break within a few dozen shots.

This is my second attempt, currently pulling 45lb at 24 inch’s target weight is 45lb at 28 looking for any advice on how I should tackle this moving forward am I jumping too far ahead or?

Hey guys. Wondering if anyone here has gone the route of changing the colour of their string wrappings on their bows before and know what they’re doing or could just offer suggestions.

I’m thinking of recolouring the string wrappings to black or brown and was thinking perhaps dye could work however I’m unsure if that would effect the strength of the material and make it more prone to damage.

It’s just a cheap one from Ameygxs however I love it and tend to use it more than my target recurve.

TIA

I've received some great advice from y'all on material, but I'm still a little stumped on this. Maybe it will click with me this time.

I purchased these boards (2" thick hickory and 1 1/4" ash) where the grain runs straight down the sides of the boards and the faces are fairly plain sawn. My idea was that I could set the table saw to 3/4" and get multiple staves. From all I've read and watched, I'd be ticking the box with my grain running straight as possible the length of the board on the back and belly, but the sides will be much more plain sawn. Is this a good plan?

Also, I want to try making a laminated long bow at some point in the future. Do the ideas about grain direction apply to the wood used for the back and belly in glue-ups?

thanks everyone

I’d be interested to know if any of you here have built this style of PVC bow with the fiberglass tubes inside.
If you have, post yours below!