make your own bows?

[longshot]

what wood do you like to use?

what style bow do you like to make?

how heavy?

how long?

inquering minds want to know..

ls

[Tightwad]

This might help, mate..........

http://anthropology.net/user/kelly_hale/blog/2006/03/12/how_to_make_a_simple_hunting_bow_part_i

http://anthropology.net/user/kelly_hale/blog/2006/03/13/how_to_make_a_simple_hunting_bow_part_ii

[longshot]

im currently making a bow from red oak will be 66 inches from tip to tip *not sure of the bow weight but as long as it don't break i figure im doing fine. ;D

this will be my first bow BTW
ls

[RangerRick]

I've made a couple "stick bows" and they have always been fun projects. *Here in Oklahoma we make em mostly out of hedgeapple which we have a seemingly unending supply. *Of course it's "other" name would be Osage, I suppose taken from the Indian tribe of that fame.

What with my friend Mr. Arthritis-in-the-shoulder I don't pull what I once did so now a days 45# is about I care to yank on.

Style - simple stick at or about 65".

While stick bows are fun to play with when I'm shootin for the freezer I use the compound cause I can't eat nostalgia.

;D

Ranger Rick

[1lifetolive]

Longshot,
tradgang.com is a great site with lots of info on making bows .
If your new to stickbows 40 to 45# is a good weight to start with. Being overbowed will put you on the fast track to poor shooting. Also a bow in this weight range is plenty for deer

[woodsman1031]

Longshot

the best one is www.thebowyersden.com



Tommy

[jim]

I think the Welsh (English) Longbow was made from yew wood.

jim

[longshot]

right on the money Jim, the english long bow is made of Yew, more specifically the belly- the side facing the archer when drawing the bow, was made from the heart wood and the back- the other side was made from sap wood. if you look at it from the side it has 2 colours light and dark. this gives the bow a natural spring action making them well worth the fame they have earned.

ls

[ryanmercer]

I make period long bows as my persona in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism www.sca.org) is that of an archer. They are generally 15-30# draw as they only get used for competition and not for hunting. I've only made four, and only with help from someone else through every step, I made a dozen arrows once too, but he can do it a lot better than me so I leave that art to him and I simply buy my wood arrows 3-rivers archery here in Indiana. 3 of them have been hickory and we tried yew on one although that was a beast to make (once we found a straight enough piece of yew)

[remington]

I like Osage longbows and 40# seems about right.

[Southern_Gent]

Longshot,

Earlier this year I made a primitive bow out of a Live Oak sapling. It wasn't pretty, but it functioned well enough with the cane arrows I made for it. In an emergency situation, it would've been enough to bag a squirrel or rabbit for supper.

I'm getting ready to start on a new project. I recently borrowed a copy of the Bowyer's Bible, Volume 1 from my local library. I will read through it and use it's methods to construct a bow. I think this volume shows the method of making flat bows. Once I'm confident enough in making bows of this type, I'll dig into volumes 2 and 3, and see if I can learn the art of making composite and recurve bows.

Since building the primitive bow, I've had an urge to get back into archery.

[woodsman1031]

Southern Gent,

How did the bow turn out? I can really appreciate someone that can build a bow. Out of quite a few tries I only had one that did not break. I attempted several months later to shorten that one to increase draw weight, and I broke it.

Tommy

[rAcErRicK]

Wow, I've only had one bow break. Actually it was more of an explosion. There was a very loud crack similar to a 22 cal pistol going off, just as I released the arrow. Pieces of bow went everywhere, and the piece with string still attached barely missed my head. I don't want to experience that again. I have read where a bow break can be very dangerous, and can vouch for that first hand.

rick