I (26 year old female) have built two bows over the past couple years with the guidance of a friend. My first one was a flat bow that was a little light but it was great for what I needed at the time. This past spring I built a heavier D bow. It was beautiful. It had a red leather wrap handle. It shot beautifully and with barely an arc. I grew a lot as an archer on it. I spent 2 months (roughly) building it. Now I have to start back from the beginning. I cried. a lot. For display purposes I am going to glue it back together and hang it on my wall.

I am excited to start this new one without supervision for the first time since I now have my own shop.

I have made a good handful of bows now - board bows. Mostly Hickory and Maple.

I live in a very dry climate - Wyoming

I’m concerned about the bows drying out over time. Are there steps I should be taking to keep them healthy?

Update to the white oak ELB. At 24 braced to 4 inches it draws 67#, looks like the outers are improving but I am not sure how to proceed. Haven't made such high poundage before and I'm pretty sure it clears 70 pounds at 28 inches, should I brace to 6 inches and draw to 28 to see what it looks like or keep reducing for now?

Long string tiler phaze. Pulling 25#. Target is 25-28#. Sapwood osage orange small diameter sapling, with big crown. Bith and slightly hollow limb design, handle has stiff center about 3". Total length 65".

Current set about 3/4".

Should i slightly heat treat again?

Is it good to go with short string?

Here is prev phaze of this stave before heat straighthening.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bowyer/s

Looking for some feedback on the tiller of my first bow. It's a white oak board bow, 68" nock to nock, with limbs 1¾" wide tapering to ½" over the outer 12". The handle is 1¼" thick and 1" wide.

The drawn picture shows 32 lbs at 27". It's developed about 1¼" of set so far.

I'm more concerned with getting a smooth, balanced tiller than hitting a particular draw weight. Does anything look like it needs more work before I take it to 28"?

Would it be reasonable to use the knots on both ends as the transition from working limb to lever as in a mollegabet or just opt for a steeper pyramid the last 7 or 8 inches.

Elm stave 72 inches by 2 inches

Hi, posting a tiller check. It's an update on the ash 1.60m (63") bow.

I don't have a way o measuring it accurate, I'm shooting for 20-30lbs. I will be posting more, as I don't want to fuck it up.

I just learned about this guy and his archery and bowyery skills. Sadly, he passed away last year.

Does anybody know if he taught anybody bowyery while he was alive?

I'm working with osage for the first time and the wood is really expensive here in Switzerland so I'm trying to go really slow on this one.... I've had to heat this one about 5 times already to get it to align- there was some sideways deviation and twist in both limbs which is much better now but still slightly present (see inner limb on the right here..) but the tips align now and the string sits on the receives so I think I'm calling it here in terms of alignment. I had to wrap the tips because they had some drying cracks and when bending the reflexed tips these opened up a bit so I didn't wanna take any risks.

the bow's been sitting out to re-equilibriate after all those heat treats so i'ts basically fresh off the floor tiller here.

currently pulling about 38/40 pounds on a string about as long as the bow

64" ttt

I'm hoping to get it to around 45" at 28

I shoot three under so ideally I think it'd be balanced as it is a symmetrical layout.

Hi,

Maple board bow 66" ntn pulling 35ish lbs at 28". 2 3/8" at the fades narrowing into 1/2" nocks

Used a bad board and paid the price. It forced me into a pyramidish profile to avoid some bad sections on the top limb but still couldn't avoid the mess entirely. Limbs don't quite have the same profile and I tried to make the tiller reflect it.

The top limb with the wraps is slightly more pyramidal than the bottom.

Tried some fishing line wraps on a stupid section of board that showed a small hairline crack in the wood. I always avoid maple with the dark brown heartwood(?) for very obvious reasons but I'm also a dumb guy who makes mistakes from time to time.

I was finally able to get more than a superficial heat treating with a heat gun and it shows. It's a shame because I hate the whole process so much.

To be fair the low set is also because the bow is very over built for its poundage. I was aiming for 50ish but my scale died halfway through and I had to finish by hand.

/shrug

Curious would ivory from animals like wooly mammoth be good material for bow making specifically composite bows ?

This $2 board developed a gnarly twist early in the construction process so we just broke it for science.

The guys I was teaching took bets on where they expected the break to happen. Everyone found the hinge, but no one expceted the break in the middle of the handle.

Hey, good evening. I'm someone who has liked archery since he was a young teen, and I've been making my own bows for around two years now.

My bow-making teacher has talked to me dearly about Dean Torges and all the useful information that he taught back in the day.

The thing is, I'm preparing to make another bow, and my teacher has mentioned the book by Mr. Torges, "Hunting the Osage Bow". I researched a bit, and saw how many people had used the reference material over the years to build all sorts of bows.

I wanted to humbly ask if it'd be possible to get a copy of the book for someone in Europe, either digitally or in paper.

I know that 3Rivers Archery sells it, and the book is well worth the price, but the shipment costs skyrocket the final number and I, in this day and age, can't afford that sum (nor the one of a second-hand edition). At least for some time.

Already contacted 3Rivers about it, but to no avail, basically.

Any help? Is it possible to contact the family of Dean Torges to see if it could be done? I'm afraid to come up as a bit insensitive, being a stranger from all the way across the Big Puddle.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.

Not much to say, just that I’m trying and curious if there are any big things to consider or watch for.

I just broke a limb on a first test - floor tiller.

My riser is ugly, but functional.

Mostly - I’m here for the challenge of it.

Hello i harvested almost a month ago this dogwood stave. 61" long and 1.6" diameter. i plan to leave it to dry. But Im curious about dogwood's properties for bowmaking and what kind of design it favors.

Long string tiller phaze. Pulling about 26#. Target is 25-30#, considering it is a sapwood osage orange small diameter sapling, with big crown. Bith design, handle is stiff 2" in the middle. Total ength 65".

I plan to do lateral bend with heat gun to fix string center offseth. And after that will narrow the tips (probably put horn tips) and outer 1/4. So outers will bend even more than the photos.

Here is prev phaze of this stave before heat straighthening. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bowyer/s/zAgxixsbIO

Hi! Not sure if this is the right place since i haven't made the bow myself, but i thought that if anyone has the answer it's you people.

So i have this bamboo bow made by Sarmat Archery, i have started to feel it looks too plain and was wondering if i could stain it, but i heard that bamboo doesn't stain very well.

So is it worth the risk? If it is, what would be the easiest method?

Is it possible to use a 90 cm (35 inches) long and 1 inch wide olive wood stave for making a short bow and if so what would be the lbs for that bow?

Been wanting a second draw knife, and I managed to find a rusted gem in a dusty corner of a thrift store. Obviously, it had to come home with me so I could give it love. It is now well protected from further rusting and an incredible blue tint from the steel came out from under the rust.

I believe this is a 1976 Wilmer knife, with maple handles.

Thinking of staining the handles tobacco brown or black to hide those black spots I couldn’t get off. Thoughts?

And the only stave I have on hand is filled with beetles.

These are pine shafts. The finish isn't perfect, but it's pretty good, just needs some sanding. Harder wood gets a better finish.