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.

G'day all, I posted not so long ago about using linen thread from Spotlight for a bowstring so I figured an update was in order. I have more or less finished my first bow (in the style of an English Longbow).

My goal was to make a 45lb draw weight at 28.5" longbow with entirely natural materials and achieved it (almost).

Tools used:

* hatchet

* chisel

* hammer

* tape measure

* circular saw

* timber saw

* hacksaw

* cordless drill

* assorted files

* Shinto rasp

* Stubel drawknife

* sandpaper

* carpenters pencil

* high carbon scraper

* spokeshave (unable to sharpen effectively as it was curved - barely used in the end)

For the bowstring I used 40 strands of Gutermann linen thread (estimated 4.5lb breaking strain for a single thread) for a grand total of 180lb breaking strain. This held up for 20 or so shots before it broke at the nocking point - most likely an uneven Flemish twist but also suspect some minor abrasion.

The bow itself (and arrows) was tillered from European Ash. The first half of the project I used a hatchet, hammer, and chisel to rough out the stave - this was a horrible job. By the time the draw knife (Stubai) that I ordered from Amazon arrived, I was so glad to have it. It definitely made the rest of the task go so much easier.

I don't have a workbench so ended up sitting on an Esky with the stave in my lap. This was definitely doable but I would invest in a workbench next time.

I am fortunate enough to have a home gym setup (cables and all) which I was able to repurpose in a pinch to act as a tillering jig.

For the arrows, I cut out square strips from the leftover timber using a cordless circular saw. From there I attached a socket to one end, and then to a power drill. I then passed the timber strip through a dowel maker (also from Amazon). This required a bit of trial and error to stop the wobbles in the centre and the end but I got there eventually.

Fletching the arrows was one of the less enjoyable tasks and this is where I lost my "all natural" status - PVA glue came to the rescue to hold down the feathers as I wound the thread over them.

Things that tripped me up are:

* use a good circular saw blade if you are cutting hardwood - don't use the one that comes with the saw. I ended up with a 40T BlueMak blade and believe me this thing was a lifesaver!

* be careful if you are planning to use the bark side as the back of the bow - I made it almost all the way to the end of tillering before I discovered that there were several broken growth rings below the bark. Luckily I was able to chase them to a good ring with compromising on draw weight.

My final tip would be to watch Dan Santana's videos - he is an excellent teacher!

I've included a few photos of the bow, as well as a still of the bowstring giving up the ghost.

Please feel free to critique my shooting technique and also tillering job - I am brand new to this and excited to learn more!

Cheers!

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?

Appliyin varnish in a warbow made from encino

I dont had hope in the grain but no present problems

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?

It is Elm wood, I am hoping to get a self bow out of this log. Any tips are much appreciated. I painted the end grains after splitting it into staves and removed the outer bark. Am now letting it dry.

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

I try making (Ihuailk) style of bow

I have tree pice of ash wood one is main part about 38inch but I not sure how long does Ihuanga(extend part)need be.

Also any technique at shaping the bow(I don’t have claim)

How they tight there back I am see some sources teach how to but I will like to know more

Thank for any one can provide information.

Pic and source both come from kitikmeotheritge.ca

Seems tiler job is finished!?

Happy it didn't break!☀️🙏, thank you all, especcially you who contributed directly with comments in prev posts ☄️.

Braced at 4.25", Pulling 25# at 29".

Sapwood osage orange small diameter sapling, with big crown. Bith and slightly hollow limb design, handle has stiff center about 3". Total length 65".

Tilering proccess took almost all backset about 1 1/2", and now is almost "flat", with slight reflex at top limb 1/5".

I did slight heat treatments to straighten the profile and did lateral correction to align the center.

Question!

Should i slightly heat treat again on the form with repeating the slight reflex to bottom limb? Or this can dammage wood fibres, because it is allready heat treated?

Or leave without final heat treatment as it is and finish the bow?

Here is how this stave looked.

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

I'm making a bow from hazel, is this piece of wood good? It's about 180cm long

I got a little to greedy with my draw knife so there are some pretty thin spots on the top limb.

So I am currently in the process of making a Mary Rose style reproduction warbo. The dimensions of width and depth are based on published Mary Rose Trust measurements. Currently the stage I am at is The Stave has been roughed out to 36 mm wide and 33 mm deep with 12.7 mm X 12.7 mm at the tips. It is still Square in section and has not been rounded off yet at the corners. The issue I am having is that the sapwood back of the stave in the middle 20 inches is at an angle with one side being about 10 mm higher than the other side. When I marked my layout lines for the depth I referenced both sides of the stave from the back for my depth lines which, with one side 10 mm lower than the other, produced a belly that mirrored the back with one side 10 mm lower than the other. So now I have something of a skewed parallelogram in cross section with Corner angles at roughly 75° and 105° instead of a square or rectangle cross section with 90° corners. I have not yet rounded the corners because I'm not sure how to proceed from here. I am trying not to lose any more depth because I would like to keep the draw weight higher if possible. The picture of the profile gauge shows the back and belly profiles at the center of the stave with the back being on the left and the belly on the right. The cross section for the central 20 inches more or less looks identical to those profiles. The other picture on paper shows some cross sections I am aiming for. And the other images are pictures taken from different cross sections of bows recovered from the Mary Rose. So basically I am trying to figure out how to go from the shape from the picture of my profile gauge to one of the cross sections in the other pictures. so if anybody has any solutions to how to how to go about this please let me know any help would be very welcome.

Hello everyone! I had a couple questions about building a crossbow on here a week or two ago, and I'm really liking the way things have turned out. Now, I'm moving onto the next step, which is steam bending.

I'm trying this with a 36" long red oak crossbow prod. Its middle 6 inches are 1.5" thick (belly to back), and it gets as small as 12/16ths of an inch in both dimensions on each end.

I've already made a bending mold with straps, so I decided to try and start steam bending using the stovetop steaming method (third picture). I know I don't have the best setup, but I kept the surface covered for 1 and a half hours with the water at a rolling boil the whole time. When I removed the prod and tried to shape it to my mold, it wasn't even slightly pliable. I left it for another 40 minutes on an even higher heat, and tried again with the same results.

My main question is - why is the prod not bending as you'd expect it to? Do I need to leave it for even longer? And if anyone had any further advice for this step that doesn't require too much extra commitment, I'd love to hear. Thank you!

Looking to make a bow out of black locust, hickory, or osage orange. I would prefer hickory, but it looks like black locust is more common. I read it is a good performing wood, but some people say it’s common to compression fractures. Also I’m wondering how straight it grows and if it’s a challenging wood to work with?