Is making a really, really high quality wooden bow a feasible one-off project for diyer who has access to a fully-equipped woodshop?
>>958373
After you've tried and failed at it a few times, sure. You will not get it perfect the first try. It is a decent project to work at though. Good luck.
>>958374
I've made a hand-cut dovetail box of decent fit and finish on my first try. So while I have some degree of patience and decent ability to read instructions a bow may be one of those things where it's too reliant on past experience and 'feel' to make it worthwhile if you aren't going to make this a passion of some sort.
So yes, if someone could confirm this, I'll just drop the thought and start saving my pennies instead.
worrying about something not being really, really high quality the first time you try it, isn't going to get you anywhere
if you want to do it for the fun and skills in making one, then do it....if you're expecting to go running through the woods to hunt other humans, I'd suggest getting one from people who have experience making them
>>958373
There's two ways to get it down. Try it over and over. Or read up on it, try out other handmade bows, ask questions about wood types, composition, thickness, etc. and then go for it (but I'd still try to apprentice under someone who has done it).
>>958373
Do it, if the parts aren't too expensive. The woodworking, initially, won't be hard, but look up how they finalize the limbs and watch some YouTube videos. As anon said, don't worry about perfection or you'll never do anything. There's entirely too much "magic" bandied about in entirely too many things, especially handcrafted things. If you do it, it will work, and it will be okay, and you'll learn from it. THEN you'll know if you should buy or build another one, and you'll know at least some of the shit from the shinola if you buy.
Firstly, the anatomy of a bow
http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/121775/recurvedbow.jpg
You can make a single growthring cover the entire back of the bow but it's really hard without a wood that has some contrast between early and late growth AKA lighter and darker growthrings. This prevents the back from lifting a splinter or worse, snapping with a deafening crack and putting half the bow through your skull. The alternative to a perfect growthring is backing it with something that absolutely does not stretch. I've heard of using silk, animal sinew and specially made strips of fiberglass which can be bought at some bow-stores online (www.binghamprojects.com?). What I've always used however, is rawhide and that will seriously never break along the back (meaning the front of the bow, see anatomy).
Cheap rawhide is easily sourced from the larger variety of dog chew toys - google "knotted rawhide bone".
I've made 5-7 bows depending on how you look at it and while I have wrecked two or three, my rawhide backings have never failed. Soak the rawhide in water until it's very soft but beware as it's prone to ripping if too saturated. Thick pieces may need to soak overnight. Thicker pieces aren't ideal though. Scrape off any leftover flesh on either side of the rawhide and cut it into strips. The rawhide will contract a little, maybe as much as 1/3, when drying so keep that in mind. I slather both one side of the limb and one side of the rawhide with Titebond 3 and tightly wrap it on using elastic bandages all the while squeezing out potential bubbles of air or excess glue. I let the glue dry and the wood normalize its moisture content somewhat for atleast like 4 days. If you bevel the rawhide you can make a pretty much seamless joint at the handle, but if it turns out ugly you can just dress the handle in some nice leather.
Don't finish rawhide with oil, it just becomes fuzzy. Use varnish or something.
Pictured: evolution of my arrows.
You must use a sufficiently hard wood so that it won't develop compression fractures along the belly (backside).
You'll want to make what's called a flatbow as wider and flatter limbs are more durable since you spread the tension and compression across the back and belly respectively. This applies both length and width-wise, so a more or less rectangular cross-section is ideal and very doable if you decrown and back your bow. Difficult or impossible if you plan to keep only an intact growthring. Decrowning means defying the growthrings along the back - simply cutting it flat.
From what I gather, well-liked woods include juniper, white ash, black locust, maple, osage orange, yew and to some extent, goat willow.
Avoid soft shit like hazel, poplar and fast-growing conifers.
You can steambend some reflex or recurves into your limbs, or deflex into your handle/"riser" for aesthetics and potentially a bit more power. Quite a laborious process though. Pic related is my most successful reflex-deflex bow although I would have liked it to have even more reflex through the limbs. It is rawhide-backed juniper.
My favorite way to remove excess rawhide is to cut down to the wood along the sides using a knife then pulling the strips off of the belly. Careful though lest you lift a splinter.
Pictured: a hazel/rawhide piece of shit that's now gathering dust after endless attempts to salvage it following serious compression fractures. It has slight "static" recurves. Static because they are not working as in bending. Only there to give leverage - a smoother draw.
The real bowyer craft comes when it's time to tiller (balancing the limbs). You simply rasp away material on the belly until it bends uniformly throughout the entire working length of the limbs (and if you have a bending riser, there too, of course). It sounds simple but it's nerve-wracking. You will need to make a tillering stick. Also do NOT forget to draw the bow pretty much fully about 15-20 times each time you have removed material, or it won't show its true new shape.
Essential how-to books
http://www.mediafire.com/download/26sdzs1ql4viylc/The+Traditional+Bowyer's+Bible%2C+Vol.+1.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/download/hzh6mb4c1ciykte/The+Traditional+Bowyer's+Bible%2C+Vol.+2.pdf
Look up how to make a flemish twist bowstring. Recommended materials are either quality linen thread or something called Dacron B-50, which is polyester. There's also some pro-shit with the brandname FastFlight but I say just go for Dacron.
Not incredibly indepth but cozy video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0n9W8KHS0
There are also shitloads of guides on youtube in general.
So in short, get a thoroughly dried piece of hardwood, whack away everything that doesn't look like a bow using a hatchet, make a good surface on the back and glue on the rawhide, tiller then finish it.
Actually THIS picture is of my most recent reflex-deflex juniper+rawhide.
Fletching is a whole post on its own. There is the concept of "spine" which means bendiness of the shaft, weight and balance of the arrow, orientation of the fletchings etc. I'm not too into fletching, I just rip up some goosequills by hand and glue or tie on the flights manually though you can buy/make jigs to do it better. I use the straightest-grained pine dowels I can find. I recommend actually buying arrowheads intended for targetshooting. I've made my own broadheads from knifeblades but it's not ideal.
http://www.trueflightfeathers.com/guide.htm
Pictured: rawhidebacked yew-bow, kidsized, with a pretty decent tiller if I may say so. Not very aesthetically pleasing with a straight, stiff riser and superbendy limbs. It just doesn't look very bow-y. I doubt I will ever make a bow with such a straight and asymmetrical riser (as seen from the side) ever again. imo, make your startingpoint the center of the riser and allow for as much space as is needed for the fades (where handle fades into limbs), arrowshelf and handle, but make both sides symmetrical from the side.
Also, look into calculating your draw length. If you're new to shooting, don't exceed 40 lbs draw weight at your draw length or it'll be too unwieldy to learn with.
Also, you almost certainly won't be making "really, really high quality bows" your first 5 attempts.
http://www.blacktailbows.com/take-down-bows.html
To me, this is really, really high quality anyway.
Pic is the riser for a Blacktail takedown that I traced a few years ago thinking I might copy it at some point. Mine looks a bit skinnier though, maybe that's what I was going for.
>>958379
A recurve bow would be easier to get right by following instructions. It doesn't rely as much on the grain and quality of the wood, and you can replace the limbs if you fuck them up.
>>959669
I believe you mean a takedown or more specifically a three-piece takedown. Recurve simply means that the tips have a strong curve "forward". A recurved limb is subject to equal if not greater stress than that of a regular longbow so I don't see why the wood would be less of a factor. The backing is the key if you have a wood with poor tensile strength, which is why I rawhide all of my juniperbows.
Cherry and hickory are also favored bow-woods and I've heard that the english would use rowan for their longbows when short on yew.
The bow's back should stand up well to tension (elastic wood) while the belly should be able to handle compression (hard wood, more or less).
You can of course laminate a piece of hickory or bamboo to a piece of juniper or mesquite to get the best of both worlds, with the added benefit that you can clamp it to a form with a bend in it while it cures to achieve reflex or deflex as needed. That's infact a good idea that I'd forgotten about. You'll still need an unmolested back or other form of backing to prevent lifting a splinter of course.
>>959669
recurve just means that the tips of the limbs bend forward. you can make a recurve self-bow, which would not be able to have parts replaced by its very nature.
>>959687
Yeah, I meant a take down. They're easier to get right since it doesn't have to be one continuous piece.
Apprentice under Fëanor the high King of the Noldor to learn your ways in craftsman ship, while simultaneously training under Beleg (Strongbow) Cúthalion to become a great archer. You should be set after several years of that.
>>959687
Damn, that is intricate work. What's the green layer on the front? Fiberglass?
>>958373
yes. go search on youtube, plenty of howto videos.
all you really need is a rasp and a dull knife. maybe an ax too.
You can doing this with some old skis for the limbs.
>>958373
No, quality and wood are opposites.
go to 3 rivers archery, they sell all the tools, materials and books/videos of what you need to build traditional bows. Just their website has tons of tutorials that are great
red oak was the best for starting out i found. made one bow and got too eager to test it. snapped on draw. but the second one i went the whole way and took my time on the tillering tree. you can do it, you just need to be hella patient. also your first bow might shoot a bit wonky, but that just means you get to make a better one next!
(also it might be an idea to experiment with a PVC heatformed bow, teach you the basics, and have a bit of fun)
>>958373
Search for pyramid bow build along. Tons of info on the web, and pyramid bow is one of the most efficient simple designs. Red oak is okay, but hickory is better if you're using commonly available boards. For staves obviously yew is good or osage orange, mulberry is also quite good.
>>965110
Also if you don't mind spending the money, the traditional bowyer's bible books are absolutely worth it, so much fantastic info about bows and bow design and such.
just coming in here to post the last bow i made
>>965123
Noice. Riser could get a bit fancier though.
Where do you get those countersunk washers and black allenbolts? And how do you attach them to the riser? I've been thinking about screw-in sleeves + epoxy, think that'll do?
I've noticed some threepiece takedowns have metal between the limbs and riser, would you recommend that or should I just go wood on wood?
How do you align the limbs each assembly, would freehand be viable or should you have some tongue+groove or pin+hole type thing to make sure they're straight?
Do you use a thickness sander for the lams?
How do you make the wedge in the limb? Freehand on a beltsander should work right?
What woods are those?
>>965111
I already posted the pdf in here.
>>965123
damm, that looks good.
