View Full Version : Making a Bow
Too difficult for a beginner?
If it was too difficult for a beginner no-one would ever make one, since every one is a beginner at the beginning.
The Bowyers Bible Volume 1 and 2. Can't recommend them enough.
Not at all. I have to say though it would probably be a bit more challenging on your own. I did a weekend course recently which was excellent help.
Bushbasics bowmaking course thread (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8371)
There's also some excellent articles on primitive bow making in the Society of Primitive Technology book -
Primitive technology 2 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1586850989/qid=1126369532/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_2_4/026-6663750-1530857)
:)
Spacemonkey
09-10-2005, 16:17
CAn't be too hard-I've nearly finished my longbow and it shoots just fine! Looks lovely in ash back and walnut belly, with a black string. The lower limb is just about perfect, but the top is a little soft for my liking, but it shoots ok so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead! I've made it with 30" draw, but don't know the weight yet. I was aiming for about 50lb@30" but thought I had gone too weak. I gave it to a mate and he couldn't get full draw, and he has a shorter draw than me! I had forgot that I have been strengthening my shoulders with an excellent exerciser from Quicks archery store: http://www3.btwebworld.com/cgi-bin/listprod.cgi/bishop/?search_pattern:Training_Aids it's the one called the saunders excercise aid. Very good. They also sell kits to make your own longbow with instructions, and could be an idea for starting out. http://www3.btwebworld.com/cgi-bin/listprod.cgi/bishop/?search_pattern:English_Longbo ws
Bardster
09-10-2005, 19:20
Too difficult for a beginner?
Not at all - as the people that made bows on my bowmaking workshop at the last 2 moots can testify :D :D
I am going to be doing a tutorial/article over the next few weeks so hopefully give you some ideas. As a starting book, the one by Hilary Greenland - "The traditional archers handbook" cant be beat in my opinion. The Archers bibles can be a bit heavy going for a beginner - though they are a marvelous read and a must for any serious bowyer :).
Best practice wood for your first longbow is Ash - and you can get cheap ash boards from your local timber merchant.
depends what sort of bow you want! (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=3840)
try this
http://www.primitiveways.com/sapling_bow.html ;)
In a couple of weeks time a long bow making course which I can personally reccomend is running at the Greenwood Trust in Ironbridge, an excellent way to spend three days!
http://www.greenwoodcentre.org.uk/Long%20Bows%2025-27%20October.htm
In a weekend you will probably (everyone on my course did) make a 50ish lb draw weight longbow and know plenty enough to make more! And the place that runs the course is well worth supporting for all the work it puts into keeping traditional skills alive.
Cheers
David
Thanks for the response. I'm a complete newbie, like having never done a thing before! Would I be right in saying that bending a piece of wood in to shape involves placing it over a fire?
Bardster
09-10-2005, 23:43
It can do - but only if you want to retain that shape. :)
The idea of a bow is that at rest - ie no string on it - it is a straight(ish) piece of wood. The trick is getting it to bend and then return to straightness as quickly as possibly - this is the power of a bow. One of the truest saying in archery is that a bow at full draw is a stick nine tenths broken.
To make a bow you shape a piece of timber such that you can bend it by the action of pulling on a string but that when you release said string it unbends as quickly as possible. To explain in these short lines is not really possible. If at all possible you should find someone to teach you, either by going on a course, of which many good ones have been mentioned in this thread, or getting hold of a good practicle book, as outlined above. As a last resort you could wait for my tutorial later this month :D
jdlenton
10-10-2005, 11:42
I attended Bardsters workshop at the last moot in 8 hrs I had a finished bow and was shooting with it. I would say if you are good with your hands and know your wood working hand tools (Butt plane, spoke shave and cabinet scraper) you could make a decent first attempt having read a good book on the subject but the best way would be to do it under some instruction at a moot or on a course, I’ve got the bug now, only this weekend I was discussing my next project with friend and can’t wait to get started.
Good luck
James
savantuk
10-10-2005, 16:18
Does anybody know where to buy a bow blank, that doesn't cost a fortune??
Doug
i think quicks do them, kits are avalible from a lot of bowyers.. you could try google!
The greenwood trust in telford do a really excellant course. Ive done it and i am still shooting the bow i made there years ago. They do some other really interesting courses as well. check them out
Bardster
10-10-2005, 21:18
Does anybody know where to buy a bow blank, that doesn't cost a fortune??
Doug
depends what you mean by a bow blank - if you are just starting then go down to your local wood yard and buy a piece of ash
you want it 1 1/2 inches square and six foot long, it should cost you less than a fiver.
If you have any difficulties with this then PM me and I will see what i can sort out as i live 5 mins from the biggest Travis Perkins in the country and I have a good relationship with their hardwoods guy. I have also just purchased a 7ft length of elm which is 3" thick and a foot wide (cost me £30) I should get five or six bow staves out of it.
Jeff Wagner
11-10-2005, 12:16
Here is a sinew backed ash bow.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/gallery/data/503/medium/Cnv0004.jpg
C_Claycomb
11-10-2005, 13:14
Errr, Jeff, that doesn't help :D Beautiful work, but a bit of a stretch for a beginner :lmao:
Out of interest, what dimensions have you used for the ash and how does it perform?
Jeff Wagner
11-10-2005, 14:55
The bow is 60" long and a little over 1 1/2" at mid limb. It draws 53 pounds at 27 inches. This white ash bow was one on my earlier attempts and even with sinew backing it cast is a bit less than desireable for hunting. My hunting bows are now ironwood, hickory or osage. The arrows are also milled from ash splits. The points are onondaga chert. Its miserable stuff to knap but makes an extremely durable point when everything works out.
Sorry if I missed it but Richard Head Longbows: http://www.english-longbow.co.uk/cat20.htm do a good range for the traditional archer and those wanting to DIY.
Dennis Mapletoft
23-10-2005, 23:05
i have been an archer for the last 15 years and i have TRIED to make a good bow, i have read most of the books, but i can promise you now , it is best to learn how to make a bow from some one who has..find your local FIELD ARCHERY CLUB.. Not GNAS! the field guys make a lot of their own stuff, as i did. but they will have a vast range of knowledge, put NFAS (NATIONAL FIELD ARCHEREY SOCIETY) :beerchug: into your search engine and see what pops up, or try... steve ralphs... he is a great bower, i have had several of his bows, if i remember right his trade name is ALBION :beerchug:
hope this helps Den
John Havard
02-11-2005, 05:14
There are many wonderful sources of how to make a bow from boards or from wood such as osage. This particular thread is quite helpful. Also, there are other threads on the Tradgang site that describe "how to" for building bamboo-backed bows, sinew-backed bows, yew bows, and many other types of bows. I hope this helps! The world of traditional archery is wide open to anyone with just a bit of patience.
http://tradgang.com//noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f =2;t=000046
John
I have read a few books recently that have horn bows in them . Admitably these were fiction books , but is it possible to make a working bow from horn ?
Cheers
Pumbaa
If you look in the articles section under Skills and DIY you will find lots of articles from members on making various types of bow, arrows, fletching etc.
One that was mentioned above is a bamboo bow - try Chris Claycomb's
article (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/content/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=65)
Paganwolf
02-11-2005, 09:51
Roger Harrington from Bison Bushcraft (http://www.bisonbushcraft.co.uk) runs a long bow making course, I havent attended one YET but knowing Roger it will be a top of the range course well worth going on..
John Havard
02-11-2005, 13:02
Hi pumbaa
Yes, it's possible to make a bow entirely from horn. A couple of years ago in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine a gentleman described making a bow from two gemsbok horns. As I recall the bow was approximately 84" long with a very heavy draw weight - perhaps 80#? @ 28". He joined the two gemsbok horns together with a dowel which he had tapered on both ends to fit into the hollow portion of each horn.
Also, at the present time Dryad Bows out of a small town near Fort Worth, Texas is making an otherwise all-wood high-performance longbow except they have a horn belly. Their website is shown below:
http://www.dryadbows.com/
John