Anybody here making longbows or recurves?

[horsesoldier]

I have always wanted to try and hunt with a recurve or a long bow. Trouble is I know so little about shooting traditional archery.I have hunted before with modern archery equipment.How hard is it to build your own bow and arrows?

[longbow]

It all depends on what you want to build. I make wood bows. Mostly straight limbed flatbows or English style (sort of) longbows.

Most are one piece of wood (selfbow) and some are backed with rawhide, silk or ripstop nylon.

They certainly work well enough for me as they did our ancestors (though I am sure they used a different brand of ripstop nylon).

I had started to set up to build laminated glass/wood longbows and found that I had yew trees on the new place I bought and the old owner had cut several down so I put them to use. I was so happy with them that I never bothered to make a laminated bow.

Simplest bow to make would be a board bow with ripstop nylon or fiberglass tape backing. I have made these successfully with Boy Scouts and gave directions to a high school shop teacher who had several of his classes make wood bows. If kids can make them, you can make them.

Hardest would likely be a short reflex/deflex recurve glass/wood bow.

There is lots of information on the internet on how to make both but if you are interested in wood bows I can point you to some good info on the internet and some good books. I have a little on laminated bows but not much.

Longbow

[horsesoldier]

I wonder if yew grows around here. I am looking for something that I could hunt elk with within 25 or 30 yards if thats not too tall of an order

[Lead Fred]

A friend makes primitive bows, I have bought several from him.
When you inquire about bow shooting, he tell you to buy this book from him, read it, and he will refund your $10 towards the price of a bow.

I kept my copy

82905

[waksupi]

The bow is easy. The arrows are what take the most technical skill.
I used to make a lot of laminated long bows, still have one, although with a bad back and arthritis, I can't shoot it much anymore.
I've also made quite a few sinew backed bows over the years, mostly from Osage orange. I have one here that is nearly 15 years old, and is still in fine shape, and light enough I can shoot it.
I've used the Osage, vine maple, juniper, yew, and ash to make bows. If backed, all of them will work. I found the maple, juniper, and ash to be sluggish, but shootable.
Look on Youtube for bow making videos.

[w5pv]

I am about to introduce my 6 year old grandson the art of shooting with a forked stick sling shot,I think I will include the primitive bow and arrow also.I have an urge to get him a Daisy Red Rider and start the safety lessons with all three.I think that they need to be started young before the PC **** gets started.

[OuchHot!]

I would suggest joining the tradgang forum. It is a very good group without the usual ego induced forum **** that is so prevalent elsewhere. There are how to's that address various builds and lots of knowledge.

[longbow]

I am not sure but would guess that yew should be growing in the mountains in old growth.

There are lots of other good woods to use too like choke cherry, vine maple and other maples, but... I recommend against starting with a stave bow. Not impossible but without good woodworking skills and some guidance stave bows can be tricky. Backing them with rawhide or something can negate some of the issues like knots and poor grain/

It is much easier to pick out a good board at the lumber yard and they grow all sorts of good wood there too:

- maple
- birch
- cherry
- red oak
- walnut
- elm
- ash
- hickory

You do have to look through and select a board with good grain but that is just some time and a little knowledge on what to look for ~ lots of info on the internet about that.

A wide flat bow can be bandsawed to almost finished dimensions with just enough wood left to scrape and sand.

Like I said, there is lots of good info available on making wood bows so if you are interested, I have PDF files and lots of links to bowmaking sites.

And yes, waksupi is correct. Ishi supposedly commented to Pope and Young that "any old stick will make a bow but it takes a special piece of wood to be an arrow...". Maybe not quite true a you want a decent cast from the bow for hunting but the arrow is indeed very important.

The arrow has to have the right spine weight (flexibility) to bend in a half sine wave as it leaves the bow. If spine is not correct for th ebow then the arrow will not launch or fly well. An incorrectly spined arrow will not shoot accurately off the best bow money can buy but a correctly spined arrow will fly perfectly from a weak, poorly made bow.

Of course you can buy arrows pre-made in wood, aluminum or carbon. They still have to have correct spine but you do not have to make them.

I tried some carbons off my old yew stick and they flew so well and had such good trajectory that I kinda thought "hmmmmm..." but then why do I shoot a wood bow? I like simple and I like stuff I can make so that was that for carbon arrows. I shoot a wood bow with wood arrows and feather fletch and I make them my self.

And yup, there's lots of good info to be had at the tradgang forum. I visit there occasionally myself.

Anyway, I have gabbed enough. if you want bow building info let me know, I can help.

Longbow

[horsesoldier]

Good stuff guys. I will keep this in mind this winter when I am bumming around for projects to do. Thanks for the advice guys!

[NWPilgrim]

Foes hickory make a decent bow. I have a bunch of leftover hickory floor strips 3/4" thick. Would these be usable? My 6 yr old grandson is interested in learning archery. This might be a neat project with him. Or should I buy better wood or different dimension? What do you think?

[longbow]

Without seeing the wood it would be hard to say whether it is suitable or not.

If the strips are an inch or more wide at 3/4" thick there should be plenty of wood there as long as the strip is about as long as your grandson is tall.

Hickory has interlocking grain so the grain is not as important as it is with most woods. Ideally the back of the bow should be within one annular ring. Generally with boards it is hard to find them where rings are not cut through and if not bad then backing will solve it. Hickory is more forgiving that way so I am guessing hickory floor strips are certainly worth trying. Your grandson would not be pulling a heavy weight bow anyway so even easier.

I'll look up some websites on making board bows and post links. hopefully the websites are still up and running. If not, I have downloaded the info for just that reason... websites come and go but PDF's are forever!

Got to go work on the truck right now though.

Longbow

[longbow]

Good News!

Sam Harper's website is back up an running! This is a well put together website especially for building board bows though he has lots of other stuff too:

http://poorfolkbows.com/

Especially take a look at his guide to selecting wood in the red oak board bow build along, that will show you what you want for grain.

Here's another good site:

http://sticknstring.webs.com/ferretsboardbow.htm

Here is a good collection of "old stuff":

http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/index.html

and one of my favourites:

http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/stemmler/essentials-of-archery/

There are some good charts and dimensions in this one but I do recommend starting with a board bow not a raw tree stave. If you look at the dimensions in the charts, he gives you dimensions for 20 lb. bows at adult length so those have to be scaled down for kids. It doesn't take much wood to make a kid's bow! It will probably be 1/4" thick. Make it long though and it will last.

Here are another couple of links, pretty basic but useful:

http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/hunting-bow-plans.pdf
http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/Flatbow-plans.pdf

At 6 years old the lad will not be pulling more than about 15 to 20 lbs. and probably less. Best to make an easy to pull bow for first time then make a heavier bow later. Work on form and accuracy first then move one to power. As long as it launches an arrow kids are happy.

I hope that helps. If you decide to go with a wood bow and have any questions, let me know, I will be glad to help.

Longbow

[AlaskanGuy]

I would recommend archerytalk.... Te folks there are a lot like the folks here... Awsome.... There are extensive forums and folks to talk to about the art of arrow making and traditional equipment, as well as modern archery. I have learned a ton and shared a lot there.... Here is the link...

[URL="http://http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/"]

Now go get em..

[texassako]

I want to thank you for those links longbow. Saves me some time looking for that kind of info. I recently picked up a froe to rive out some blanks from a forest grown Osage we have with a nice clear trunk, among other woodworking projects.

[longbow]

I have not yet made a bow from Osage but would like to one day. It is one of the nicest looking woods... and tough!

I have made a few from black locust which is a transplant (invader alien species) where I live. I really like black locust too.

Not sure if the info is in those articles but you are best off to remove the sapwood from Osage. I have no personal experience but from reading, it is weak and best removed or at least thinned probably to one annular ring.

One day I will buy a stave. No Osage here. We have other good bow woods like yew though.

Longbow

[waksupi]

Definitely remove the sap wood from Osage.

[Green Lizzard]

i made one from an osage stave that i bought at a flea market, good looking and good shooting bow, then i made one from a hickory stave that i cut and cured myself its ugly from following the front growth ring, but it shoots very good (some like the look) also made one from red cedar that some folks like the looks of

[Just Duke]

This is where I originally picked up the parts for bows I have been building since the 70's. http://www.binghamprojects.com/search.php?pg=1&stext=bow+press&sprice=&stype=&scat=
You will need to make a bow press which is very simple to make.
I make a similar press for making dog sled parts out of laminates with a fire hose as a pressure source and a tire pump or a compressor.
I still buy there fire hose fittings from Bingham Archery though.
The take down is really nice but stacks quickly. The longer target bows are dream to shoot.
I used Port Orford cedar for arrows and are a very simple to make with a 6 station Multi-Fletcher and a feather burner.
Nocks are installed by using a hand held pencil sharpener style tool and the glued on. The Bodkin style arrow head is installed the same way.
Give me a jingle if you have any questions. I dabble a little in wood working projects also.

We have though been eye oogling the Mongolian Style bow.

http://www.horsebows.com/

http://www.rosecityarchery.com

http://www.ramanon.com/forum/showthread.php?84164-Mongolian-Bow

http://www.sevenmeadowsarchery.com/Market.html?cid=8&step=2

http://www.hildebrandarrowshafts.com/products.htm


This bow is 4/12" shorter on the lower limb for shooting off horse and my personal favorite.
http://www.horsebows.com/Images/Bows/MongolL.png

I just need to buy one to back engineer. http://www.horsebows.com/bows1.htm#Raven

[huntrick64]

A lot of great info given to you already, let me add some more.

If you have an opportunity to attend one of the various "bow building" rendezvous around the country, do so. Ours in Oklahoma is usually the 3rd week in March to coincide with spring break for the kids. It is called OJAM hosted by the Oklahoma Selfbow Society. We have about 700-800 people building a BUNCH of bows in a short time. If you are aggressive and obsessive, you can start building a bow on Thursday and shoot it in the competition on Saturday evening. There are many other events across the country similar to this.

If you can't get with other people, buy some books. The ones to own if you want to build different styles of bows from a bunch of different woods are the Bowyers Bibles volumes 1-4. I have been building selfbows for over 20 years and still pick these books up for reference from time to time.

If you just want to build a flatbow from osage orange, buy this one book, Hunting the Osage Bow, by Dean Torges. You can get it from a bunch of places, but get it directly from Dean at bowyersedge.com. Dean is an incredible bowyer and maybe even a better writer. Since I live in the heart of osage orange, that is my wood of choice. I have used mulberry, black locust, pecan, maple, hickory, ash, persimmon, chinaberry, elm, oak, and some unidentified woods. I kept coming back to osage, so I finally quit leaving osage.

Back that osage with bamboo, and you have a beautiful, quite, and fast death weapon!

Subscribe to Primitive Archer magazine and their website.

Lastly, look around your area and find someone who can mentor you face to face. I could have filled a shipping container with the wood I have wasted, bows I have broken, tools I should not have bought or should not have made, and that doesn't even count the shavings I created. There is so much good info available now, you can avoid a bunch of what I and others went through to get here. Osage is a tough wood to work, but also the most forgiving of our mistakes.

There is an old story that claims the white man came to the native American and asked how to make a bow. The native American remembered what the white man had done to his people, so he said "you can only make it from the Osage tree". The white man has been punishing himself ever since.

It is kind of ironic that the native Americans had this mastered for hundreds of years and we tried to reinvent it over the last 20 years.

I hope you get into this and if I can help in any way, PM me.

Rick
Oklahoma

[ironhead7544]

I am not sure but would guess that yew should be growing in the mountains in old growth.

There are lots of other good woods to use too like choke cherry, vine maple and other maples, but... I recommend against starting with a stave bow. Not impossible but without good woodworking skills and some guidance stave bows can be tricky. Backing them with rawhide or something can negate some of the issues like knots and poor grain/

It is much easier to pick out a good board at the lumber yard and they grow all sorts of good wood there too:

- maple
- birch
- cherry
- red oak
- walnut
- elm
- ash
- hickory

You do have to look through and select a board with good grain but that is just some time and a little knowledge on what to look for ~ lots of info on the internet about that.

A wide flat bow can be bandsawed to almost finished dimensions with just enough wood left to scrape and sand.

Like I said, there is lots of good info available on making wood bows so if you are interested, I have PDF files and lots of links to bowmaking sites.

And yes, waksupi is correct. Ishi supposedly commented to Pope and Young that "any old stick will make a bow but it takes a special piece of wood to be an arrow...". Maybe not quite true a you want a decent cast from the bow for hunting but the arrow is indeed very important.

The arrow has to have the right spine weight (flexibility) to bend in a half sine wave as it leaves the bow. If spine is not correct for th ebow then the arrow will not launch or fly well. An incorrectly spined arrow will not shoot accurately off the best bow money can buy but a correctly spined arrow will fly perfectly from a weak, poorly made bow.

Of course you can buy arrows pre-made in wood, aluminum or carbon. They still have to have correct spine but you do not have to make them.

I tried some carbons off my old yew stick and they flew so well and had such good trajectory that I kinda thought "hmmmmm..." but then why do I shoot a wood bow? I like simple and I like stuff I can make so that was that for carbon arrows. I shoot a wood bow with wood arrows and feather fletch and I make them my self.

And yup, there's lots of good info to be had at the tradgang forum. I visit there occasionally myself.

Anyway, I have gabbed enough. if you want bow building info let me know, I can help.

Longbow

Interesting about the arrows. When I was a kid all the sporting good stores had 25 cent wood arrows. My friends and I used up a lot of them. We noticed that sometimes we would get an arrow that would shoot way wide of the mark. Everything would look good but they were just not accurate. We wrote it off to poor quality.

[Just Duke]

Here you go. I found the firehose press pic. These are not my pics if anyone asks.
Here is the link to 40 or so pics on how to make a bow press and properly laminate a bow.
http://www.tradrag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1326

This press is quite a bit rougher than what I make but it will give you something to go off of.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/bows/Dads%20new%20bow/swweetbow016.jpg

Here's the firehose being filled.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/bows/Dads%20new%20bow/swweetbow019.jpg

Just make sure you use porcelain sockets
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/bows/Dads%20new%20bow/swweetbows054.jpg