# Making our first long bows



## Vineyardhunter (Apr 15, 2009)

Well I was helping my dad put up some fence posts today and when we were taking a breather we were just enjoying the beauty of the woods. Then he tells me about this article he cut out of a 2005 field & stream magazine with instructions on making a low bow. I was all for it I love anything to do with connecting me to history and Id love to have a cool home made bow. 

Have any of you guys read the article? Its pretty similar to the steps found on google for building a longbow. We have decided to go with black walnut wood since he has alot of it on his land. Will this do ok? Its the wood that was suggested in the article along with a few other kinds. 

The article is pretty detailed however it doesnt mention coating the wood in anything and I just assume this  would be part of the process somewhere along the line. 

So pretty much any tips you can give us would be wonderful.  Also 

Should the wood be coated with stain or anything before or after drying? 

How long should the drying process take? 

Should it be dried in the sun or shade? 

One more question I am alot bigger guy than my dad Id love to have more than 35-45lbs of pull back, would I just make my bow thicker? 

Thanks Guys/Gals!! 

-Nathan


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## Redbow (Apr 16, 2009)

Black walnut will work for a self bow but you might have to back it with either bamboo or hickory to prevent breakage and for strength. Sinew can be used to back a bow with also. Using any kind of cloth like linen doesn't do much for it at all IMO. 

Dry your wood in the attic of your house or garage. An old car sitting out in the Sun makes an excellent place to dry bow wood. Dry it for several months or even a year is better. I like to split my logs into staves after they dry, they way they do not warp so badly. You can prevent warpage of the staves by tying them to a 2 x 4 or even an iron pipe or or a piece of flat iron. I just prefer to split my bow staves after the wood dries. 

Do not coat the wood or seal it until after you make your bow. Then you can stain it or seal it with a good sealer, true oil is good and I use Polyurethane also. Its just a personal choice. I like to make a bow at least 68 inches long, I have made a few that are 72 inches long and even longer. Its your choice. 

If you want to make the bow stronger make the limbs wider and thicker. Get with someone who has made bows before if you can, its not difficult to make a bow at all but someone with experience can give you a lot of help in making your first one. Also, on the inside of the bow limbs the part of the bow facing you when you hold it up to shoot it, I never make the inner part of the limbs flat. I round them a little an old bowyer gave me that tip. The bow will not be as likely to break if you do that. Also you can back the bow with bamboo or hickory or even sinew for strength and to help prevent breakage. 

You will need a good wood rasp, I use a Stanley sure form, it works for me. I form the bow out with a hatchet after splitting it into a stave. Then I use the Stanley to finish shaping and tillering it . Use lots of sandpaper for smoothing the wood. Be careful, take off just a little wood at a time you can take off wood but you can't it back on. A chainsaw file or small rat tailed file will cut the nocks for the string . 

Bowmaking can get addictive. I would love to have a stave of black walnut but can't find any here unless I order it online. Most of all take your time and expect your first bow or so to break, mine did I have broken several over the years. Once you get the hang of forming and tillering the thing u are in business !

Learn how to make your own flimish strings also, 3 rivers archery has an online video and its is very simple to do. Also you will need a tillering stick or post, look online and see how to make one, its easy. Thats how you check how strong the bow is and how your progress with the tillering of the limbs is coming. Also if you want to make your own strings, make you a flemish string jig, the info for it is online, just google it . I use bathroom scales to check the poundage of the bows I make. Just put the tillering stick on the bathroom scales then zero it. Then pull down on the string of the bow while the tillering post or stick is on the bathroom scales and watch the poundage at the different graduated notches on the tillering post. 

Make the bow for your draw length, like 28 inches or so, even thirty inches if your draw length calls for it. To check your draw length take a yard stick and put it against your chest so its sticking straight out away from you. Extend your arms out as far as your fingers will reach and get someone to look at the yard stick where the end of your fingers are. Thats a pretty good indication on how long your draw length is, this is important with making bows. 

I hope this helps, I am not an expert on bow making but I make good working bows out of Hickory, Dogwood, and red cedar. When you spend a lot of time making a very nice looking bow and then it snaps, welcome to the club ! Don't give up on it, keep making them. 

Good luck....


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## Vineyardhunter (Apr 16, 2009)

Sounds great, thanks for the info! We have dogwoods, do those need to be backed with another kind of wood also? 

I didn't realize it needed to be dryed so long. The article says dry it 3 to 4 weeks. Is there any wood that has a lesser drying time? 

Well I am excited to get started and will keep you guys updated on our progress.


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## Redbow (Apr 16, 2009)

The dryer your wood the longer the bow will probably last. Three weeks for drying wood is not nearly enough ! 

Dogwood is very good bow wood, tough but it won't fling an arrow as fast as Red Cedar or some of the other bow woods. I make bows out of Dogwood it is easy to work with. If you shape the belly of your bow limbs right Dogwood does not need to be backed at all ! That is my experience with it, but like I said I never make the belly of my bow limbs flat ! 

You can buy a board of Red Oak from Lowe's lumber or if you can find a Hickory board near you make a bow out of that . Personally I do not like kiln dried wood for making a bow. Some of the stuff is in my opinion only now  too dry ! 

I was hoping someone else would chime in and give you some information also. I do not think that drying wood for only two to three weeks you could expect the bow to last for very long. I have some Hickory now that has been drying for about three months and I do not plan on using it until August !

Good luck...


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## Lowjack (Apr 16, 2009)

I dry my wood up to 3 years, you must seal the ends with polyurethane, it is better to dip the ends into the polyurethane than just brushing it on.
Keep the wood under roof, I set mine up on rafters in the porch.
Don't remove the bark either.
You can buy staves cheap to practice with.
The only wood I pre shape green is Guava wood ,Am sure you won't be dealing with that in GA,LOL


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## Redbow (Apr 16, 2009)

For sure seal the ends of the wood you intend to make your bow out of, if you don't the wood will checker or split on the ends. 

I use spray paint or polyurethane either one works well...I have heard of bowyers making bows out of wood that has been drying for many years some as long as 12 years in fact. You can make a wood drying box using light bulbs with a continous flow of air over the wood for a few weeks or so but to me that wood will still not be dry. 

Hurry up and make us a bow and post a picture of it .


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## Vineyardhunter (Apr 17, 2009)

Redbow said:


> For sure seal the ends of the wood you intend to make your bow out of, if you don't the wood will checker or split on the ends.
> 
> I use spray paint or polyurethane either one works well...I have heard of bowyers making bows out of wood that has been drying for many years some as long as 12 years in fact. You can make a wood drying box using light bulbs with a continous flow of air over the wood for a few weeks or so but to me that wood will still not be dry.
> 
> Hurry up and make us a bow and post a picture of it .




First thing i've learnt about traditional bows- Its not a quick process lol. 

Well I guess we are going to dry the wood for a few weeks like the article says and if it doesnt work we will just buy staves. Either way I look forward to learning all that I can. Im already getting addicted lol. 

I have a question. Can you make a reflex deflex rig and use with any bow or do the limbs have to be flat for that rig? 

Thanks guys,
-Nathan


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## Redbow (Apr 17, 2009)

I have a reflex deflex jig I made out of a 2 x 4. I reflexed deflexed the last Dogwood bow I made. I think there is a picture of the jig online somewhere. 

All you have to do is clamp the bow to the jig and let it dry. It will hold its shape or you can steam the wood and then put it in the jig. 

One long pice of 2 x 4 and two pieces of 2 x 4 about 6 inches long and several C clamps is all you need to do this..


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## DePhil (Apr 17, 2009)

Nathan, 

Get Paul Comstock's book "The Bent Stick" or read up on bow making in the 4 volumes of "The Traditional Bowyer's Bible".  Great stuff in them all.  Comstock walks you through making whitewood (bows without sapwood like hickory ash, etc.) bow from cutting to finishing.

Comstock tells you how to layout your bow on green wood, and dry it in your car or a drying box.  You can finish the bow in a month or two using his methods, or so he claims.  Never tried it myself.

Leaving the bark on osage and other sapwoods is a good idea, however, every piece of hickory I've left the bark on while drying was riddled with borers within a few months.  With hickory, I always strip the bark off immediately.  Now's the time to cut whitewoods, the sap is up and the bark comes off easily.  

All my osage is very old, sapwood rotted away years ago. By the way, that osage is definitely dry.  Here in Delaware, osage was used in hedgerows as a natural fence (many years ago) to keep livestock in the field.  Many places will let you take out the dead stuff.  Some will even let you cut live wood.  Bad thing is, you're lucky to get a straight piece that's over 4 feet long.


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