Bushmoot Bow Making?

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John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
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Pembrokeshire
Glad to read your enjoying experimenting with the Bow finishes and handle shape John.

I am looking forward to seeing your final product.
See previous post!
The bow is now very comfortable, shoots fast and hard and looks ... mean!
I will be saving my remaining home made arrows and flint arrowheads until I learn to shoot straight!
 
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Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Looking VERY impressive John. Nice work.

Dug my bow out of the car today and showed my Mother and step-dad, they were impressed. Now my Mum want to have a go at shooting it with some arrows over in the orchard field at the end of their garden. Hopefully I won't lose too many of my arrows to her loosing them willy nilly.

Big thanks to Wayne for the workshop, I really enjoyed myself, and taking home a finsihed bow was the cherry on top. :You_Rock_
 

Wayne

Mod
Mod
Dec 7, 2003
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www.forestknights.co.uk
See previous post!
The bow is now very comfortable, shoots fast and hard and looks ... mean!
I will be saving my remaining home made arrows and flint arrowheads until I learn to shoot straight!

Pictures didnt display on the ipad.

Looking good John.

I really enjoyed running the workshop.

It was great to see people really enjoying creating their bows and taking their first steps towards becoming a bowyer.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,109
2,843
66
Pembrokeshire
I wanted to do the Bhutanese bow workshop 2 years ago - but my Tennis Elbow prevented me :(
Last year Roly and I made the "father and Son" bow under Georges watchful eye (the workshop ran as 2 people to 1 bow) and this has seasoned into a very decent bow :)
This year I made the Bhutanese bow - with lots of help from Biker as my lack of tool skills combined with the Tennis Elbow flaring up thanks to unacustomed effort and having to run off to run the Flint and Steel workshop made me very slow - without help I would have still been rasping away!
On getting home all I did to finish the bow was to reshape the handle area to make it more comfortable (junior hacksaw and rasps) - then it was shooting time!
It is very addictive - but after 1 hour the old TE started playing up ... and I had macerated 4 arrows and lost one (later found in a bush).
I am already thinking of making a Flatbow - but using my full set of workshop aids - following an article from "Popular Mechanics" someone posted here a while back, combined with the skills I learned a little of on the workshop.
I also need to "refine" (or learn!)my arrow making skills - so that I can repair/replace the ones I trashed!
A truely inspirational pair of workshops, the "Father and Son" bowmaking and the "Bhutanese " bowmaking sessions have revived an interest in archery/bowyery that had long been dormant (My first attempt at making a bow ended in tears/rage/kindling many years ago...) and I would like to thank George, Roly, Biker and above all Wayne for their help, patience, forebearance, generosity in time and loan of tools, materials etc
The only reason I am sitting here typing is coz it is pishing down outside with a gusting wind that would have me trashing/losing all my arrows!
I am now off to search out some doweling to have another bash at arrow making..... it is too wet to bother hunting out straight saplings in the woods...
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,109
2,843
66
Pembrokeshire
Just had a go remembering how to make an arrow ...
The head is flint, the fletchings ... bird of prey of some sort...( buzzard?) glued with resin/beeswax/charcoal whipped with artificial sinew.
The shaft is reused dowel I found in my "useful wood" pile...
it is a bit chunky - but then so is the head :)
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