Advice needed wanting to attempt first Bow but for a child

[DaveBromley]

Hey guys and gals

my daughter comes home about a week ago and says that she has tried archery for the first time at school, and apparently she's a whizz. Her teacher says that she has a natural ability and should be nurtured.

So I want to make her a Bow, i know it probably won't be perfect but until we save enough for a proper one she can use it and also keep it as a memento.

So can anyone point me in the direction of some good tutorials, she is 12 at the moment so ideally a kids bow tutorial.

Any help or advice you can give would be GREAT!!

Dave

 

[grey-array]

You might wanna look at one of the threads started by Dwardo he make marvelous bows.
But to make a simple bow the steps are actually quite simple though it really helps if you have some experience in wood working.
I'll give you some loose tips here but be sure to check out Dwardo's posts I will try to find it and post it in my nxt reply.

First of all find a piece of wood, preferably Ash, Birch, Oak, Hazel
As long as it is not Willow, Poplar or any of those weak woods

Then what you wanna do is take out the centre so you are gonna split the piece of wood so that the centre/pith is gone from your workpiece
Then essentially all you do is make it in the shape of stave following the grain carefully, and remember especially on the back of the bow, ( the part which is pointing away from you) you may not cut the grain stay in one layer of the wood else your bow will want to crack.
Then when you got the basic form and shape of the bow you will need to tiller the bow, all that means is making it bend uniformly, if you knew these terms already my bad for over explaining it ^^.
essentially looking at the bow while it is under tension in finding the stiff spots, the spots where is does not bend, and removing some material there, but not on the back of the bow seeing you will be cutting the grain then.
and then when it bend nice and uniformly, well there you have a bow

I will follow this post up with some threads about bow making
Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[grey-array]

Here I am again you might wanna check out this thread, its from Dwardo and he makes sublime looking bows, a really knowledgeable man.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87278&highlight=dwardo

And this is an old thread I started, with my biggest mistake the wood choice, yes you guessed it Poplar, and lets say it packs about 100 shots but then it loses tension and is worth less then a penny. but great practice, currently working on a maple one.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89455
Ps I love to see people supporting their kids so enthusiasticly ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud

let me know if you figure it out, the terms can be confusing from time to time ^^

 

[grey-array]

By the way might you be wandering if the piece of lumber you have is right for the job
you might wanna check out this great link someone send me a while ago: http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/47641/List-of-Potenial-Bow-Wood-Species-With-Comments#.T-mBRJJALTo
Everything around 0.55 and above will do the job great.
Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[Biker]

On a different tack from the traditional wooden bows, have you seen any of those tutorials on youtube about making them out of PVC pipe?

This is just one of the better makers doing tutorials on youtube. Now obviously I'm not sure if UPVC pipe in the US is the same as you'd buy in B&Q in the UK so a bit of research needs to be done but for a quick and simply project you can't beat it.

[video=youtube;95Buzpjllgo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Buzpjllgo&list=UU_U6 Yek0YgKHN_A-iTAwZbg&index=105&feature=plcp[/video]

 

[Dannytsg]

Biker that tutorial is great! I'm going to make one of these for my step son now

 

[Biker]

Biker that tutorial is great! I'm going to make one of these for my step son now

Y' welcome.

Like I said though: I'm not sure if UPVC pipe in the US is the same as you'd buy in B&Q in the UK so a bit of research needs to be done but for a quick and simply project you can't beat it.

He's got a website too and this little project caught my eye today, which I may just have to have a go at attempting sometime.

http://backyardbowyer.com/mini-crossbow-tutorial/

Edit: Just been reading a bit about the fellow. I figured he was in his mid to late teens. Turns out he's married with a son. He doesn't even look old enough to get into see an 18 certificate film. I feel OLD!

 

[Dannytsg]

Yeah lol. I've just done some quick research and it would appear that PVC in the US would be of the same composition over here in the UK. If it were UPVC it would be different as it is less malluable and less widely used in the US.

I'll give it a go and report back with my conclusions.

 

[Biker]

Glad you were able to find out some info. PVC and UPVC is a bit of a slip of typing for me. I'm sure each has different molecular properties, I'm just not sure which. I did wonder if it was a lanaguage/terminlogy difference between American English and British English Y'know hood/bonnet, trunk/boot, tomartoe/tomayto.

I think you're right about many people here hitting the DIY merchants. Just remember to play safe folks. That backyardbowyers given subtle tips lip warming the PVC slowly to avoid actually melting the pipe, if it blisters it's knackered, if you get shiney spots it's knackered. For example see the comments he replied to on this page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwVzYUULC3c&list=UU_U6Yek0YgKHN_A-iTAwZbg&index=2&feature=plcp

Just found his book on ebay, cost about £21 inc P&P which seems to me a pretty good price. I might invest in a copy... one day.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Impos...0888874264?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item19d17df118

Just found it a LOT cheaper on Amazon.co.uk, almost half price cheaper... now where's my credit card?

 

[dwardo]

Hi Dave,

How tall is your daughter? and how old?
Best to find out what she has been shooting on her course and find out her draw length and what weight she was happy with.
Strange thing is,, its can be quite a pain to make a kids bow as the dimensions get so small its easy to remove too much wood in the later stages of tillering and ruin the whole dam thing. I have made kids bows in the past but never intentionally

Lets have some details and we will see what we can come up with

 

[DaveBromley]

Wicked

Thanks for the input chaps, I'll get the info of the little 'un and report back!

Dave

 

[Everything Mac]

That PVC bow tutorial was brilliant. Cheers for that biker. Will be giving that a go I think.

All the best

Andy

 

[Colin.W]

I was disappointed not to see elm on the list of potential bow woods. apparently the favoured wood for the welsh longbow in medieval times. got my eye on a piece at work if it#s not used soon I might try to blag it from my boss

 

[Vulpes]

That is pretty awesome! I wonder if you could laminate them in some way to make a longer, more powerful bow. Looks like he's using a smaller bore than 32mm UPVC, but I could be wrong. Perhaps some sort of gargantuan UPVC crossbow would be fun

 

[dwardo]

I was disappointed not to see elm on the list of potential bow woods. apparently the favoured wood for the welsh longbow in medieval times. got my eye on a piece at work if it#s not used soon I might try to blag it from my boss

Elm is on the list and is a great bow wood so go for it.
I have tried a few different elm sp. Just making a reflex gull wing looking elm from a smooth leaf, also wych elm is a belter too.