Bow making

[bushcraftbob]

I've been watching a few tutorials on youtube on basic bow making and fancy having a go with Hazel - but none of the tutorials I have viewed tell you how seasoned the wood needs to be before starting to take off wood with an axe? Anyone know

I also remember reading a really good step by step tutorial on bow making on BCUK but my search function does not seem to work and cant for the life of me track the thread down! Can anyone forward the link?

cheers

 

[dwardo]

This guy works wonders with any wood and in this "how to" its Hazel, the finish alone is out of this world.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,3895.0.html

Seasoning can be done in as little as a few weeks in certain conditions to several years. A green roughed out bow can dry in a matter of weeks where a 3 ft log will take years.. Less mass less time to dry. The sting in the tail is the wood ripping its self apart when fast driying. It all ballance and risk and knowing your local wood.

 

[stovie]

Hi 8ob
if you cut a branch 2 1/2 - 3" in diameter and 6' long, removing the bark immediately and set aside for two weeks, you will be able to rough out your bow to floor tiller stage at that point. Then clamp to bench or board to stop twisting, and leave for a further month. At this stage you will be able to complete the bow. i tend to cut my wood in the winter when the sap is down, but with this diameter it will make little difference. The secret to hazel, as it is a very secondary bow wood, is to leave it long and wide. the one pictured below is 5' long, 2" at the fades gently narrowing to 1/2" at the tips. It is 1 1/2" thick at the handle and quickly reduced to 1/2" for most of the length. It draws 45 @ 28".

 

[bushcraftbob]

cheers for the tips guys - what cordage can i use for a string? Is it best to buy a proper bow string from tinterweb?

 

[stovie]

cheers for the tips guys - what cordage can i use for a string? Is it best to buy a proper bow string from tinterweb?

You can buy one easily enough, Dacron is the most popular, but I make mine from linen and hand twist them when i have an hour or soo to kill...

 

[caliban]

Hi mate!

I'm a novice at bowmaking, but the Ytube videos by Johnjrambo11111 were really instructive. He basically makes a few bows in real time, using normal tools and natural staves. Another thing you should do is, as well as getting a stave like Stovie said, take one that's a bit skinnier too and debark that, rough it out a bit and stick it under your mattress. start working your skinny stave after two weeks as a practice bow, you should get a decent wee mess about bow and learn a lot that will help when you do your proper one, and you wont get impatient and start working your good stave too soon.

You can get a single loop dacron, flemish twist bowstring on ebay for about eight quid. That'd be what you want for a wood bow.

Killer pic Stove.

 

[bushcraftbob]

yea ive seen his vids they are cool! ok i am going to cut a practise skinny stave tomo! i harvested some hazel at te wkd for arrows but tey are bent as spaghetti im going to have to try and straighten the bligters this wkd.