Hello all! I've got it in mind to try and make an ash longbow or two, I've got a perfect tree all picked out which I'll fell and make staves from some time in the new year, probably February or March. Hopefully it'll give me 6 or so staves and I'd like to try seasoning them for different lengths of time in different conditions (6 weeks - 18 months, some in the airing cupboard some in the garage) to see which will give the best results.
My question to any who can answer it is what are the best tools to use in the various stages of making my bow? Do I hew the shape with an axe and/or adze or do I carve it with my knife? Should I use my Indian crook knife to pear the stave down when tillering or is there another tool I need?
I've got a while to save up so do let me know If there's some specialist tools I should think of getting... unless they're incredibly expensive, then don't tell me.
Thanks for reading and thanks for any help!
My question to any who can answer it is what are the best tools to use in the various stages of making my bow? Do I hew the shape with an axe and/or adze or do I carve it with my knife? Should I use my Indian crook knife to pear the stave down when tillering or is there another tool I need?
I've got a while to save up so do let me know If there's some specialist tools I should think of getting... unless they're incredibly expensive, then don't tell me.
Thanks for reading and thanks for any help!