First Self Bow

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

This is my first self bow turned out OK still have to sand it down I used elderberry I thought it would brake on me but it worked out very well and stayed together!

I wanted something I could bring with me on trips out to have some fun practice shooting I would say the pull is between 25lbs and 30lbs so its easy to pull and shoot all day without getting tired of shooting it....

For the bow string I used 2 strands of inner core of para cord seems to work OK for now...

 

[dwardo]

Nice job Survival Bill if it looses an arrow its job done

If you have some cord left there is a bit of a hinge in the bottom limb just past the fades that could do with a wrap to make it live a little longer.

 

[caliban]

That's cool! Nice spot too.

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

This one was basically a test run I will be making another one soon this one gave me the opportunity to learn the next one should be better...

I thought it would be a fun thing to bring along to meet-ups and entertain a few with some shooting practice.....

 

[dwardo]

I would like to know how you find elderberry so dont foget to post your findings

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

yes it is a bit of a hinge in it what would work better paracord or the inner strings of paracord for such a fix....

Nice job Survival Bill if it looses an arrow its job done

If you have some cord left there is a bit of a hinge in the bottom limb just past the fades that could do with a wrap to make it live a little longer.

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

its all over the place here not hard to find at all.... but getting outdoors helps if thats what your after....

I would like to know how you find elderberry so dont foget to post your findings

 

[dwardo]

I was just wondering what elderberry was like for bow making? There is lots of it around here but very rarely straight enough or long enough.

In regards to the hinge i would heat treat it straight and wrap it with some type of string that you can oil or varnish, i dont think paracord will cut it.

The heat treat should remove a little of the set and the string re-inforce the limb a little.

 

[Willderness]

Good job, a first bow that hasn't snapped
Personally I would shave a bit of the lower limb off to address the hinge.

I read a good tip of using fibreglass tape to back the bow

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

Aparently its one of them lost bow woods that make for an awesome bow wood...

I have some cotton and jute kicking around here....

I was just wondering what elderberry was like for bow making? There is lots of it around here but very rarely straight enough or long enough.

In regards to the hinge i would heat treat it straight and wrap it with some type of string that you can oil or varnish, i dont think paracord will cut it.

The heat treat should remove a little of the set and the string re-inforce the limb a little.

 

[dwardo]

Jute should do it, then stiffen up the firmly wrapped jute with a varnish or some kind of finish. A deep heating with a heat gun on the hinge will also stiffen it up.

You could try to remove wood from the areas above and below the hinge but you may end up dropping the draw weight too much. It will only be a "fix" and not a "solution" but hey its your first bow and it shoots!

You could use fiberglass tape but it kind of misses the point of making a self bow

Which reminds me i have to get on with this other birch bow, promised it to someone weeks ago

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

I was thinking about trying birch to one day this bow making opens up a hole new world of projects for me now..

 

[Colin.W]

I like elder I have 2 walking staffs made from elder, it works well and is quite good strength to weight. it's not easy to find knot free in decent lengths but some older trees can produce some quite good pieces

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

it may the difficulty of finding a good bit of wood for a bow that the info of it being a good bow wood was lost.. I will have a different out look when looking at elderberry trees now with a walking staff in mind also....

 

[welshwhit]

Nice bow and really nice spot!

Drew

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

it was a great spot the spot we wanted to go to originally was taken so we went a bit farther and found this spot it has lots of room and could do 30 to 50 people easily and it had some very good fishing holes up the river also I think it was meant for us to find this spot along the river....