Last week I found a curtain track in a dumpster and quickly noticed it was made from a thick strip of bamboo so thick the 1 inch wide 1/4 inch thick strip was almost flat, I joked to myself on my way past that I bet you could make a bow to shoot arrows out of that, when I came back home it was still there so I grabbed it and I did.
This was all just for my fun and entertainment whilst stuck in the city, then when I was there with my tongue sticking out with a big smile on my face having a great time I thought hey you should take pictures, at first i'd thought you could laminate multiple layers of the bamboo and then shape a bow from it, but it fitted much better to being the limbs of a recurve style bow.
I looked at pictures online of the handle bits and made a template diagonally on A4 printer paper for my bit of shop pine that was in a scrap wood bin I have, coping sawed this up to rough shape, then rasped it, then mora'd it (very small sharp knife) and then sanded it, hated it and rasped it loads more, then mora'd it some more, sanded it and started smiling at the shape, played about with the mora until I was happy and then put it down before it became kindling, cut the limbs from the bamboo, soaked the ends in hot water for 10 mins and then held them in the bench vice and added a slight bend to the end of each one for the knock area and kick.
I'm sure I have all the names of bits wrong, please archery folks take it easy with the beatings I am just entertaining myself and shared the madness
I didn't even follow any instructions as I wanted the learning and discovery to be part of the fun, if i make a serious bow i will get some trusted guidelines, this was just for a laugh
So I awled holes for the screws in the bamboo and glued and screwed the limbs to the handle and then set about digging in the mancave for a good wrap, tried various bits of leather and other bits of fancy stuff but I never had enough of one thing to do it all so settled with the luminous tent guy lines, so this became the binding for the limbs and the handle, whilst finding the guy lines I found some tarp cordage that had a very slight bungee to it, gave it a rough tie up on the bent bow and it held shape and made a nice twang when you strummed it so i thought i'll give that a shot.
So I grabbed a cardboard box, stuffed it with 7 sheets of thick card and 2 pairs of old denim jeans, slapped one of my little cross bow paper targets on the side of this box and sat it on a stool at the end of my hall in front of my front door, i had marked the floor 5 meters away thinking it may not even reach the target (did i mention the no expert bit?).
So there i stand 5 meters from my front door inside my house with my makeshift bow in hand facing a target i made (as described above) and I take a Japanese longbow arrow (practice tip that you can see in the finish images) knock the arrow to the string, draw the bow about 2/3rds of what i think it can take and loose the arrow, it flies true straight through the target denting my brass inside letterbox cover, don't worry folks I don't have kids
Please understand I am no expert in either bow making or woodcraft I just like playing with whittling tools and scrap wood and my imagination and anything that I might find in a rummage about the mancave.
I have just been advised that i was measuring my draw weight incorrectly, following the new advice and using a measuring stick i get 19.3 lbs @ 25 inches maximum draw length, that explains the holes in stuff better
Stuff used 2x2x14 inch long block of pine, 2 x 14 inch bamboo curtain track strips approx 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick, 4 small wood screws, wood glue, luminous tent guy lines, tarp cord for the bow string, my goal was to only use whatever I had already it became like a fun rule I tried to stick to and did, at the start I thought I was going to have to get something appropriate to use or make a bow string out of but the tarp cordage works a treat.
Tools used with tongue sticking out, tape measure, pencil, hand coping saw, Mora 120 sloyd style kniv, Japanese Shinto rasp, hand awl, wet and dry aluminium cloth sanding sheets
Test video coming as soon as I get some half decent natural light and make a more rugged target
This was all just for my fun and entertainment whilst stuck in the city, then when I was there with my tongue sticking out with a big smile on my face having a great time I thought hey you should take pictures, at first i'd thought you could laminate multiple layers of the bamboo and then shape a bow from it, but it fitted much better to being the limbs of a recurve style bow.
I looked at pictures online of the handle bits and made a template diagonally on A4 printer paper for my bit of shop pine that was in a scrap wood bin I have, coping sawed this up to rough shape, then rasped it, then mora'd it (very small sharp knife) and then sanded it, hated it and rasped it loads more, then mora'd it some more, sanded it and started smiling at the shape, played about with the mora until I was happy and then put it down before it became kindling, cut the limbs from the bamboo, soaked the ends in hot water for 10 mins and then held them in the bench vice and added a slight bend to the end of each one for the knock area and kick.
I'm sure I have all the names of bits wrong, please archery folks take it easy with the beatings I am just entertaining myself and shared the madness
I didn't even follow any instructions as I wanted the learning and discovery to be part of the fun, if i make a serious bow i will get some trusted guidelines, this was just for a laughSo I awled holes for the screws in the bamboo and glued and screwed the limbs to the handle and then set about digging in the mancave for a good wrap, tried various bits of leather and other bits of fancy stuff but I never had enough of one thing to do it all so settled with the luminous tent guy lines, so this became the binding for the limbs and the handle, whilst finding the guy lines I found some tarp cordage that had a very slight bungee to it, gave it a rough tie up on the bent bow and it held shape and made a nice twang when you strummed it so i thought i'll give that a shot.
So I grabbed a cardboard box, stuffed it with 7 sheets of thick card and 2 pairs of old denim jeans, slapped one of my little cross bow paper targets on the side of this box and sat it on a stool at the end of my hall in front of my front door, i had marked the floor 5 meters away thinking it may not even reach the target (did i mention the no expert bit?).
So there i stand 5 meters from my front door inside my house with my makeshift bow in hand facing a target i made (as described above) and I take a Japanese longbow arrow (practice tip that you can see in the finish images) knock the arrow to the string, draw the bow about 2/3rds of what i think it can take and loose the arrow, it flies true straight through the target denting my brass inside letterbox cover, don't worry folks I don't have kids
Please understand I am no expert in either bow making or woodcraft I just like playing with whittling tools and scrap wood and my imagination and anything that I might find in a rummage about the mancave.
I have just been advised that i was measuring my draw weight incorrectly, following the new advice and using a measuring stick i get 19.3 lbs @ 25 inches maximum draw length, that explains the holes in stuff better
Stuff used 2x2x14 inch long block of pine, 2 x 14 inch bamboo curtain track strips approx 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick, 4 small wood screws, wood glue, luminous tent guy lines, tarp cord for the bow string, my goal was to only use whatever I had already it became like a fun rule I tried to stick to and did, at the start I thought I was going to have to get something appropriate to use or make a bow string out of but the tarp cordage works a treat.
Tools used with tongue sticking out, tape measure, pencil, hand coping saw, Mora 120 sloyd style kniv, Japanese Shinto rasp, hand awl, wet and dry aluminium cloth sanding sheets
Test video coming as soon as I get some half decent natural light and make a more rugged target
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