Intrested in building my own bow

[dbscott]

I have been shooting traditional for a couple of years and I am interested in building my own bow.  I have bought The Traditional Bowyer's Bible volume 1 and have checked out the kits at Bingham's Projects website but I am still a little lost.  I think it would be easier if I had someone that I could follow along.  Is there anyone from Oklahoma on here?

I know that at our yearly wildlife expo put on by the department of wildlife there is usually a group of bowyers there and I didn't know if anyone knew them.

[Dano]

Those guy's are with the OKlahoma Selfbow Society, great bunch of gentlemen. Look for them over on this site. Tommy Leach is President, he lives in Stillwater.

[Robertfishes]

do you want to build self bows or fiberglass backed bows? I bought the first 3 "Trad Bowyers Bibles" back in 1994 and was able to take a 2 weekend class on bow building in which I completed a Mulberry flat bow. If Fiberglass, then consider ordering one of the DVD's from Binghams. I bought the one for one piece recurves and borrowed the one piece longbow DVD from a friend, I found the DVD's to be good but brief. I found plenty of good info on this site and a couple of others, use the search functions and read away. I have built four 58" recurves since July. Good luck with your builds

[sulphur]

http://www.geocities.com/salampsio/index.html
check out sam harper's site

[Loren Holland]

sulphur's suggestion is a great one.  I have been shooting compound for years, and finally made the switch. I wanted to build a bow, but like you, was "lost".  I chanced across Sam Harper's build along, and loved his sense of humor too.  Try it...especially at first, the red oak build along.  You are going to have several mistake bows anyways, so might as well only lose a few dollars. Once you are a bit more adventurous try the Boo/Ipe.  I just rough sanded done a White Ash belly lam i added to Sams build, man it shoots.

BTW Sam if you see this, Thanks, your site got me out of "analysis paralysis" and started doing

[MADTRAPPER]

dbscott I built my first two longbows using the binghams plans. the dvd's are pretty good. if you decide to go that route i have an extra dvd you can have.

[rbbhunt]

And you'll have to make it to OJAM in March.
 http://ojam.org/

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

My suggestion is to jump in and do it regardless of what bow style you want to make.  I waited for years trying to get my confidence up to make a bow.  Finally I just did it. (I started with a Hickory Stave) Yes go to ojam and seek out the local builders but more importantly make the decision to do it and start gathering supplies and make some saw dust fly.  Start with a board bow, a white wood stave, an osage stave, or a piece of plywood to build your bow press. Get the project moving.  There are plenty of people here that will help you get out of any "Trouble" that you might get in to.

pete

[toolslinger]

Yep must agree with the suggestion to go to Sam Harpers site. It is a complete build along and tells you how to build the bow with just hand tools. Definitely do this. Power tools will just get you in trouble with your first couple of bows. Go very slowly and post lots o pics so you can get advice from all the knowledgable folk here. Now go get a board and start shaving.

[Sam Harper]

I'm glad to hear that, Loren.  I had a bad case of analysis paralysis myself for far too long.

[Osagetree]

An un-educated man with only stone tools, 2000 years ago did it to survive and feed his family!

That's what I kept telling myself! With better tools in hand,,, I can do this!

Don't over think it, just do it! Try not eating and having the worry your stave will break before you can hunt and eat again,,, now that was pressure! Meanwhile, you'd had better have been setting plenty of snares!  

[canid song]

i would argue that 2000 years ago, when dinner and warmth where at stake, there where fewer 'uneducated' men, where it counted.

we get to practice out art [largely] from a position of comfort and luxury   :D