bow making seminar suggestions

[Jeremy]

Somehow I managed to get myself talked into running a seminar just before deer season starts in Sept.  One of the Ren Faire cast members lives down the street from me and just trashed his bow (left it on the top of the car and drove off).  I had offered to help him make something that would look more 'period-correct' and I guess the word got around.

I know with good red oak boards it'd be relatively easy to get them all shooting a bow by the end of the day, but that's a lot of time I'd be spending going through the lumber yards trying to find good boards to make the 40-45# bows.  I don't enjoy that.

I'm thinking of doing hickory backed ipe instead.  I think I can just pre-taper the ipe on the table saw at around .004" per inch and glue 'em up.  After doing a straight taper from around 1" to 1/4" at the fades they should just need to adjust the tiller slightly and then reduce evenly to make weight.

That should be an almost fool-proof way to get a shootable bow in everyone's hands by the end of the day, right?  Any other suggestions?

[Pat B]

Good luck getting it done in a day. Especially with folks that haven't made wood bows before. At the Tenn. Classic they usually have 20 to 30 newbies learning to make bows to be shot competitively on Sunday. Usually they start on Friday and they also have lots of help from many seasoned bowyers. Most all complete their bows to shooting stage. Also, Pappy and the Twin Oaks guys have hickory staves seasoned and cut to floor tiller stage for the participants.
  Not saying it can't be done but be ready for all things possible. How many bows will y'all be building?
  Going with hickory backed ipe will

[Jeremy]

I'm hoping to pretaper the belly wood in such a way that when they cut the bow to outline they'll end up with it tillered nearly correctly and maybe 20-25# over target weight.  Have them rasp even facets then adjust the tiller before reducing the weight.

That way they get a taste for tillering a bow and bringing it to weight, but it shouldn't be as time consuming for beginners.  

It's hard for me to remember how long that first bow took though, so I might be completely off! LOL!  I guess I need to glue one up, then see how long it takes me!

I saw four of the guys yesterday at a picnic who were interested.  I'm not sure how many more might join in.

[John Scifres]

I wouldn't do more than 4 at a time if it's just you doing the course.  That way they get more one-on-one and you don't have to be scrambling.  Also, your blanks are more likely to work out since you can baby-sit it more.  I believe I could get 4 students done with selfbows from staves in an all-day seminar.  I'd have to have a bandsaw and help them cut them.  I've pondered doing this a lot.

[4est trekker]

To save yourself time (which equals money), perhaps you'd be better off ordering some of the many u-finish bow options found amongst the sponsors here.  Perhaps a simply hickory selfbow?  However, your idea would work.  Best of luck!

[Eric Krewson]

Every time I ran a bow bee I had a very few folk who had the inspiration to make a bow and a bunch that were "afraid they might mess something up" and would only watch.

I would tell all before hand the bow making is very physical and to succeed they will have to sweat a bunch to produce a finished bow.

I hosted two bow bees and the only bows made were by the us experienced instructors. The rest of the guys just didn't have what it takes to rasp and scrape hour after hour.

Hope you have better luck than I did with your get together.

[John Scifres]

I'm with Eric on that point.  I have been a part of a couple bow bees.  They were fun but most folks simply wanted a demonstration.

[va]

Jeremy -

Maybe you could get an estimate on the number of people who are interested and/or willing to commit to an all-day sweat-fest.

Some of the kids at OJAM really worked their fannies off and had a shootable blank after a day.  They also soaked up enough encouragement to finish on their own.

Another option is to have one example of each main pahse in a build.  A stave, a lay-out, a floor-tillered blank, and one on the tree?

[Eric Krewson]

I have seen the guys a Twin Oaks and Hill shoot(Mike McGuire's class)work from daylight to past dark, same is true for all the guys who come individually to my shop.

All of the above showed up with wood in hand or bought what was available so they could get started. These guys had the bow making mindset already and would do what it took to succeed.

[George Tsoukalas]

I guess if they used bandsaws they could do it in a day but that's not advised with beginners. I've been making bows for 21 years and I've only made one bow in a day and that includes boardbows. Here's my suggestion. Make some bend in the handle red oak board bows. Rip some boards 1 3/8 in wide. Floor tiller them. Let them work on tillering. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

...with hand tools. Jawge

[Pat B]

...and Jawge's website has everything you need to know about it!

[Jeremy]

I picked up some hickory and ipe today.  Hopefully I'll be able to glue something up over the weekend and get an idea of how long this would take a newbie.  Since I'm only shooting for 40-45#, I think I'm going to try 1" wide for a slightly stiffer handle bow ~8" or so.  Maybe 7/8" thick at the end of the handle?

Does TB II/III bond well with ipe, or should I break out the smooth-on?