This is a bow?

[Renaissance Man]

One mistake I can share may have something to do with what happened with that bow.
Often when a stave hinges like that many think it is cause they took off to much in that section.
It can be that but think also along the lines that the area above it and/or below it was too strong.
Also go slow. My problem was I would get into it and move to fast, something will always happen when you go to fast.
Get up and walk away from it. Leave it for a couple of days even.

[Bails]

Interesting thread , now i wanna know how she shoots  

[tradtusker]

"you call that a Knife?" ...
"this is a Knife!"        

 

Originally posted by Friends call me Pac:


   


   

To be continued....

[John3]

Looks great..!

[Kanuck]

I've always found that the toughest part of building a self bow from scratch was not running out of patience and taking too much wood off too fast or working the wood before it is truly seasoned.  So, I've had several that turned out like yours.  It happens.

Building from raw wood is the toughest way to build a bow in my estimation.  No one can truly consider themselves a bowyer unless they have done it successfully.  I think someone could build bows from raw wood for their entire life and never stop learning something about the wood or the bows that result from it.  

I'm not that good at it so I have gravitated towards building bows from floor tillered staves.  The wood is sound, well dried and most of the shaping has been done but not so much that I can't "individualize" the bow in question.  After working with raw wood its almost like cheating!

Goodluck on your board bow!

[Chris Shelton]

well looks like you and I are on the same page, one of these days I will have a good self bow . . .

[Thumper Dunker]

I killed my first bow also .My second came out ok.I think you did good . And nice knife .

[Friends call me Pac]

I would like to publically thank Johnathon the mailman.  If he had handed me a ready made selfbow instead of a tree sapling I would have never started this adventure on my own.  Sorry I messed up the piece of elm but I have learned alot so far.

Went to Lowe's and picked up a piece of red oak the other day.  Been working on it and it sure is easier now that I have a bit of understanding.

When I finish this one and if it turns out well I'll give a sapling another try.  Guess it's my version of crawl before walking.

I'll post a photo in a little while.  I'm just about to head out the door to go to town.

[Mudd]

"It's always easier to take wood off than to put wood on!"
I'll try to remember who it was that told me that one. I've got it narrowed down to Tim Baker, Mike"Wingnut"Westvang,Gary Davis,Jim Hamm, Will Steffan, Dean Torges or "The Original Frugal Archer", Jeff Struberg.

I think I might be able to rule out Gary since he's the one that told me(at 1st MoBoJam) we only had 3 days to get a bow built..lol

Anyway it is good advice!! I personally don't think you can go too slow and if it weren't the screw-ups in my early life I might have been called "Cobweb" instead of "Mudd"....lol

Good luck and have fun! Be sure you show us how it turns out.
It was sorta like therapy for me, I needed it and still do, from time to time.

God bless,Mudd

[Friends call me Pac]

Home made bow take #2

 

 

Taking it slow on this one.  So far so good.

[vtmtnman]

Looks great Pac.

[Friends call me Pac]

She broke on me about 3 inches from the bottom fade.  Had it tillered to 22" and tried to string it with a regular string instead of the long string.  POW!!

Man it was looking good too.  One of these days I'm going to get it right.