Building a bow?

[Tyler Langston]

I am just starting out with traditional bow hunting and i am wanting to make some bows. What would be the best type of bow to start out making? Where could i find information on building one? What kind of wood should i use?

[clintopher]

The search function is your friend...


It depends on if you want to build a fiberglass bow or one of natural materials.  The least expensive in materials and required tools is a board bow.  They can be made from oak, hickory, ash, and probably others.

Clint

[SSGN_Doc]

I'm new to bow building as well.  I have found that the pyramid style is one of the more forgiving designs to make.  Not super elegant but it can make a servicable bow for not a lot of money.

If you look down the threads here and look at the "So you want to build a bow?" thread it has very good instructions on building a decent bow from easy to find wood.  If you really read the thread, you will find dimensions suggested for a wide range of draw weights.

[Innocente]

http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm

[BUCK-EYE]

Innocente,
That is a great web site

[Innocente]

yeah it is, sam harper gave a lot of us a start in this!

[Russell S.]

i have never made a self bow.  the guys who got me started got me going on laminated bows (with fiberglass)  they told me with a self bow, getting a shooter the first time is a challenge.  getting a shooter with a lam bow is much more likely but requires attention to detail and to use a proven form (kennym's or binghams) i am working on my 7th now 2 of my forms i designed.  all the bows i used glass in are nice shooters,  i broke all the all wood lam bows so far but mostly just because i wanted to see where they would break  (drawing a 62" bow to 36").  set up was a bit pricey, but with some ingenuity with on hand materials i was able to greatly reduce the initial coast.