Need some Help!!! Please

[Raven22]

I was wondering if theres anyone in the Northern Virginia, Eastern WV, Western Maryland area that would be willing to take a new guy under there wing and help me build a bow. I'm currently starting a oak board bow and would love help with the tillering operation I'm not sure how well i will do. I live in Martinsburg WV, and would be willing to drive if your willing to teach. Thanks

[Jason Scott]

Honestly, the boards are so cheap you can mess many up before you figure it out and learn more than if you travel and someone shows you how to do it right in one try. In other words you learn more by messing up. But if you use this link you should get it right on the first or second try.


 http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm

[walkabout]

the link jason posted is what got me started building bows, if you follow it you will pick up the basics and can go from there. i built quite a few red oak board bows before moving on to staves cut from trees, and i am certainly glad i did because the red oak is so particular sometimes it warrants attention to detail and careful tillering. this is exactly what you need when you do get some staves and start scraping. the only real diference is that with board bows there are no rings to chase, and no vertical grain to follow if you want to make character bows.essentially you want to learn tillering, which is probably the most important thing to get right to begin with, if you get good at tillering you can really build just about anything you want with a little patience.

[fish n chicks]

I would also suggest taking a picture of your bow on the tiller stick or tree, and posting it here. These guys love looking at curvy things and if your bow doesn't look right, they will tell you in no time.

Also, 4est trekker's build along has a great wealth of knowledge in it too. Check that out as well:

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002064;p=1