help getting started

[Gentle-Savage]

So after listening to The Strangest Secret, by Earl Nightingale, I've got a vision imprinted in my mind of what I want my future to look like.

What I need help with is a resource for outlining all the tools required to make a recurve bow.

materials can come later, right now I am going to start saving up and purchasing piece by piece the required hardware to build a bow.

If there is a resource online i'm unaware of, a link would be much appreciated. If no such list exists, I am willing to make a payment through PayPal up to $40 for a detailed guide/list of the tools needed, and where to get them. Let me know if that's something anyone would like to do    

Ps, once i've become competent in the craft in a few years, what's the average time it takes to make a recurve?  

Hope everyone's monday got off to a great start    

ps, the other main point in creating my future is to be involved in more service - if there is anyone in the utah county area who is in need of any assistance, please call on me. I work nights, so anytime from 7:00 am -9:00 pm I am available to serve    .  And seeing as how none of you claimed to be rich enough for servants on my career help thread, I expect some calls pretty soon    

-Alex

[T Folts]

You can start with Bighams projects. Elmont specializes in getting people started in bow making. Use the search here and look for build alongs, that will give a idea of what the process is like.

[fujimo]

this is the handiest tool for building glass bows, if you were going to only have one tool.
 http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-Oscillating-Edge-Belt-Spindle-Sander-EB4424/100061671

all the other power tools are real handy, and can come with time.
bandsaws etc

check out binghamsprojects.com they sell great starter kits, you just supply the plywood for the hotbox and the caul. buy all your lams and glass from kenny m. he is on here- and he will help you with  heaps and heaps of great advice.
he has an awesome R/D longbow design- and i believe is working on a recurve design- and it is nearing completion.
as Tfolts says- read all the build alongs, check out kenny s site- great advice on building cauls .
lots of good guys to help a fella along with everything on here.
just one thing dont believe a word that the crazeee ol' Roy boy has to say.grumpy ol'fart   :D  

if i have everything ready i can get a one piece bow built over a weekend.
couple of dry runs, then glue up, next day remove from the caul, glue on tips and overlays , later that day start shaping, get the limbs tapered and string nocks cut- check tiller. when it is all good, shape riser, then get first coat of finish on. then start shootin

[fujimo]

oh ...and that will be $3.50 for that info   :D  

dude, i know your intentions are honest and i see you dont want to impose upon folks, and i truly respect you for that- but heck who else are we gonna give advice to- certainly not our wives!!!...we be smarter than that!
no one is gonna charge you for some help. these are great guys here, and they will only be too glad to help. if we have to start paying for advice- well i better sell my house quick, as i would be so deep in the hole!!!

[bornofmud]

Depends on how you want to do it really.  You can do most of the work with hand tools if you order your lams from other people.  If you want to make your own lams, it will require a good chunk more tooling.

That being said, I own a 6x80 edge sander and a 14" bandsaw, both from grizzly, and find them to be indispensable to the way I make a bow. Add to that a few clamps ( I get by with 4 c-clamps, 4 2" spring clamps, 4 1" spring clamps, and two bar clamps.  I can do any jobs I need to without too much trouble with that collection) and a bunch of files and rasps, and you've got about everything you need.  Normal shop tools are always useful (vice, handsaw, scrapers, drill), and measurement tools (I have a flexible 36" straightedge for marking the limbs and things that require a straight line on a curved surface, normal ruler, a very accurate 6" ruler, a 24" true straightedge (thick piece of steel), and a dial caliper).  I recommend getting a good collection of used files and rasps, super cheap if you have a used tool store around you, and using those for most tasks involving fiberglass, and just get one or two good quality ones for doing riser work.  

Again, you can get away with a lot less, this is just how I do it.  I'm not set up for doing my own lams, but want to add that ability soon, and to do so I'll get a thickness sander (probably the grizzly baby drum) and a better guide for my bandsaw so that I can resaw nice and thin with no problems.  

Then of course you'll need the form, the hose for the form, and a pressure strip (all of which can be bought on binghams as a kit)a bike pump, and you'll need to make a hotbox.  You can do a super cheap one out of an insulating styrofoam they have at home depot, which is what I did, but you'll want to upgrade it to a real one as soon as possible.  

Hope that helps!  I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, but that's the basics!

[Todd Cook]

I make my lams with that oscillating sander fujimo gave the link to. I rip them with a band saw usually, sometimes with a table saw. I have a fence set up and pull them through by hand.

It's definatly slow, as a set of six takes me probably an hour, but it works really well. It takes some practice but they are very accurate.

I have a rikon band saw($300) that is plenty for me. Table saw is a portable 10 inch.

The bigger fancier tools are nice, and I would love to have them, but you can make nice bows with less than the best.

[mwosborn]

Todd - I would be interested in how you are using your ridgid sander to make your lams - got any pictures of how you have it set up?

[heartlandbowyer]

Mitch,
Like this, just adjust thickness and run em through, ground your bows lams on it.

Did a thread last spring call Poor Mans Lam Grinder I believe.
 

Cory

[mwosborn]

Thanks Cory - look like it will work - I will see if I can find the thread.  I fit the bill for "poor man"!

Going to try some HBO and maybe a trilam just to try something new.

[heartlandbowyer]

Alex get ahold KennyM or bingham the both sell prints and templates I believe. Bing hams is in Ogden UT so it may be close to you.

Cory

[Gentle-Savage]

right on thanks guys  :D

[Gentle-Savage]

here's a question.. what's a glass bow?? surely the entire thing isn't made of glass.. and what's the alternative to a glass bow? pros and cons of each?

[bigbob2]

glass bow is simply one in which the 'core' or wood stack[ amounts of laminations] is covered front and back by strips of glass specifically designed for bows.Much easier to make than self or all wood bows, as the failure rate for newbies is quite high, owing either to deficiencies in craftmanship or bad choice of timber used.

[Gentle-Savage]

oh ok    do  it isn't a low end bow - isn't the bear archery super Kodiak built like that? ) glass bow i mean)

[LittleBen]

Yes about the Bear Kodiak, All the manufactured bows are made like that since probably 1950 on, core of wood, with fiberglass on the back and belly side.

The only other choice really is a wood bow, which can be a single piece of wood, like the limb of a tree or a piece of the trunk (called a stave) or can be laminated from several thinner pieces of wood (for example bamboo backed osage bows)


In order to make a recurve bow you definately wanna be making a glass bow. Wood recurves are really not a beginners game.

[Gentle-Savage]

sounds good     excited to get into it once i get back from ID.

also looking into a supermag 48 by bear - 45# draw. anyone ever shot one of these? gentleman by the name of jeff kavanagh have it a solid review on YouTube, thinkin I'll work 3 or 4 extra shifts next month and give it a go  

[macbow]

I personally don't think the really short bows re the best to learn with. They are hard for me to shoot as accurately.

On a recurve a 58 inch or longer bow is a good starter.