Hi everyone, new member here looking for advice!

[P.C-11]

Hi everyone,

First of all I would like to say that I have been browsing these forums for about a week now until I finally decided to register because of the great content I saw in the various threads posted!

The reason for this thread is to seek help/advice which I would really appreciate from some of the members out there..

I am completely new to building bows. I have watched a few videos on the subject, read a few articles on the internet and read many of the threads on here to try and learn as much as I can about the process of building a bow. I am also in the process of purchasing all volumes of 'The Traditional Bowyers Bible' as I understand this is by far the best and most comprehensive book on the subject.

After some thought I have decided that I want to build a flatbow style selfbow as my first project but I am struggling on finding information on various aspects of the build process..

I am planning to use hickory or maple to start of with.. so my first question is; would these woods be suitable for a selfbow?

The second question is that I understand once I purchase a stave all I have to do to get the back of the bow is peel the bark off and the layer directly underneath the bark would be the back of the bow and will need no more work during the building process... is this assumption correct?

And finally.. if I was to purchase a blank online, what would the starting dimensions have to be before I start cutting any wood? e.g. I have seen both hickory and maple staves advertised online and the dimensions the site gives are 82” x 4” x 1.5” and 80” x 8" x 2". Would these starting dimensions be suitable?

I understand that the questions may sound silly to some of the more experienced members on this forum, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere right and one thing I was taught as a kid was "the only stupid question is the question that isn't asked"    

Thanks again and I really appreciate any help/advice/feedback on the matter!

All the best,
Paul.

[macbow]

For the back it depends on the wood.
Hickory yes for removing bark and use as back of bow as long as no,damage is done to the back.
Hickory is a good wood to start. If you live in a high humidity area it can take on moisture easily.

Maple, I haven't used yet.

Those staves would certainly be good for one bow and maybe two on the second.

I'll defer to the self bowlers from here on because I mostly build laminated bows.
You will enjoy the Bibles.

[P.C-11]

Thank you for your quick response macbow! I appreciate the help like I stated above.

Would the correct term for what I am describing above be a 'board' of wood instead of 'stave'? As I understand the website I speak of in my initial post supplies the wood already cut to size and with no bark?

Thanks again.

[LittleBen]

Stave generally refers to a piece of a log split down to a size where it will build one bow. A board typically refers to a piece of wood which has been milled down to a rectangular cross section, like you'd find in a lumber yard.

Generally you will want 2" wide or so minimum for a white wood flatbow stave (ie hickory, maple, oak etc) by whatever length the bow will be plus some for leeway. The depth should probably be minimum 1.25" so you can make the handle stiff. Worst case scenario you can glue another piece of wood onto he belly side of the handle to deepen it.

As Macbow said, you can use the outside surface right under the bark as the back of the bow for many woods (hickory, maple, ash, oak, elm, yew and many others). Some woods require what's called "chasing a ring" examples would be Osage, mulberry, and black locust.

Regarding hickory vs maple, Either is fine, but if you choose maple it should be "hard" maple, also known as sugar maple, or rock maple. The other maples are much less strong. Hickory is a great go to wood. Very tough stuff. Make sure it is dry before you bend it at all, and probably keep it somewhere with relatively low moisture because hickory will soak up a lot of moisture from the air, the bow will weaken and take more set.

Read the TBB vol. 1 and a lot of this will make more sense.

Cheers

[P.C-11]

Thank you for the reply LittleBen. You have helped a lot with the confusion I was having!

I was initially planning to build an English Longbow out of Yew but after further research I have discovered that good Yew for bow building is more or less non-existent now in the UK! (it was all cut down to make Warbows hundreds of years ago and more specifically during the 100 years war with France!)

I have the option of importing Italian or Spanish Yew but I feel it would be foolish to spend all that money on my first attempt as it there is a big chance of failure.

The reason I have decided to go down the Flatbow route is after reading an article in which the authour recommended not to start with a Traditional 'D' Cross-section Longbow because they are a lot harder to get right.


Thanks again for all your help. Once I find a suitable piece of wood I will be sure to share my experiences and pictures of the building process. No doubt I will need more help when I decide to start!

All the best,
Paul.

[Mad Max]

you can get used bowyer's bible on amazo_ for a good price
staves should be 70" long and 2" wide for your first bow, they can be narrower at the ends
68" or 66" nock to nock
Hickory would be a good starter bow.

[cmh]

I believe and could be wrong but thought there was a bowyers bible on the St Judes auction.....  

[Mad Max]

just bought used  bowyer's bible  3

13.00 shipped

[Wolftrail]

Originally posted by macbow:
For the back it depends on the wood.
Hickory yes for removing bark and use as back of bow as long as no,damage is done to the back.
Hickory is a good wood to start. If you live in a high humidity area it can take on moisture easily.

Maple, I haven't used yet.

Those staves would certainly be good for one bow and maybe two on the second.

I'll defer to the self bowlers from here on because I mostly build laminated bows.
You will enjoy the Bibles.

I use mostly maple but only 2 lams normally same thickness.  Not really convinced that 3 lams are a lot better. I know its hard to glue in the bends with only 2 lams.  A good self bow will shoot just as well as most laminates.