Board Bow Wood

[recurve guy387]

Has anyone purchased good bow making wood from either Lowe's or Home Depot for making board bows or self bows? And if you did, tell me what to look for. I have the Bowyers Bible etc. and am reading that but still confused.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Straight grain sides and back. So far red oak has been the only one that has come out a shooter.

[Pat B]

I've bought boards from both! Red oak is all I could find like Sal said. Pat

[deadpool]

i tried red oak, i prefer maple, its lighter and faster and more forgiving as a bow wood

[canid song]

i have found quite a lot of decent 1x2 red oak board at both stores, as long as i'm picky. in the self longbows i've been making from these, i've been turning out some passable 35-45lb youth/starter bows. i've heard it said, and my experience is starting to bear out that red oak is better siuted for wide limbs, as i invariably get more string follow than i'd like, and these bows have been loosing more cast after breaking in than i'd like. i'll next be trying wide pyramid limbs, tapered from 1/2 to 3/8 in thickness and hope to get better results.

my oppinion; red oak is a tolerant work horse for light to medium bows but i'm not sure how long it'll last for selfbows.

just my impressions.

[recurve guy387]

Thanks a lot for the info. I knew about the grain, but really didn't know what kind of wood I was to look at.

[shamus]

check out Jawge's site for board bow info:  http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/boards.html

Tim Baker's directions for a first board bow:  http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/6222/t/YOUR-FIRST-WOODEN-BOW.html

[KILLER B]

I have pulled all the red oak boards out one at a time looking carefully at each to just continue stacking them beside me.  Get some strange looks after you pull 20 boards out one at a time then just put every one right back on the shelf.  I made a 57 lb full length red oak bow that finally popped on me one morning while stringing her up on the way to the woods.  She didn't blow but has a definite crack along the back side.  It just sits in my shed with all my unused arrows.

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, I've lost track of the no. of bows I've made from Home Depot boards. Thanks, Shamus for posting my site. I take time choosing a board with straight grain and walk away if I can't find a suitable board. I never got a funny look from a Hope Depot person. I have gotten funny looks from archers who see how fast boards shoot.
Jawge