OK "Stupid Questions"

[Eastern fisher]

Hi all.  Dave from Nova Scotia.  Unlike other luckey people on this awesome site I live in Nova Scotia and here we do not have the luxery to all kinds of wonderful types of woods.  Here we have a select few and unless you want to mortgage your house I have to stick with what is available.  Now the stupid questions. I am using Ash for my 3rd attempt at bow building.  Is an arrow rest necessary or do some people use thier hands??  I am going to put on some Zebra wood pieces to the ends for my string to set in (hope this makes sense.  The proper term escapes me).  How long of a piece do I use (length wise.  Inch ?)  What type of glue can I use for this.  Once I get some pictures taken I will add them to the site.  Oh ya.  Another thing.  I found out that if you are trying to quit drinking, this is not the item to attempt to build, hense my 3rd attempt. The last one ended up on the burn pile and now I have to purchase a new bandsaw. Don't ask!  Let's just say that patience is not a vurtue for me at this point in time.

[Bob Barnes]

good questions.

Marc St Louis is a Canadian bowyer that uses lots of ash...if you could get in touch with him, he could help you.  He writes for Primitive Archer and spends quite a bit of time on the paleo site.  Tip overlays are personal but 1' -1 1/2" is plenty and any epoxy is good for putting them on.  I use super glue too.

Bob

[John Scifres]

I have made a bunch of ash bows.  Keep it wide and long with low mass at the tips and it will be great.  For a 28" draw I wouldn't go shorter than 68" and 2" wide for half the limb.  A holmegard design is perfect for this wood.  

One thing to keep in mind is that ash varies a great deal in its qualities.  You have to tweak design for each piece.  If it feels lighter then go longer and wider.  If it's relatively heavy, you can push it a bit.

You can shoot off your hand if you want.  No rest necessary.  Make sure your fletch is smooth on your arrows so you don't cut yourself.

Tip overlays should be up to 2" long and taper smoothly into the limb.  Dont get too aggressive when working the taper though or you could end up breaking your bow right there.  Make sure the last 6" of your bow limbs don't bend at all at full draw.  Any good glue should work.  I like superglue or epoxy.

If you can't quit drinking on your own get to a meeting.  You do have AA there right?

Peace.

[Dano]

My best advice is this, if you have to drink, building bows is a great excuse.  

[Osagetree]

Scifres nailed it!

[bowur]

I have had great success with ash, i made a bow 1.5" wide, 62" long and got a 29" draw out of it. But ash does very a lot in its qualitys. Arrow rest is optional, some like shooting off their hand better

[Eastern fisher]

Thank you all for your assistance.