New bowyer; list of tools?

[David Dumke]

I'm very interested in traditional bowhunting and to save my self some money I was wanting to get in to bow building myself as a hobby as I will be attending college in the fall and as many of you may know, college+leisurely spending do NOT mix.  :p

My question:

What tools would be neccessary to build a bow? My father has an abundant supply of old tools from rummage sales so I would love to have a checklist for when I move back home following my highschool graduation.  

[Balding Kansan]

A bandsaw and wood rasps and some good clamps seem to be the three tools I use the most. I wish I would have got into building while I was at college. I had so much spare time and now I have hardly any.

[DesertFox]

You can get away with not having the bandsaw IF you can find someplace to cut your boards to a proper size. If you start with oak 1x2's from Home Depot, they are already the right size.

[tim roberts]

One can get by with some good rasps, a few files, scraper, and a draw knife.  If you want to get fancy then you will need a band saw, or jig saw.  An osilating belt sander can help, but not needed.......

[shamus]

Thoughts of mine on tools

hope it helps.

[David Dumke]

Thank you all so much for the input. I'm looking forward to starting my first project. Hopefully before the end of june. Not only does my father have the hand tools but he inherited the urge to find a good deal on anything from my late grandfather and had the DIY virus for a while before he fell to ill to actually start any projects. The garage needs some rearranging but I think I could make it in to a neat little bowyer shop. It's surprising how excited I am to get in to something I had no interest in nearly all my life. (hunting of any sort.)

[tim roberts]

Be careful.........It is highly addictive, and at times somewhat frustrating, have fun!!!!  Can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

[David Dumke]

I have the patience of a toddler when it comes to things like this. I hope to make works of art in the future. I've always like making wood projects. Never found a reason to use hand tools and quickly got bored because of the repetativeness and the "it just sits there" factor with making tables and such.

[scrub-buster]

Check your local craigslist.com.  You can find some great deals on used tools.  I picked up a Ryobi belt/disc sander this morning for $25.  The same person had a delta 9" band saw for $25 also.

[Cherry Tree]

Well the guys pretty much said it all but i think a big thing to have is a Moisture Detector.

[George Tsoukalas]

There are some buildalongs on my site. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[David Dumke]

Originally posted by George Tsoukalas:
There are some buildalongs on my site. Jawge
  http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/  

This will be greatly helpful. I'm reading through the board bow build along right now as that is what I'm going to start with.


I read through a bunch of more advanced build alongs last night and it got me even more excited. seeing the beautiful would and the laminant backing through fiber glass. Boy I'm PUMPED!!!

[walkabout]

one good tool for anyone to have is the tillering gizmo, its helped me countless times when my eyes were no longer seeing the stiff spots. easy to use and does its job very well. theres a build along for making one on here if you search"tillering gizmo"

[David Dumke]

Originally posted by walkabout:
one good tool for anyone to have is the tillering gizmo, its helped me countless times when my eyes were no longer seeing the stiff spots. easy to use and does its job very well. theres a build along for making one on here if you search"tillering gizmo"

Thanks for the heads up. I was leary of searching for that because I know the search on TG is set on finding 200 posts and if there aren't it won't show up.