Questions and Intro

[mwosborne]

Hey guys! As you can tell I am new here and it is great to meet all of you. I have been looking through the forums and it seems there is tons of information from very knowledgeable people.

So I used to shoot bows and bow hunt as a child but always used compound bows because of the let off of draw weight. which helped when I was younger. I never owned a bow that wasn't compound but have shot long and recurve bows.

I am recently getting back into archery and have my old compound bows and a few newer ones I have received as gifts over the years but never had time to use. I find myself enjoying the recurve bows more and more as the more natural feeling to them.

I thought about buying one but thought it would be much more satisfying to build my own as I tend to enjoy building my own things. (being an engineer tends to do that too you). Anyway I was wondering if anyone can give me some suggestions on how to get into the process of building a bow. I have looked into the kits from bingham and those seem nice but i wanted to know if i should do this or just start off on my own (not out of a kit).

I am thinking about a recurve bow and would prefer a take-down recurve but if the difficulty is too high I could easily settle for a one piece. Thanks fr any advice you guys can give!

[WILL CAROTHERS]

Once you start youre hooked, get ready. Why not start with a few hickory board bows, just to get familiar with the process and the mechanics of a bow. there are tons of build alongs on here. To me building a wood bow is much more satisfying, and it makes you feel like a part of the bow.

I say get a few straight grained hickory/maple/red oak board, some linen, and go for it, you cna make ~20 wood bows for the price of one kit. You can recurve these two, but just wait for others to chime in

[psychmonky]

Welcome to the gang! I can tell you from experience that there is a ton you need to learn lol.

As was stated above, read everything you can here. Read every book you can. Watch every youtube clip. But even after all that, you are going to have to get your hands dirty in order to really see how it works in the real world. (Can engineers see how things work in the real world? Lol )

Mostly don't get frustrated if you break a couple before you get a good one! It happens.

[mwosborne]

Thanks Will! I will definitely take your advice into account. I have heard that the process is addictive and don't doubt it in the least. The kits do run pretty high in price but I also know it is going to be an investment. The only good news is I wont need many tools as I have a full shop at work at my disposal only thing i will need is a heat box.

[SportHunter]

Mike, you can't have just one bow. As soon as you start building you'll need room for more. I think you should pick up a few used bows to have around to shoot while you're trying to build your own. That way you can start getting a feel for what you like and hone your shooting skills.

I would recommend looking for bows 40-45 lbs to start with from 58" to 62" long. Many vintage bows are very reasonably priced and will offer great performance.

As for starting to build, search for some how to build a bow build alongs & read, read......then jump in.

Sounds like you want to build a take down, Kenny is a great resource for lams etc. Bingham has a great rep as well.

Good luck on your quest, it's very rewarding but you'll need some patience & persistence.

[mwosborne]

Thanks! Yeah I can already here the wife complaining about how my bows take up too much space. I plan to make quite a few and it is good to have something to spend my free time on. I have a friend with a few longbows and recurve that loaned me one to play with until I can get one. I appreciate the recommendations on size as I really dont know much about the sizes and their effect since most of my experience was with compounds. Take downs are ideal for me due to issues with storage and since I already know I will be making quite a few. Maybe a lot of family members will be getting them as gifts   .


Psychmonkey -- Yes some of them can. It is true though many of them think if it works on paper it has to work in real life. Fortunately I work at a relatively small company and do a lot of hands on work and fabrication. I am pretty experienced with lay-ups of fiberglass, kevlar, and carbon fiber parts. I haven't done much wood work though. javascript:void(0)  :confused:

[WILL CAROTHERS]

Perfect timing, looks like someone just started a recurve build on another post

[psychmonky]

Lol just ribbing u a bit. I have met some fantastic engineers that really understood practical application, but many of the others were not able to see the big picture.

Kevlar....now that's interesting. Kevlar is lighter than fiberglass isn't it? I bet that would make a great backing....

[mwosborn]

Welcome mwo!  Nice user name     !  Can't help you with the glass bows (yet).  If you can get your hands on a white wood stave (hickory, hackberry, ash, etc) you can gain some valuable experience making a self bow.  They are "easier" to build and there are several build alongside here and elsewhere on the net.  Very satisfying build and you can make some nice shooters.  Good luck on whatever you start with!

[mwosborne]

I know you were. Yeah some of us get it but I have watched engineers pour hours upon hours of work into  a model and calculating every detail only to realize that while a part fits in the model there is absolutely no way to get the square peg through the round hole to get it where they want it.

Not too sure on the weight of kevlar vs. glass but it is usually used for it good toughness. Tends to be very scratch and impact resistant (hence being used in bulletproof jackets). I know from experience that without properly sharpened scissors is can be a nightmare to cut. I have thought about using a material known as inegra (may have the name wrong). It is comparable to carbon fiber but runs lighter.  I have seen it used on surf boards and some formula one cars. It is amazingly strong watch a surfboard get run over by a truck without a single scratch.

Mitch -- nice name as well. It is crazy that our names are so similar. I guess I am not surprised as in my high school there was someone with the exact same name as me.

[Glunt]

Welcome!  Check out the build-alongs in this section and the How To section as well as Google all you can.   Chances are your first bow will be be a shooter, but your second bow will be a big advancement since you learn a lot on the first.

I would plan your first with inexpensive materials and try and hit the draw weight mid 40's or lower.  If you miss weight (takes a couple), its way easier to find a good home for a 30# bow than an 80# bow.

Good design and proper building & tiller are the main factors in performance and feel. Performance materials like carbon and syntactic foam only yield small gains and don't make a square peg any rounder. They are best saved for tweaking a solid product.

[mwosborne]

Thanks for all of the input. I am looking forward to learning as much as possible here. A few more things. I have looked at a few build alongs and such on here but can anyone recommend good sources to see a step by step layout of the process. I think that would be very helpful. Any recommendations on books and such would be great as well. Also, sources for how you determine proper dimensions for the different parts or places to get blueprints. Thanks agian!

[jsweka]

mwosborne - If you're wanting to build a glass laminated bow, Bingham's has really good step by step DVDs and decent blueprints.  The word "kit" makes it sound like you're not really building your own bow, but in reality all they do is cut the laminations for you to the right thickness to get you really close to your desired draw weight when following their designs.  The rest of the process is the same as if you did everything yourself. Lots of bowyers started with Binghams. Once you get a few under your belt, you can start tweaking things to your own design.  Another great source of materials is kennym here on this site (Kenny's Custom Archery).  He makes makes awesome laminations and has the best customer service you could ask for.

I started with Binghams instructions and kits, changed my designs a bit and started buying supplies from Kenny, and have recently started gringing my own lams.  I guess it's been a logical progression in the craft for me.

[Roy Steele]

To start out I build a straight limb flat bow of OSAGE OR HICKORY these wood can take alot of mistakes exspecailly OSAGE and still end up a bow.
  Move on after some exsperance.