Hickory Board Bow - Newbie

[tsorenson]

I joined Tradgang a few years ago when I bought a Samick Sage recurve. I enjoyed shooting it, but I always felt a pull toward making my own bow. Like many of you, I imagine, I put it off for quite sometime because the timing wasn't just right or I didn't have space or I didn't have time, etc. Finally, this Christmas I asked for a few tools and I figured I'd stop making excuses and just dive into the process. I'm not an experienced woodworker and fear that I'm setting myself up for failure, but I hope to have a grand time while doing it!

I'm using Sam's red oak guide from Poor Folk Bows. Today, I went to Home Depot to purchase the wood with the intent of doing a red oak bow, however I dug through their limited stock of red oak and wasn't impressed. Finally I noticed a stack of hickory nearby and rummaged through it - my limited knowledge tells me this is still not a good board, but I think it'll work. Thoughts? I've cut it to 72" and laid out the pattern. Between being a daddy and work, I don't imagine this project will go quickly, but I hope to tap into the collective wisdom found here and produce something usable.
   

   

[mikkekeswick]

It's hard to tell from the picture but it looks pretty good.
If you decide to back it then rawhide,linen or silk would be my choice.
72 inch is very long! What is your drawlength and what draw weight do you want?

[KenH]

Wow!  I'm impressed.  Your Home Despot has hickory.  Mine can't spell Hickory, let alone carry any!

[Jomohr84]

Sams build alongs are great, they taught me a ton, you can't go wrong. If you decide to back it, I wouldn't use fiberglass tape though, just my preference. There are lots of other readily available materials I prefer. I used thin canvas backing on my first 3 bows, and it worked well and looked nicer than fiberglass tape imho.
   Also, make yourself a gizmo or two, I use a long one and a short one.
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001047

[tsorenson]

72" long does seem really long when I hold the wood in my hand - would you suggest something different? I am aiming for 50# at 28" as I want something that could take down an elk. Length suggestions are welcome!
I was planning on using Sam's guide as a starting point - I really didn't like the look of the fibergalss tape, so I had actually purchased a yard of digital camo fabric from Walmart already - it feels like thin denim, but it said "Remnants from undetermined fabric content". It definitely feels like denim, though and has no visible stretch so I'm assuming it'll be okay? My wife has some linen she'll let me use if I need to.

[LittleBen]

How wide are you planning to build the bow?

I would probably be going 68" and width of at least 1.5" preferably 1.75"-2".
2" Is definitely wider than you need, but for a first bow a good bit extra wood won't hurt. I think 1.75" is probably close to ideal.

Never shot an elk, but my experience shooting deer leads me to believe it's as much or more  about a heavy arrow than it is a heavy bow. First deer kill with grad gear was 43# @ 25" with 500gr wood arrow and I'm sure I didn't get to full draw. Penetrated more than 12". So anyway, I think if you can make a well tillered 50# bow you should be fine.

Lastly, get some good pictures of the board. A backing really may not be necessary, and honestly, and fabric backing or even rawhide will add mass and not any more draw weight so it will slow the bow down. If I was worried I would drop the draw weight a few pounds before i added fabric if the board looked good. At the end of the day it's going to be the bow with minimal limb mass that shoots the best, not the one with the highest draw weight. But that's just one man's opinion, and I admit to never having built a hickory board bow, although I enused many hickory backings.

[wood carver 2]

I haven't made a selfbow yet, so I don't know much about them, but couldn't you rip a 1/8" or 1/16" strip from that board, flip it over and use it for a backing?
I thought I heard about doing that some time ago.
Dave.

[tsorenson]

In regards to the grain - man it's hard to get pictures of the grain! Here are three pics in succession along side what I intend to be the belly.
 
left limb to center
 
Center to right limb
 
right limb tip

Do these help with seeing the grain? I'd prefer not to back the bow at all because the natural wood looks best in my opinion, but the grain has a wave in it that I'm concerned about. Thanks all!

Oh, the bow is 1.75" wide, tapered to .5" nocks.

[mwosborn]

Tom - what part of Nebraska are you located?

[tsorenson]

Sidney.

[mwosborn]

Dang.  That is on the other end of the State - if it was closer I would invite you to come over and I would help you get started.

[Pat B]

What does the side grain look like?

[tsorenson]

mwosborn - that would have been awesome.

Pat - I think it looks okay? The pics below are as good as I could get.

 

 

[tsorenson]

Roughed out the sides and belly. Next step is to glue on the riser and build a tiller tree. I also followed some of the advice on here and took it down to 68".
 

 
I'm not sure if you can see it real well, but the pencil is pointing to a spot where I took off too much wood on the side - will this be a problem? Is it fixable?

Happy New Year, all!

[takefive]

I wouldn't worry about it, especially if it's within a foot of the tips.  I always end up narrowing that last foot or so towards the end of the tillering process when I narrow the tips to 3/8".  I like to leave a hair more thickness there until after I narrow the tips just to be safe.
Tying a piece of string to one tip and stretching it to the other one to make sure your tips are in line with the handle is a good idea.
A little grain run off on hickory doesn't bother me either.

[tsorenson]

Thanks, all. So I glued on the riser tonight and it looks like I'll be ready for long-string tillering soon. So...am I crazy to use 550 paracord? Some say it works well, others swear it's been the downfall of their bow. Does the fact that I'm working with hickory make paracord any better or worse of an option? I was ready to buy a tillering string, but didn't feel like springing $25 after shipping charges. Thoughts?

[takefive]

I've heard that paracord is pretty stretchy, but if that's all you have it'll probably be okay for the long string part.  I'm in the process of switching over from B50 to D97 for my strings and have a lot of B50 that I'll never use up.  If you want, I'll send you a B50 tillering string no charge.  Just PM me your address.
I don't think the wood type matters as far as the paracord goes.

[Martin Schutte]

Thanks for the build along I am busy with a kids bow for my daughter(actually my first bow) from Hickory and I made the glue on riser to short     I did not focus well on 4est trekker`s build and did not see the bigger picture but I will make it work. I will back the bow with silk, it is kind of expensive on this side but its all for safety lesson learned. Martin

[mikkekeswick]

Buy a spool of B50 and make your own strings. You will need a tillering string and a proper string. Sorry but paracord is not a good idea. You want as close to no stretch as possible.

[Jomohr84]

I tried paracord when I was starting out, it doesn't work well at all. Got myself a proper tillering string and never looked back. The paracord has WAY too much stretch to be useful as a tillering string imo. You'll be much happier with a b50 or ff tillering string, it will save you some headaches.