Kiddie bow

[Krasus]

I want to make a bow for my son who's 6 and wants to "shoot like dad".lol

Wondering if any of the other bowyers who do kids bows would be willing to shares spec and stacks?

Thanks

[Roy from Pa]

I would make it about 50 inches long. Real short bows are tuff and tend to be too heavy. But thats for a wood bow.

[YosemiteSam]

An easy one is to pick up 1/4" strips of red oak from Home Depot or Lowes.  They come in 48" strips up to 2.5" wide but the 1.5" wide pieces are my choice.  Draw a basic pyramid shape, glue on a handle block, some nock supports & tiller by thinning the width rather than the belly.  Back it with paper, burlap, silk or anything simple.  Makes a great kids bow.  At age 6, they just need to fling some arrows for fun.  If you want some dimensions, I'll go back & measure them for you.  I think they came out to about 15-20# at about 22" or so.  I never put one on the scale so that's just a guess.  At 48", they'll hit a hard wall at about that 22" draw mark.  

The only issue with these bows is they can quickly start to twist when side tillering.  Scrape too much off of one side & you'll see it twist up fast.  You also have to be careful not to scrape the belly when working on the handle transition area.  It's easy to go a little too far & gouge the belly.  A little bit is fine.  Just have to be careful.

For my oldest, I also did a paper-backed red oak board bow that was 1.5" wide x 48" long and pyramid shape.  This was off a shorter section of 1x2 that I had laying around.  That thing did pretty well, coming in at around 25# @ 20".  Of course, then he left it strung up outside in the rain one night...

None of these will win any awards but at their age, who cares?  If they shoot them out in a couple years, I'll gladly make them another.  They build fast.

[monterey]

I did the same for the grandkids and they were very satisfactory up to about age 7.

[Krasus]

How about glass backed? Roy will make fun of me but I've never actually done just a wood bow...  

[kennym]

I built a glass 50”,d/r  I think I know where the stats are on it. I will look in the morning.

[arachnid]

I think a simple board pyramid bow is the way to go. He will out grow it eventually so might as well make cheap, fast to built, easy to draw bows.
I took the first biw I ever built, a beech board bow backed with drywall tape (Sam Harper's build along), cut it to about 48", thinned the limbs down and- BAM!! A bow for my 7 year old son.

[mikkekeswick]

Yes just make a pyramid bow. Very easy.

[kennym]

Heres what I have Cody.

It was only one bow and I gave the form away to a feller with grandkids....

I just shrank the 58" D/R

2 - .030 glass
2 - .020 veneer
1 - .050 (.001) taper
1 - .090 (.002) taper
14" riser
24# @ 22"

Max draw about 24"

[monterey]

Kenny, How wide at the fades?

[kennym]

Hmmm didn’t note that, I’d guess 1.25 to 1.375 tho. Wasn’t real narrow ...

[Krasus]

Thanks guys.  Really appreciate the info!  

[Krasus]

Hey Kenny what was the total length?  And at the tips did you go down to 1/2" from the 1.25 at the fades?

[kennym]

Sorry , it was 50” ntn and yep down to a little under 1/2”

[jess stuart]

Krasus, Here is how I build a 46" kids bow.  I split 2" 040" glass down to 1" and 48" long.  I use a 12" riser and one 002 taper and one parallel.  I just measured one at .200" at the end of the fadeout, it is 12# @ 20".  Here is a pic.

 

[Krasus]

Sweet. The thanks Kenny, Jess and everyone. Much appreciated.

Cody

[Dean4Bows]

I use 2" .030 glass split down the middle to get 1" and .243" total stack with .003 Tpr gets 20# @24" on a 48" R/D longbow.
I also add fabric socked in epoxy under clear glass to make the kids smile wide
My grankids love theirs

[Jerry Gille]

I make 48" slightly reflexed longbows on a 2 inch form. Then I rip it down the middle to get 2 bows. I use .30 glass, one .001 lam and one parallel lam and an 11 inch handle. Total stack at fade is about .200 and they are 3/4" wide at fades down to 1/2" at tips. They usually come out 16 to 20 pounds at 20 inches.

[jess stuart]

Jerry how do you rip them?

[Jerry Gille]

I have used both a bandsaw and free hand on a table saw.  I free hand a table saw mostly and like it better than the band saw.  I use an old blade for both.  Always make sure you have a respirator on obviously no matter what method but I go even further when using the table saw and wear a full face shield over safety glasses and the respirator because it will throw glass right up into your face.

Bandsaw is safer.  Table saw is quicker.  For some reason I have always gravitated toward quicker over safer in all aspects of my life.        And I got the scars to prove it.