Getting into Self bows (Questions)

[9 Shocks]

I have some osage staves ready to go and a few tools but what are the best tools to get the job done?

Is a draw knife, spoke shave, and scraper the 3 best tools?

Is there anything else that you would say is absolutely needed/necessary to help with the learning curve?

[Roy from Pa]

Those are a good start and possibly a bandsaw..

[Srlbenn]

Thats a good start but i would trade the spokeshave for a rasp if it was me. I have a spokeshave but rarely use it. First two osage bows i made i only had a hatchet , bowie knife , and small four way rasp. Chased rings with the bowie and also used it as a scraper.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

A drawknife, ferriers rasp, a good scraper, and a burnished for the scraper. That’s about all I ever use. Oh and a chainsaw file for the nocks.

Kyle

[Flem]

 Ditto on the rasp. Coarse and fine cabinet rasps. Flat on one side, half round on the other. The draw knife is my least used tool, I'd rather hog the wood off with a bandsaw. Cabinet scrapers are great tools, but I usually skip them and go from fine rasp to coarse sandpaper.

 

[darin putman]

Sounds like you have a good handle on most of the tools you'll need. I personally use drawknife, rasp, scraper and a palm sander a lot once I get the bow laid out, but as a bowyer with only a few under my belt the most important tool I use is a tillering Gizmo. Regardless of how a bow looks if tiller is off I don't think you will be happy with it. The Gizmo actually has helped to train my eyes as to what proper tiller should look like, keeps me from bothering Eric Krewson near as much. Even though he's always willing to help

[TradBowyer]

built quite a few self bows when I started with just a drawknife and a scraper. Ruined quite a few when I got a bandsaw lol. you don't need power tools although they are nice. If I were to build a tool list I like to use for self bows it would be a drawknife or hatchet for initial wood removal. a Stanley sureform next to get an even belly and then a spokeshave. A farriers rasp is almost a must have for the price you can get them and then a scraper which can just a pair of scissors if nothing else. Part of the self bow building process for me is using the hand tools instead of power tools but a band saw sure is nice to get the initial profile done.

[Pat B]

You can build a selfbow with a draw knife, rasp and scraper. A bandsaw makes the draw knifing less work. A chain saw file for string nocks and sandpaper to smooth everything out.

[Roy from Pa]

Yup, I over looked the rasp.

Buy a good one, farrier rasps are what you want.

[Bowjunkie]

I wouldn't like it, but I'd give up my farrier's rasp long before I'd give up my Nicholson 49.

If my staves were "ready to go", I'd want to have a bandsaw (not a necessity but I love that thing), drawknife, #49 patternmakers rasp, farrier's rasp, a small selection of flat and half round double cut files, a 4" Nicholson round file and/or chainsaw file, straight and gooseneck cabinet scrapers, stone and burnisher to sharpen the scrapers, 150 and 240 grit cloth backed sandpaper... oh, almost forgot.... a tillering tree that mimics my holds on bow and string... and I'm good to go 

[Pat B]

Farrier's rasp is good for reducing lots of wood, #49(half round) is good for finessing curved areas like the fades.

[George Tsoukalas]

A hatchet, draw knife, surform, pen knife  and scraper have done me well. Jawge

[BMorv]

Good advice from some of the best bowyers around. 
I'll just say my favorite is a sharp scraper.  It's what turns a piece of wood into a bow, at least in my shop. 

[Roy from Pa]

What Pat said.

[Pat B]

I start using a scraper almost exclusively on the limbs after floor tiller. When I started doing this is when bent sticks became bows for me.   

[Roy from Pa]

Yup, me too.

[Bowjunkie]

The farrier's rasp is too wide and flat for bows with even just moderate character. I've seen it get many folks in trouble... but that's just part of the learning curve I guess. On many of the bow's I've made, it would be impossible to use them. On others, I might use their smooth side for a minute or two to level the saw marks on the edge of the limbs, or smooth the tooth marks from the 49, but a scraper or Bowyers Edge will do just as well just as quickly. Lots of ways to skin a bow.

[Eric Krewson]

I don't like a farriers rasp on osage, it is OK for hogging off hickory. I keep a sharp #49 for almost all my rough work on osage, then it is my scissors half scraper with a wicked hook rolled up on the blade, I can take some serious wood off with it. I finish up with a palm sander, it gets rid of any washboard on the limbs and keeps you from overtillering yourself into a bow failure.

The scissors get rid of a lot of wood quickly.

[Roy from Pa]

Yup, I use scissors like that often.

Way sharper than a scraper.

[gifford, MO]

Sound advice regarding tools; add
a stone or two for sharpening the drawknife,
metal file for squaring up the cabinet scraper,
small brush for cleaning the rasps,
burnisher for turning the edges on the cabinet scrapers.

I keep the rasps, files, scrapers and the like in canvas or denim, protects the teeth, an oil coating on the metal tools when they are put down for storage.

The scissors is a great tip, one that I forgot about. I used to use them a lot, ditto my buck knife but seem to have got away from them some time back. I'll be digging them out again.