Where to start

[JOE ELDRIDGE]

My first attempt at building a bow.Should I buy a kit from someone or is there another way to get started/

[KenH]

What kind of bow?  Straight?  Recurve?  Long?  Short? One piece stick bow?  Three piece takedown?  Hill style?  Fiberglass and wood composite?   

Depending on what style you want, your tools, your pocket book, and other factors, you can make a 'ready-to-finish' bow from KennyM here or several other places, start with a draw knife and a stave of wood, make a form and then make a wood-glass composite bow, or start with a 'good' plank from a lumberyard and simple tools.

[Autumnarcher]

Joe, having just completed my first build, I strongly suggest going to kennysarchery.com. Lots of good info on building form and the bow itself. Kenny is a ton of help, has pretty much everything you need. I also bought a form kit, plans and instructional DVD from Binghams. The instructional info they sell is garbage in my opinion. Their prices are high and their shipping rates are crazy. I was not happy with them at all. You can get far better info on youtube with build alongs, on this forum, and elsewhere. Kenny had a great form build along on his website, and also a bow build along. There are several in the Tradgang how-to forum as well.
 I found the process far easier than what I had envisioned, although it did challenge me a bit. Enjoy the process. Its a lot of fun and  these guys on this forum are a great bunch and a lot of help.

[JOE ELDRIDGE]

I want to make a one piece recurve, 40 #draw weight and 58 in. long. Nothing fancy, something to learn with

[JOE ELDRIDGE]

I want to make a one piece recurve, 40 #draw weight and 58 in. long. Nothing fancy, something to learn with

[JOE ELDRIDGE]

Decided I would start with a board bow first. I was using a cedar board, it broke so will try again

[monterey]

Try an oak or hickory board.  Pick a good straight grain one.

[TradBowyer]

In my opinion a one piece recurve is a hard bow for a first. The form is the most difficult one to build, the bow itself can develop limb twist very easily...it a difficult bow to build well for a first bow and materials arent cheap if you mess up

[monterey]

Think that is good advice.   OTOH it also depends on your tools and experience with them.

[JOE ELDRIDGE]

I have an oak board Im working on . I want to put some kind of riser on it. What kind of glue should I use. I have tite bond 3 will it work. When I say riser maybe handle would be a better tern/

[EvilDogBeast]

TB III will work well for that.  I have used it for the same purpose in the past.