A Comprehensive Guide to Bow Making

Here it is folks, Guy Taylor, the man behind Greenman Archery has provided me an excellent, comprehensive guide to bow making. He has generously allowed me to post his advice to me here. Happy reading! 


"Tim Baker is a leader in the art of wood bowyery (is that a word?). Way back not that many years ago when everyone was using compounds and only a few people were using fiberglass laminated traditional bows, Tim was beginning to learn how to make wood bows.


Wood bows used to be all there were. Then fiberglass came along and it changed the archery world. But now a lot of people like you and I are becoming interested in the wood bow again. Forward, into the past!


Tim Baker is one of the principal authors of the Traditional Bowyers Bible series of books. One of the things he really loves to do is to introduce new people into making their own wood bows. To do this he likes to use an easily available piece of wood: a red oak board from Home Depot, or Lowe's. He's written a couple sheets on how to make the bow. Here are links to them:
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000043and
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/47638/Tim-Baker-s---Wooden-Bow-Reposted--Tim-s-Permission?page=-1
I am including both of these links in the chance that there may be slight differences that could help explain some point or another.The most important thing for making this bow is to get a good board. Follow Tim's instructions for choosing a board with the right grain. If the grain isn't good, the bow stands a very low chance for success.


Second most important is good tiller. Tiller is getting the two limbs to bend evenly along their length and evenly to one another.


Your trimming plane will work for making this bow but it will take a while longer due to the small amounts of wood that it will remove with each pass. If you can get ahold of a spoke shave you may find it more useful. I've seen Tim make a bow in 30 minutes using a spoke shave on a red oak board. He's a professional, don't try to go that fast yourself. Take your time. It's easy to take wood off but it's develish difficult to put it back on.

The osage billets you got could probably have made a good bow but they would have been for someone far more advanced than where you are at now. They should have been glued together with a Z-splice and appropriate glue. This older thread on PaleoPlanet shows the complete process. He began with billets just like you did: http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/15498


Reading that thread you'll also see how he chases the back of the bow so there is one single growth ring along the whole back from one end to the other. This is absolutely critical with osage orange, if it's not done the bow is guaranteed to fail. I'm guessing here but I think you may not have known about that. No shame in not knowing, you are starting in a virtual bowmaking knowledge vaccum.

If you go through with this red oak bow you'll eventually need a bowstring so you can begin bending the limbs and ultimately shoot the bow. Let me know when you need it and I'll be happy to make one and send it to you. I'll make one with a loop on one end and a bowyer's knot on the other. Using the bowyer's knot allows you to adjust the length of the string as the bow progresses and then use the string for everyday use when the bow is finished".  


Thanks again, Guy!

Broken Bow = Unsure Future

Quick Warning- This will be a short blog post.

I have the unfortunate job of typing here that my archery bow, only three days old, died today. Here is a picture of the bow in its broken state. *Cue funeral music

Mr. Archery Bow only got off one great shot before meeting its end. After having continued troubles with its main cord, the bow re-split into its two separate wood parts. It is very unlikely that I'll be able to salvage these wood parts for another archery bow.

So, I'm looking at a solid brick wall right now. A serious impasse. I don't know how I will achieve my goal for this month of shooting a bulls-eye from 15 yards.

I'd love some suggestions for what I should do at this point. Here are the requirements:

Goal: Shoot an arrow into a target's bulls-eye from 15 yards away.
Supplies: Two 35" osage orange wood planks
Money: Very little, I spend most of my money set aside for this project on the supplies needed to build this bow

How can I reach my archery goal?

Amazon Orders, Whittling 2.0, Advanced Woodworking Techniques, and a Finished Bow

First off, a shout-out to Amazon.com. Living in the mid-west puts me at a significant disadvantage as far as hobby supplies are concerned. Living in a town of 20,000 limits my archery shopping options. Amazon has been a life saver. Through Amazon, I have been able to pick up all of the necessary supplies to build my own archery bow.

Oh, how is the process coming along? I'm finished, finished with making my own osage orange archery bow. Take a look:

My bow stands at an impressive 60 inches. The handle of the bow is wrapped in cord and held together with gorilla glue- epoxy.

I started with two separate 35 inch osage orange wood staves. At first, I just whittled away at the wood staves with a simple kitchen knife. It wasn't easy.

Check it out. To the right is a picture of the wood that resulted from over two hours of repetitive, finger numbing whittling. For two hours work, this isn't a lot of progress. So, in order to finish my bow in time and without developing carpal tunnel syndrome, I had to develop a faster, more effective system for cutting the wood.

After some thought, I figured it out. In our backyard is a beautiful deck. I decided to use this deck to my advantage. Using car tie down straps and ratchets, I held my osage orange wood stave in place. With my trusty, durable, freakin' sharp, kitchen knife, I began slicing into the wood. This wouldn't have been possible without a hammer to drive the knife down. I'm not going to lie, this was a challenging process; but, after only 30 minutes, I had my second 35" osage orange bow stave cut down to size. 30 minutes! It took over six hours to reach this same point with the traditional whittling process.

I've learned a lesson through this. When possible, use a more advanced technique to complete a process. It may take a little more time up front to set up the process, but you will save time in the long run. Think about this in your own life. What hobbies, crafts, or projects are you knee deep in right now? Is there any way you could be more efficient? Any time-saving techniques you could employ? Try it out! I hope it saves you time and energy!

Tomorrow, I will be taking better pictures of my bow, as well as take my first real shots from it. I already have my arrow all set up for the practice shooting. I've attached a cord to my arrow. When I shoot my arrow, I am hopeful that the attached string will keep the arrow in a safe distance. Because safety is of number one importance to me in archery.

Safety was driven home in my mind from my very first shot from a bow. I remember, very clearly, being told, "archery can be just as dangerous as shooting a gun." It's true. Tomorrow, I will be shooting a thin, metal-tipped hard piece of wood at a rapid speed toward a tiny target. With the power of the bow, my arrow becomes dangerous. I don't want to put anyone or anything in danger of getting hurt. So, the string attached to the arrow (which I have already tested) will act as a safety tether for my arrow. With this safety system in place, I feel confident enough to begin practicing tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Making My Bow and A Three Day Free Sale!

I had a few hours of free time today. What did I decide to do? First, I've published the first installment of Life Through Our Eyes. 

Starting tomorrow, Friday, you can download the first 33 pages of Life Through Our Eyes for Free!

Please, try it out. There's nothing to lose. Well, except for the one hour you will spend reading the first few chapters. I won't be able to refund you that hour, unless someone invents time travel by then. Hey, it's possible.

Second, I started work creating my bow. Unfortunately, I haven't received the wood plater I ordered from Amazon yet, so I had to improvise. Today, I worked on whittling down the osage orange wood stave using a kitchen knife. Let me pause here to say I know whittling out an archery bow with a kitchen knife is unconventional. But I was excited to get started today, even if that meant being unconventional. But don't worry, I was safe.

Wood whittling rule #1: Always cut away from your body. Always. Always. Always. Whittling is a type of cutting that uses a substantial force, and slips are common. That's why you must always cut away from your body and your hands. A single slip could lead to a bad cut or worse. So unless you don't mind potentially cutting off your fingers, cut away from your body. 

Want to see how far I got on my bow today? Mind you, I whittled tirelessly for about five hours straight and this is what I have to show for it:

Ta-da! Yea, okay, it's not that impressive. Especially considering this picture makes my half-whittled bow look like a skinny toothpick. 

I can't wait for my wood planer to come in.