who has made their own bow?


The Kid

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When we were younger we did. You can experiment cheaply by getting your own wood. In the northeast we had a tree that was called Ironwood or Hornbeam. It's very tough and flexible and plentiful. You need to gather it in late winter when the sap is down and let it dry or cure so it doesn't check. You can find lots of it that is 6 feet long and an inch in diameter. I don't know if you have it where you live but if you do you can learn to cure and carve with it. If you're impatient you can use salt to dry the wood, but watch for rust on your tools. If you have problems with it not being flexible enough linseed oil will help.

Mark

Edited by m gardner
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I made a couple of bows...one was a sinew-backed osage and the other was a hickory...both self-bows. They shot pretty good and weren't all that hard to make but I prefer a laminated recurve or longbow.

There's alot of good info on bow building on the net...just have to do a little researching. Also alot of printed material that covers the process. Traditional Bowyer's Bible,Vol. 1 has loads of info to get you started

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we do..

My twin brother and I make our own reflex/deflex bows...these were backed with bamboo and had cocobola for the tips and risers. Mine is pulling 67# at 26" and my brothers is 56# at 26" (we had to scrape his down a bit more after he broke his back in a 25' fall). We also knap our own flint arrowheads and at 25 yards can hold about a 2.5" group. He even killed a doe two seasons ago with one of his.

finishedset.jpg

P3171100.jpg

arrowhead.jpg

wrapwsinew.jpg

Myset.jpg

Jordansset.jpg

P9302890.jpg

PA242501.jpg

PA242500.jpg

Not the prettiest arrowheads in the world, but they're ours and thats more than most could say!!

mallard_drake85

Edited by mallard_drake85
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Thank you!

Here is a pic of both of em side by side on one of our beaver pelts

bowbelly.jpg

here is a better pic of the cocobola riser on the hedge body. we even twisted the string.

bowriser.jpg

Here they are against the wall of my bros room so you could see the entire length of the bamboo.

P1040190.jpg

we couldn't fine a 6' piece of hedge straight enough so mine is 3 pieces spliced together, and bo's is 2 pieces. tightbond was used to laminate everything together.

mallard_drake85

Edited by mallard_drake85
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My twin brother and I make our own reflex/deflex bows...these were backed with bamboo and had cocobola for the tips and risers. Mine is pulling 67# at 26" and my brothers is 56# at 26" (we had to scrape his down a bit more after he broke his back in a 25' fall). We also knap our own flint arrowheads and at 25 yards can hold about a 2.5" group. He even killed a doe two seasons ago with one of his.

finishedset.jpg

P3171100.jpg

arrowhead.jpg

wrapwsinew.jpg

Myset.jpg

Jordansset.jpg

P9302890.jpg

PA242501.jpg

PA242500.jpg

Not the prettiest arrowheads in the world, but they're ours and thats more than most could say!!

mallard_drake85

That is absolutely awesome! Great work!!

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  • 1 month later...

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