Built My First Bow

[b0whunter]

I thought I'd try my hand at making a bow today. I just need to put a finish on it tomorrow.

I am fairly pleased with how it turned out, except the draw weight. I was shooting for 45# @ 28", but it ended up only pulling 35#. My draw is 29", so it is right at 38# for me. The bow shoots nice and smooth, though, so I am pretty happy with it.

Has anybody tried hunting with a bow around this weight? I'd love to take a deer with a bow that I made myself!

[Jeremy7306]

very nice.. do you just make them for yourself or do ya sell them too?

[b0whunter]

Thanks! This is the first one that I've made so far. Once I make a few more and get better at it I may try and sell a few.

[Greywolf in Hawaii]

cut one inch off each end, reshape the limb tip and you'll gain about #5 on a all wood bow. That'll put ya up over #40something at your draw.

[loco cacahuate]

What Sticbow said.

[Bisch]

Nice!

Bisch

[trad"Doc"53]

Wow! I like that! You did a good job for it being your fist bow.

[meangene1969]

Nice

[PHILIPP]

Looks great! Are you going to try to shorten it?

[Hoof]

Nice job!

[b0whunter]

Thanks everyone! I did shorten the bow, by 1.5 inches on each limb. It now pulls 40# @ 28", so I'm at around 43# or so at my draw length, which is great. Its very comfortable to shoot and draws nice and smooth. It appears to have some slight limb twist (propeller) now, but not bad. I guess when I start sanding to apply the finish, I'll work a little more on the strong edges. Does this sound right?

[widdler]

Before you put finish on it shoot it every day for a week get a lot of arrows thru it. It will change a little and settle in to what it will be. Then you can make corrections, propeller twist wont hurt as long as the bow is shooting where you look and feels right I leave it alone.

[cschneider1]

I would like to try this is there a set of plans/ instructions you followed? What type of wood did you use? I have a hard time spending alot of money on wood for my first one since I will probably screw it up.

[stumpshooter]

great looking bow, I only succeeded once and it was just 20# draw. good job!

[equin]

Very nice! What kind of wood did you use?