Bow Making?

[Seacoal]

Well guys, I'm kind of pent up in my apartment, looking for a job to take up some time, but I thought while I wasn't doing something, I might try my hand at some bow making. But I need advice from some of the more tried and tested hands.

What tools do I need?
What kind of workspace do I need?
What is a decent type of wood to work with?

I fully expect to screw up a couple. I thought maybe I'd try my hand at making a takedown style, so that I can make one good riser and mess around with a bunch of limbs. Any advice from those who have done it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Jake

[loco cacahuate]

Might look into getting a Bingham kit to learn the ropes. Also I believe Mark Horne gives classes on bow making.
If you want to try self bows, get the set of books "Bowyers Bible".

[LeanMachine]

Binghams kit would be a great place to start if you don't know much about it. Maple is the only bow wood I have used so far. Why? Because it is what I had and I liked it so much I saw no need to change. I also watched a video on bob lee's website where they said that they have tried everything out there, including carbon, and they just keep coming back to maple for limbs. Good enough for me.

I suggest you do some online searches for "takedown recurve build" and spend a lot of time looking at other peoples build processes. That's how I learned what I know. There are some very smart people out there with some great ideas. No need to buy the binghams kit if you learn the entire process online, have the tools needed to build the parts that come in the kit, and have some common sense.

Very basic tool list:
Some kind of hand saw to cut out riser shape and limb profiles.
Files (particularly a 4-way)
Drill
Sandpaper

Advanced tool list:
Band saw
Table saw
Power sander of some kind
I like to use a dremel for some of the shaping
Drill Press

If you want to see a fine bow built with minimal tools, search for builds done by Hera

[critter69]

Depends on what type of bowyou want. Long bow, recurve, one piece,two piece, three piece, etc.

[Seacoal]

Depends on what type of bowyou want. Long bow, recurve, one piece,two piece, three piece, etc.

Was considering making a 3 piece, but open to all. Probably a longbow of some sort, I like them more than recurves for whatever reason

[SamHarper]

I started off making bows in my apartment. You can make a simple board bow for really cheap and with very few tools. It's quite a bit more expensive to make fiberglass laminated bows. Check out my web page, though. There are build alongs for various kinds of bows kind of designed for people with limited space and limited funds.

http://poorfolkbows.com

[Seacoal]

Sam I'm about 3 pages into your red oak bow. I'm loving it, already bookmarked. Thanks a bunch

[chackworth3]

Binghams is the way to go starting off to learn the basics and then go from there but you will need a place to build unless you want to turn your apartment into a shop you might want to consider taking a look at the website that Sam is talking about to start with. Just saying that all of the things used to build a glass bow can take up quite a bit of room and the process can get stuff pretty messy from all of the dust and glue if you aren't prepared

[SamHarper]

Sam I'm about 3 pages into your red oak bow. I'm loving it, already bookmarked. Thanks a bunch

Check out the "other bow building sites" page, too. There are lots of other cool build alongs for different kinds of bows, including recurves.

http://poorfolkbows.com/links.htm

[4dog]

head over to Primitive Archer...that site will get ya started quick...all you need is a hatchet..a knife to scrape with and a ferriers rasp..thats pretty much all i use...osage orange wood will get you a usable selfbow quick..iys tough stuff ..abundant in texas and very forgiving of mistakes...good luck!!

[Seacoal]

Sam I think I'm going to try making one of those Red Oak bows because it turned out looking so good. I was taking notes on stuff I'd need while going through, and if you dont mind double checking.

To start:
Suform
Triangle File
4 way rasp/ file
Rat tail file
Wood (duh)

Later on I'll need:
Riser wood
Need to make a Tiller Tree
Drywall tape
Wood glue of some variety?
Tiller string. Hope I can buy one of these somewhere.
Then paint/ finish way down the road.

Optional are come C clamps but highly suggested.
Any more advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[4dog]

a four way rasp is good...but if ya get a farriers rasp (horse shoeing rasp) it will save ya a ton of time in wood removal..a four way is a dinky thing....least mine is..i use it for finishing and fades only.

[4dog]

the tile is 1' long.