Around the Shop #29: Building the wood bow

So here is a little project I’m working on. I posted a few teasers elsewhere and was asked for more detail.

I’m making s few bows and some arrows to go with them. (more on arrow making here, and here is another that may interest those who want to make dowels instead of arrows, or maybe both)

Some of the bows I’ve been finishing up I started back in the 80’s or 90’s but most of these I’m posting I’ve started from scratch.

First I bought some books to help. I can recommend all of these. You can get them here and here.

I set up a bow vise to attach to my bench

This is the bow blanks cut. The first one will be ash with walnut backing and the second will be walnut with ash backing.

When making a bow you want the limbs to bend the same. To do that you make a tillering tree, more on that here.

I also made a jig for making my own bow strings. You can see that here.

This particular bow I’m working on will be ash with walnut backing with recurved tips.
here I’m bending the tips with a heat gun. I just received a steamer, so I’ll be trying the two different ways (dry heat and steam) to see which I like better.

The walnut glued and clamped. Everybody cross your fingers for me.

Cross your fingers because it’s annoying when this happens. This one was made from red oak and was one I started in my earlier years.

I hunted this last season with this bow that I completed late last summer. The quiver on this one is made from an old pair of flip-flops.

I have a few maple staves drying. I’m pretty sure I’ll be glad for the steamer on these. I split down some more before I put them in the shop.

And here is the bow I’m currently shooting along with the converted quiver I fixed up for it. Sorry for the sideways images. I’m tired of flipping them 3 or 4 times to get them right. If someone has a trick, let me know.

I’ve since replaced the blue string with natural colored artificial sinew so it looks a little better.

That’s it for today. I’ll post updates as I get them.

Enjoy!!

-- http://timetestedtools.net - Collecting is an investment in the past, and the future.