|
Post by Bergmann on Nov 7, 2012 23:05:10 GMT
Hey guys, this past summer I started learning how to make primitive bows and arrows. As adrian.jordan suggested I should post some pics, so that's what I'll do! This is my first bow and its made of out a red oak board you can get at a hardware store for 10 bucks. It's not quite finished, I need to wrap the handle and put a "finish" on it for it to be finished As you can see, it's quite plain, should add some character when I finish the handle, I also just made a new string that is black and a cream colour twisted together. sorry for the pics, I should've had a better backdrop so you could see it better. And finally, this is me and my bow at full draw after all my hard work The bow ended up being a little weaker than I wanted it to be, I was aiming for around a 45lb draw, but I ended up with a 36lb draw @ 28". Still, good enough for my first bow, at least it didn't break (hasn't). I plan on making many more so I don't mind much, already have some wood sitting around just waiting to spend the rest of it's life as something a lot more fun than a coffee table :lol:
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 7, 2012 23:14:54 GMT
Nice! Looks very cleanly done, which is something I really appreciate.
|
|
|
Post by badiletto on Nov 10, 2012 17:40:40 GMT
really great work
|
|
|
Post by chrisperoni on Nov 10, 2012 18:25:51 GMT
great work! your draw looks over extended though at the right wrist, and high at the bakc elbow - lol :lol: -seriously though this is very inspiring for me- I want to give it a try now
|
|
|
Post by Bergmann on Nov 10, 2012 21:17:17 GMT
thanks all, should be fun to shoot when I get a chance!
lol, considering I haven't shot a bow for over 10 since since highschool, and that was only a couple of times, I'm sure my form is terrible. Any pointers?
As for making your own, I highly suggest it, it feels great working on it and the anticipation of what it can become when you are finished. If you need any advice at all, I'd be more than happy to help. I've spend a lot of the past few months doing lots of research and reading about bowmaking. I have quite a bit of knowledge about it now, I just need to make more and get some experience.
I also have some drawings and instructions I could email you, or you can just google it, theres countless different ways to go about it and many of them seem to work quite well...
|
|
|
Post by aussie-rabbit on Nov 11, 2012 2:45:25 GMT
Perhaps for your next one you can consider laminating, it is not hard to do, once you have laminated your strips the rest is just like the bow you have made, an example would be to use Hickory or Yew (depending on which continent you live on) for the core and oak for the outer layers. You can also use fibreglass cores available from sail boat suppliers, these are used as battens on the long sides of smaller sail boat sails. Years ago I made quite a few for friends, 'tho I'm no bowman!!
|
|
Talon
Member
Senior Forumite
Posts: 2,554
|
Post by Talon on Nov 11, 2012 6:18:47 GMT
that bow looks really well done,nice to see more bow making on the forum,have a couple of karma
|
|
|
Post by ineffableone on Nov 30, 2012 6:02:07 GMT
good work, i love that you made your own, it is a great thing to have a tool you crafted yourself I added this thread's link to the Unofficial Archery index thread
|
|
|
Post by LittleJP on Dec 30, 2012 4:48:27 GMT
Have you ever thumbed through the Bower's Bible? It's a great resource for this kind of thing, along with great reading.
|
|
|
Post by mlpfan on Dec 30, 2012 23:10:17 GMT
a native american friend of mine"who is now dead" showed me how his tribe made theres.
they took thin pieces of wood and lashed them together, kinda like lamination, with sinew they used 4 layers or so of thin wood so it came to about the thickness of a regular bow. it was very powerful, he said that the layers acted in such a way that it was more powerful than a single layer of wood
|
|