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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Silent Bear on January 02, 2010, 03:11:00 PM

Title: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Silent Bear on January 02, 2010, 03:11:00 PM
I finally did it, I told myself I would never build a bow froam boardwood,last week I went to lowes and bought 2 pieces of red oak and finished 2 67 inch bow's, do you traditional guys feel shame from building a bow from board wood ?

(//%5Burl=http://www.imageurlhost.com/viewer.php?file=ut0epjyck6faaejzr7p0.jpg%5D%20%20%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.imageurlhost.com/images/ut0epjyck6faaejzr7p0_thumb.jpg)[/url] [/IMG] (//%5Burl=http://www.imageurlhost.com/viewer.php?file=jrd5yiio7xv4nbj68gr.jpg%5D%20%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.imageurlhost.com/images/jrd5yiio7xv4nbj68gr_thumb.jpg)[/url] [/IMG] (//%5Burl=http://www.imageurlhost.com/viewer.php?file=5w7rb0lilkz9hpniduw.jpg%5D%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://www.imageurlhost.com/images/5w7rb0lilkz9hpniduw_thumb.jpg)[/url] [/IMG]
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Traxx on January 02, 2010, 03:23:00 PM
Nope
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: George Tsoukalas on January 02, 2010, 03:28:00 PM
Nope. Be sure it is straight grained. More on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: AKmud on January 02, 2010, 03:32:00 PM
Boards are pretty much all I have access to here in Alaska...  It is a different technique for sure, but you can build a quality bow that will shoot as well as any other with the right wood/backing combination.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Grey Taylor on January 02, 2010, 03:37:00 PM
It's wood, why be ashamed about it?

Guy
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Silent Bear on January 02, 2010, 03:42:00 PM
I just feel like part of the process of making the bow is taken away from a flat board wood
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: SSGN_Doc on January 02, 2010, 06:16:00 PM
If it shoots and you are the one that got it bending properly to do so, I see no shame in that.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: NEProf on January 02, 2010, 07:38:00 PM
If it is a shame, then I will be a shameful person because I love making bows from boards.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: 2treks on January 02, 2010, 07:54:00 PM
Nope, I like it alot
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Grey Taylor on January 02, 2010, 09:15:00 PM
Tim Baker has made literally thousands of board bows. He's not ashamed of any of them.

Guy
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: sulphur on January 02, 2010, 09:20:00 PM
sometimes a man likes to get a quickie!!
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Innocente on January 02, 2010, 10:12:00 PM
i love board bows.  i aspire to make a stave bow one day, but i'm proud as hell of my board work.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: pokeanhope on January 02, 2010, 10:49:00 PM
Any of you guys tell me how to make a board bow? I have been wanting to make one for some time, and havent got the wood becouse have no clue where to start.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Innocente on January 02, 2010, 11:03:00 PM
start here pokeanhope
http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: George Tsoukalas on January 04, 2010, 08:37:00 AM
poke, I posted my site above. Jawge
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Pat B on January 04, 2010, 09:37:00 AM
Wood is wood!!!  A board may seem like the easy way out but the difficult part of making a bow is the tillering and you have to tiller a board bow too. Some of my best shooting bows have been board bows. Most were backed with hickory but boards none the less.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: walkabout on January 04, 2010, 09:51:00 AM
im no expert bowyer or anything but it seems to me that making bows from boards is nothing to be ashamed of. tons of people make laminate bows from flat stock everyday, and noone questions whether or not their work is real bowmaking or not. Another thing i see about bowmaking is that it allows those who dont have much experience making bows learn to read grain and get the basics down. not only that, many of us cant exactly go out and cut a stave ourselves or feel the need to go spend the $ for a stave.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: walkabout on January 04, 2010, 09:53:00 AM
not that buying a stave is beyond me, id just rather wait till im sure im not gonna waste it
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: dutchwarbow on January 04, 2010, 01:14:00 PM
a tree with 6" diameter yields 4 staves.

but if you mill it into 7/8" boards, you get 6boards wich yield 1-3 bows each.

it's no shame, it's just 250% more efficient  :)

but... A lot of work and knowledge is involved in making a standing tree into a ready-to-go stave. With boards, you just pick the straightgrained one.

Boardbows are great and quick, wereas stave-bows require a little bit more skill and work.

Nick
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Silent Bear on January 04, 2010, 02:07:00 PM
THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS GUYS, I will continue to keep making bows from boards when staves are not available
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Roy from Pa on January 04, 2010, 02:23:00 PM
I cut down Osage trees, then cut 1/4 sawn boards from them, then cut those boards into billets 34 x 2 x 5/8th. Sometimes a log is not straight enough to make a good bow. But by making billets and Z splicing them together, yields many more  good bow's from a single log. Nope, you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Frank on January 04, 2010, 02:41:00 PM
I started with board bows and then went to staves.  I'm now slowly going back to board bows.  Why??

Easier and cheaper to get the wood I want.  I'm getting the hankering to make 72" bows.  Yew is expensive and lemonwood is almost non existant.

So, going to do the hickory board backed with bamboo thing.  I can make all the 72" bows I want.  

A wood bow is a wood bow.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: bowur on January 04, 2010, 02:51:00 PM
hickory board bows are the way to go. Do fancy laminated recurves shoot much better than just flat board bows?
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: George Tsoukalas on January 04, 2010, 03:05:00 PM
BUT... once in awhile in my bowyering life it's nice to go outside with saw in hand and cut my own bow wood, dry it and make a bow. Kind of makes me feel complete.  :)  Jawge
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Ed Isaacs on January 06, 2010, 02:23:00 PM
Nothing at all wrong with board bows.  Shame?  No way.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Steve Kendrot on January 08, 2010, 08:02:00 PM
poke, Just look at the so you want to build a bow thread.

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002064
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Roy from Pa on January 10, 2010, 10:55:00 PM
Going to try my first ever Red Oak board bow. And I'm going to love it:)
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f165/ROY-CHRIS/IMG_5563.jpg)
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Pac'em out on January 10, 2010, 11:51:00 PM
Right on, Roy.  Please share the pics as you progress.  Oh yeah, I like the can of PBR sneaking into your picture!
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Innocente on January 11, 2010, 12:49:00 AM
i concur with pac, roy.  pabst is the beer of choice for us board bowyers. if i ever do get me a stave to work imma switch to wine for the duration, though.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Roy from Pa on January 11, 2010, 10:10:00 AM
LOL Pac and Inn, it sure washes the dust down:) I'll post some pictures as I go Pac.
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: JMartin on January 13, 2010, 11:45:00 PM
I like board bows, they're a lot of fun to shoot!
Title: Re: Is it shame to make bows from board wood?
Post by: Harperclan7 on January 14, 2010, 12:49:00 PM
the bows look excellent a deffinate influence to all of us who are looking to build bows