Hi everybody, this my first time posting one of my bows on Tradgang though I have been lurking here for a few years.    :rolleyes:  I decided that it's time for someone who knows what they are talking about to look over my work, so here I am. Criticism is welcome.     This is a Red Oak board bow backed with fiberglass drywall tape, weight is ~45lbs at 28" (I don't have a scale). She's really a sweet shooter with almost no hand shock. I made it for my sister, now I need to make one like it for myself   :D

 
         

Sorry I don't have any pic's of it on the tillering tree, but it is one of my better tillers. (Yes, that's me in the pic)

2 Questions:

What size board did you start with?

How did you do the riser?

khardrunner, I started with a 1"x2"x8' nominal board I got at Lowes. I cut it down to 72" and then cut 10" of the extra for a handle. I glued my backing on then the handle block. When it was dried, I used my tabletop belt sander to smooth the fades in. The key to having a handle is to making your limb transition into the handle so that it stops bending before it gets to the handle. If you're interested, I build my bows loosely based off of this tutorial:  http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm  (not my site nor am I related to it) I also stained my riser a darker color then the rest of the bow, it's a nice effect.

A better pic of the handle. You can see the glue line if you look closely      

looks really good!

Great looking bow!    
Dave.

Nice looking bow!  Tiller looks good in your full draw pic and so does your form!  Nice work - glad you shared.

Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot to me. I have to kind of guess if I'm doing things correctly, so it's nice to know that others think I'm doing a good job.

Nice job Matt...Good eye for detail and I'm sure you will have many more to share.

Very nice work , That is a good bow my friend.

YA DONE GOOD!!

Thanks everyone, I've already started my next one  :D  It'll be similar but a little shorter and narrower and with a little more draw weight. Flipped my tips too so it should have a little more speed although this is pretty darn fast.

Nice bow.  I'm working on #4 now.  I also got started after checking out the poorfolk site.  Wonder how many people Sam is responsible for getting into this awesome addiction huh?

Nice lookin' bow, Matt. If you still don't have a bow scale, look in the luggage section of wally-world, or some other such store. The scale used to weigh luggage makes a decent bow scale.  

Great bow! Very nice. I just finished my first using Sam's site and the Bowyer's Bible. Nice work on the tillering! What tools did you use?

Looking really nice. Really like those long board bows. Stain looks great too. My only advice is get a scale for draw weight if you are gonna give anything away. I never used one cause I figured they were all for me. Then I gave one away, guy asked for 50lbs and I sent him 65lbs. Seemed like 50 to me except woodworking and shooting all the time made me a lot stronger. It was a good thing the recipient was young and of good stock. With that said I still don't own a scale ... Most of em are for me anyway. Cheers