Made several for a couple youngsters. They all work very well. They are easy to make(I used my propane gas grill!) and you don't have to do the recurve step if you dont feel like it. Works well enough. $2 for a shooting bow and making a kid happy is a bargain! Have you looked at the price of a video game lately?!!!  

A pvc bow is how I first got interested in archery in the first place. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that I wasn't sure I would do a whole lot. Next thing I know I'm researching more and more how to make my own bows. Then a guy on a survival forum I belong to recommended this site. And that's how I found all of you!
Every year I make about a dozen lightweight pvc bows (around 30lbs @28) and donate them to our church's silent auction. they are always a big hit.

OK, I need to make some kids bows and don't have a ton of time...and my osage is MINE    

What is the best tutorial on making PVC bows?

Can't say for sure whats the best tutorial. I saw one where the guy used a board maybe 6" wide and 20"long to which he attached 2 boards of roughly 1.5" wide to either side, forming a long shallow channel maybe 4.5" wide and 20 long.

Then taper the 1.5" boards so on one end the channel is maybe 1" deep and on the other end the channel is 1.5" deep

Then he heated the PVC on one limb, placed it on the garage floor, put the board over the heated limb so that deepest portion of the channel was hear the handle and stood on the board ... When the PVC cooled, he had a limb that was pretty much thickness tapered and basically tillered.

Seems like it would be the perfect approach for making a number of kids bows because each bow could be thickness tapered very quickly. Most of the time would be making the board/jig/thingy.

I'll see if I can find a link

I have a buddy who started out making them.  He now makes beautiful selfbows and laminates, but still whips out a PVC on occasion.  I have shot them and would have no qualms whatsoever about hunting big game with one.  He made several horse bow style bows and several longbows between 45 and 65 pound draw, and they shot only slightly less hard than my ERC selfbows.  Plenty well enough to shoot clean through any deer and most larger game.  They are no less traditional than a fiberglass bow or a carbon arrow or a plastic nock or a dacron or fast flight string.  They still require time, effort, skill, and attention to detail to make and can be every bit as effective as a selfbow.

All that said, I much prefer my selfbows and hunt with my own almost exclusively.  However, let's be careful about throwing stones at someone else's program without first giving some careful, objective, and realistic thought to our own program and preferences.

QuoteOriginally posted by The Gopher:
OK, I need to make some kids bows and don't have a ton of time...and my osage is MINE    

What is the best tutorial on making PVC bows?

The best one I've seen (and I've searched a lot of them)is the backyardbowyer on youtube.
He has a bunch of styles he makes.

Ben,

You should go for it.  I have made several kids bows with 3/4 PVC and given them away.  They are quick to make and hard for kids to break.  They will vary in performance depending on the style you build and the poundage you want. I spend some time painting them than forming and with great results. I have yet to have one of them fail.  Nothing but smiles and happy kids getting into the sport I love!

Blessings

Backyard Bowyer is prob the best youtube channel for checking out pvc bows. I build them for my baby siblings because they have very little chance of injuring them if it breaks.

IMHO PVC bows are at least as Trad as fiberglass.  And a whole bunch cheaper to make/buy.  Check out the Google + community PVC Archery & Crafting.  You'll see some amazing bows and build-alongs.

https://plus.google.com/communities/115443350092709812365?partnerid=gplp0