The "So You Wanna Build a Bow?" Build-Along

[waldo320]

Well here we go I think this bow turned out pretty darn well. Hickory with black walnut handle and tip overlays. She is pulling 57 at 27" after 50 arrows. All need now is some practice and a deer to shoot!!

[bigwood]

Nice job, beautiful finish!

[Paka]

one more done, will post more info and pics soon as possible. Thanks 4est , great work.

[bigwood]

where did you get the hickory board?

[bigwood]

Hey 4est - I'm already thinking about my next bow, would it be possible to get your layouts for the recurve tips and fades?

[waldo320]

I am luck in NE Ohio there are two hardwood lumber yards who get a pretty constant supply of hickory. Its called terrry lumber.

[George Tsoukalas]

That was a super buildalong, 4est. It's great the the way you got people building bows. Keep up the good work. Jawge

[4est trekker]

Thanks, George.  Coming from you, that means a lot!  You've gotten countless people (including me!!!) on the path to successful bow building.  I've read your site tons of times and have many of your pages bookmarked for reference.  Thanks for all YOU do.  

I'm glad to see so many of you having success with the build-along.  Like I've said, the bow is overbuilt (3" wide makes it a convenient emergency canoe paddle!) and not the prettiest design (yes, I know the fades could use a little finessing), but it's a solid shooter with a fair amount of insurance built into it.  And at the end of the day, a piece of wood that's properly and successfully tillered into a working bow is, no matter the bow, both efficient and graceful.  Sure, there's always room for improvement, but the bow is just a fraction of the successful archery equation.  I think Ishi said something to the effect that "any old stick him do for bow, but arrows kill deer."  

Nonetheless, I'll try to post some ideas later on how to make this bow more efficient and graceful.  The first, however, would have to be shortening the handle section down to around 8".  That'll give you more working limb for starters, plus a few other benefits.  

All for now.  Keep it up, folks!  I love to see the pictures!

[dutchwarbow]

4est, you did a great job doing this buildalong, but you really should have done your fades differently for this buildalong's sake!!

It's now vlike... OH NO! once again a nice bow with an ugly handle...  :(

gr.

Nick

[J. Holden]

So I was rereading the tillering section to refresh my memory before starting this step.  I look at the picture you posted of the initial tiller.  The one with the level across the top of your bow, How far are you pulling the tillering string?  I obviously don't want to pull it too far.  Thanks.

-Jeremy

[J. Holden]

TTT for my question...

-Jeremy

[4est trekker]

I use the long string only until I get a nice even tiller at around 6 inches of tip movement.  Then I go to the short string with a low brace height (about 3"-4") and work the draw length/brace height up slowly, all the while not pulling past 1) perfect tiller, 2) my intended draw weight, and 3) my intended draw length. Hope that helps!

[Paka]

Hey All,
  Finished staining (walnut color) and polyurethained bow . She's a beauty. Being new to this I dont notice the handle as not bieng un pleasant , I culdnt be happier.
 4est, and everyone else. . When I shoot at 10 yards I anchor at my mouth, look at the top of the fades line and can hit my target dead on . But Im new to this trad. archery and am trying to figure out the way to shhot these bows so I'll keep reserching. But , I should be looking down the arrow right?? How do I know If my rest is to high , or too low?If I look down my arrow my anchor is almost under my eye.
 Any ideas or links would be greatly appreciated.
As soon as I can Ill post pics of my bow. Again 4est , am so thankul for this build

[Paka]

am figuring it out

[4est trekker]

Sorry I didn't think of this before.  I've converted the scanned images of the templates to a jpeg and uploaded them to Photobucket.  Here's the link to the file that you can download and/or print.  Hopefully this helps!  

JUST BE SURE IT'S SCALED TO 8.5"X11" WHEN YOU GO TO PRINT IT!  Photobucket won't allow an upload that big.  

  http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Archery%20Tools%20and%20Jigs/FadeandRecurvedTipTemplate.jpg

[Fourarrows]

Perspective...$12 and 3-4 hours of work.

[Fourarrows]

Really enjoying the pictures whith all the construction details. Thanks!

[David Dumke]

I have a question concerning beautification of the limbs. If I were to use a woodburner to etch a design in to both of the limbs would it create a risk of breaking too easily?

[Dave Bowers]

Got my board this morning and laid everything out. Hopefully start working on over the next few days.

[4est trekker]

I would never ech or burn into a working section of the bow, be it belly or back.  Some do it successfully, but it can be risky for the vey reason you stated.  However, it poses no problem in a non-working portion of the limbs.