My first board bow (Thanks 4est trekker!)

[takefive]

I followed 4est trekker's pyramid bow build along and wound up with a really sweet shooting bow.  I found a nice hickory board at my local Menards and had a piece of oak for the tips.  Messed up thinning the limbs more than once, but luckily it wasn't fatal for the bow.  It came in just under the 45# weight I was trying for.  Draws really smooth and I was surprised at how quiet it is, much quieter than my recurves.  After shooting it for about a half an hour, I had a group of 6 arrows that were all pretty much touching.  But that was only at 10 yards in my basement.  Thanks for the excellent build along 4est trekker!

[Roy from Pa]

Very nice tiller, congrats.

[DVSHUNTER]

Congrats on your first selfbow. It looks nice.

[LC]

Thats a really great looking bow!

[takefive]

Thanks guys!  I'm just glad that I found this forum.  Otherwise I'd still be trying to figure out how to go about making a bow.  I read the first 2 volumes of The Traditional Bowyer's Bible (just ordered Vol. 3) and The Bent Stick and still wasn't sure how to get started.  Having the build along with pictures to follow was what made me decide that "hey, maybe I can do that".  All of the posts on tools, wood types, and especially tillering were a huge help.  Believe me, if anyone asks me about bow building, I'll send them here.

[Sockrsblur]

nice job on the bow!!!

[Buxndiverdux]

Well done! Congrats.

[David Flanrey]

Tiller looks great.  Very nice bow.  

[J. Holden]

Lucky!  i have yet to find any hickory at Menards.  They have handles but no boards.  Nice find!  Beautiful bow too!

-Jeremy  

[SportHunter]

Nice job on the bow.

[CamoZ]

Beauty..makes me want to get going on my second bow now..

[takefive]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys.  I really lucked out on finding one nice board out of the dozen they had at Menards.  I got a little impatient while tillering it and put down my rasp and scraper and used my portable belt sander.  After all, how much wood could it possibly remove with just an 80 grit belt?   I found the answer to be "too much and in the wrong spot".  I think the quality of the board kept that from being a fatal mistake    

[Mark Baker]

Nicely done...  

[Dave Bowers]

looks good  

[KellyG]

Nice bow and I hope you get many years of shooting it. Most likely not for you will are hooked on building them now. I think most of us have tried short cuts and either ruin or make us change the design for a bow. Bottom line slower is faster in this hobby for sure. Again nice bow.

[Dan Landis]

Well Done!

[Trapper Rob]

Nice bow

[twitchstick]

Very nice!

[takefive]

Thanks again guys!  As a beginner, I truly appreciate the kind words from you veteran bowyers.  One really neat thing that resulted from this project was that my 20 year old daughter liked the bow so much that she wants me to make one for her       She's always had a passing interest in my obsession with archery and was getting pretty consistent with the 25# Samick Sage I bought her last summer.  We have a great outdoor range in my town, and shot together pretty often until the weather turned cold.  She's not quite as fixated on shooting as her old man is and doesn't like shooting at the 10 yard target in our basement because the ceiling is too low to stand and shoot and in her mind that is something you do outside on a nice sunny day.  I honestly can't fault her on that.  Anyway, I'll be looking for a nice hickory board this week to try to make a narrower and a bit shorter version of mine and hope to get it to about 25#.   Hopefully, she will be excited to shoot it this spring.  And after that, I'm already dreaming about a R/D backed or tri lam bow for my next one.  And I put that on you guys for posting pictures of the beautiful ones you've made.  Just hoping that's not too big a leap at my skill (or lack thereof) level.   I mean I probably put 30 hours in making a pretty simple pyramid bow that came with 4est trekker's idiot proof directions (reread 'em at least 50 times).  Oh well, we'll see....