Bow making

[Rokas]

I have a question for bow makers: is cherry good for bow making?
Rokas

[crashdive123]

Canid and FVR make bows (I'm sure there are others as well). Here's a couple of threads on bows until they get on and give you some info.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1443

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2160

[FVR]

Yes, it will make a bow of a lighter weight. If I was to use a cherry stave, I would back it with hickory.

If I was going to venture and make a non backed bow, probably go with a wide flatbow or even better, a pyramid design.

[michbowguy]

all fruit bearing trees/shrubs make good bows.
unless its an extremely large cherry stave it will probably be all twisty and awesome...just trickier to make is all.
hey, its just wood right!

i hve some you can look at here...

[canid]

yeah, i would recommend backing the cherry aswell. fiberglass or bamboo would make a good backing aswell, and you can even use textiles like linen, though i'm not experienced witht the linen. i've even heard of people using burlap.

[Rokas]

And what should be front? what tree?

[FVR]

Rokas,

Hoss, the front of the bow is called the back. The part of the bow when you are holding it that faces you is called the belly.

When we speak of backing the bow, we are talking of putting a layer of something on the back or the front of the bow.

I rec. hickory as it is about the toughest material out there. Bamboo is great also, but it is a real beoch if you don't have a plane to get it flat. You can purchase a piece of hickory backing for el cheapo.

Have you made any bows yet? What kind?


Go to this site and start reading. Jawge is an outstanding bowyer and knows his stuff. He ventures in here now and then.

http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/archer.html

[Gray Wolf]

Great link FVR, and canid he even has a piece on there about using burlap.

[Rokas]

well I made few bows out of nut tree, but it was made just from one kind of tree. I didn't make complex bow like from to woods or something like that. And why bow made out of to wood layers is better than made out of one? And I don't think that hickory grows in my country. It's like N.America tree so I could make belly from the hardest wood in Lithuania-oak. I think it should work.

[skunkkiller]

oak will work so i heard

[canid]

yeah, a lot of oaks work great. i've been working a bit with american red oak lately and i like it. it's a good bit more forgiving than i've heard others claim, at least if you aren't afraid to break an egg now and then, so to speak. the only oak bow i've broken was a seperation of my riser from the core. i've had more trouble with my backing glass [i'll never use minwax's polyshades again, even west systems epoxy wouldn't bond well to it].

[ziggie0181]

If you want it to last. skip the cherry, just buy some cherry stain, its cheaper anyways.
Cherry will crack over time.

[crashdive123]

Hey Ziggie, how about shooting your way over to the introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself.

[michbowguy]

if you realy do not want to add a backing you can always size the back with multiple coats of hide glue and let dry, and then waterproof with thin pine resin.

[Deer Sniper]

I am not a bow guy so I don't know what works, but this looks really cool! I have seen people take snake skin and back a self bow and it looked great! You should be able to use shed skin and color or stain it if you do not want to kill a snake. You could ask your local hurpaculturist at the zoo or a herp club close to you for shed skin. the shed skin is really soft and thin so probably you would need to put it over sinue or something. just a thought. You guys got me thinking about making a self bow now. :)

[FVR]

I've backed bows with sinew, fish skin, snake skin, intestine, canvas, hemp, rawhide, leather, bamboo, hickory, and air. My pers. favs are sinew and air. Many use snake over sinew to protect it from the elements, 6 or 7 coats of clear spraypaint works better and I just like the look of sinew.

Shed skins won't work because they are almost completely deteriorated when you find them. It's easy to just go and buy a set of snake skins for 50 bucks a pair, or better yet a good trade.

[Ryleyboy]

would willow be good to make a bow shaft out of?

[canid]

it wouldn't be ideal [many of the woods i've used aren't, i'm currently playing around with poplar, which is terrible], but you could make a servicable selfbow or backed bow from willow.

[Ryleyboy]

thanks.. popular would be a pain because if its stiffness. and for making bows what string do you recommend . that mabye you could make thats easy and quick?

[Rick]

What is it with all this quick and easy stuff? In life there is fast, good, and cheap. You can pick any two you want. You can have stuff that is fast and good but it won't be cheap. You can have fast and cheap but it won't be good. Slow down and take some time to do things right. You'll find it's a lot faster in the long run.

[canid]

for synthetic strings i would recommend dacron or nylon. for natural type, hemp [not the shotty twisted craft store kind] or flax are good, though many long fiber plant sources could well be used; yucca or palm fibers for esample, or for the more diy inclined individual; the inner bark fibers from many other trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants such as linden, alder, poplar/cottonwood, dogwood, nettle. there is a whole seperate art to making bowstrings i've never been great at.

for expediation, many premade strings/cords, etc can be used such as a strong bootlace, p-cord [pilot or parachutte].

[Rick]

I've backed bows with sinew, fish skin, snake skin, intestine, canvas, hemp, rawhide, leather, bamboo, hickory, and air.

okay, I've held off long enough. What is an air backing?

[canid]

a pure selfbow. a lack of backing, if you will; a sort of 'lacking'.

[Rick]

Oh, lacking. I'm very familiar with that. Thanks.

[Jericho117]

Maple is my favorite choice of wood. I make my long bows out of it. If I can't find a perfect stave I use willow or birch. Walnut saplings make good bows for me. But all these are self bows, usually long bows because short ones break on me eventually, my long bows don't break and they last a really long time. Iv'e never worked with cherry wood. Oh and locust makes decent bows. Hell I will use any wood for a bow thats not coniferous.