Making a Bow

[DaddyLongLegs]

Hello All.
I am about to start the process of making a bow, mostly for recreational purposes and possibly hunting. I am wondering if anyone knows the best types of wood to use for a bow as well as the length that is preferable. For additional info I'm 6'6 not experienced but want to spend a good amount of time making the bow as good as possible. I will have someone teaching me how to make the actual bow but I've been asked to get the wood and length. Thanks

[hunter63]

Did a search in the "Making stuff" area....These might help.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ghlight=making

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ghlight=making

[canid]

Some of the best woods for a selfbow to my mind are yew, osage, citrus and hickory. The best woods for a first selfbow are, on the other hand, white ash (a favourite of mine), oak and a few others. They are quite forgiving of poor tiller and heavy limbs. Learning tillering takes some time. The white ash and the hickory are a pretty good balance between the two consideration - performance and forgivingness.

This writeup was one of the first I read: http://www.primitiveways.com/bow_tillering.html

[Old Professor]

Yew can be very hard to find in most parts of the United States, so Osage would be my first choice, followed by hickory and maple. I have never tried citrus. For your height, I would suggest something around 66 inches in length, give or take several inches. Of course some prefer short bows but for a first effort 66 inches would be a good beginning length.

[Grizz123]

osage is my choice but than again the few I made did not survive, lol... Check out the "Bowyers Bible" collection and Dean Torges has a good book video. Tillering is where you need to take your time and where I had my failures

[Sluggo]

I have been building hunting self bows for 20 years,Osage like many have stated is without a doubt the best wood.If I were starting out,I would go with ash,hickory ( back of bow is just under the inner bark)you could also build a board bow,but care must be used in choosing the proper board.All in all unless you have a supply of seasoned and dried Osage,using seasoned and dried white wood is more economical plus it dries much sooner than Osage,good luck.

[Heatstroke]

Did you ever think of making a bow out of PVC? I have made a few. There easy to make and u could use that as a practice bow. I started practicing with one to build up my skill. Then I went out and got a recurve.

[canid]

For your height, I would suggest something around 66 inches in length, give or take several inches. Of course some prefer short bows but for a first effort 66 inches would be a good beginning length.

This is a fine point; Longer bows are more forgiving of certain mistakes which are easy to make when learning to tiller.

Did you ever think of making a bow out of PVC? I have made a few. There easy to make and u could use that as a practice bow. I started practicing with one to build up my skill. Then I went out and got a recurve.

Also good. PVC bows are fun, and a couple people on youtube have some great videos both on building and shooting them. Nicholas Tomihama (Backyard Bowyer) is one, and he also has some books published on the subject.

[postman]

I would recomend you make your bow out of hickory and at least 72" long. At 6',6" tall you will most likely have a draw length over 30", anything shorter than 72" will be over stressed at that length and could fail. Hickory is tough as nails, and if it does fail it won't explode on you like some of the other woods.

[swenlet]

You tube has many videos about this, wood bows or PVC. Some are very advanced in nature, like the take down models offered by the "backyard bowyer, a very smart/talented young Asian guy.