Hellfire
Ex Member
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"some of the best bows" are space bows. No they are no the "best" because they use wheels to increase leverage. Wood is a hell of a lot easier to work with, and I recommend using a wood like elm, because even if it will set, it wont ever explode on you, if properly maintained and selected. Steel prods will store approximately as much energy per gram of mass as wood, but it does recover a little slower, needing a heavier bolt per drawweight. You wil want to sew a rawhide sheath on it, so if you shoot it outside and it is too cold, and it blows, it wont kill you with fragments. You may want to look into fiberglass or maybe aluminum prods. If you have wood, then use wood. I dont think you need a draw weight above maybe 150 pounds, so wood will be fine. Here is some fairly general instructions.
Use elm, ash, sugar maple, hickory, red oak for a prod. White oak and many other hardwoods will work also, but these are most available in board form.
Cut it about 30 " long, 1 3/4" wide, and I dont know how thick. Tiller it with a jackplane, make sure the center doesnt bend much, and that the center will fit against the stock. It would probably be about 1/4" thick or so, for 150 pounds at 12" draw.
Make the string out of polyester, dacron, animal sinew even. The string, believe me, will be the hardest part. I dont think youll need a lot more instruction, just go out and have some fun.
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