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My First Bow (Read 3859 times)
Arkanii
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My First Bow
Jan 23rd, 2006 at 2:39pm
 
Well iv'e been working exta hard to finish my bow and got a few blisters but she's finally done.It's 72" long and 1.5" at handle and tapers down to 0.5" at the nocks.  It weight approx ~28@28".  I didn't want to make the weight to high because iv'e only shot a bow once in my life!!Here's a pic...
What do you think?
Should I post another pic?
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BlackSnow28  
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Douglas_The_Black
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Hakkaa päälle!

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Re: My First Bow
Reply #1 - Jan 23rd, 2006 at 3:03pm
 
wow only once? you where born to be a bow maker my friend Shocked
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
randelflagg22002  
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Arkanii
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #2 - Jan 23rd, 2006 at 3:24pm
 
Grin Thanks
Yup only once
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BlackSnow28  
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Hellfire
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #3 - Jan 23rd, 2006 at 5:03pm
 
Your bowstring looks a bit like cotton, maybe you want to look into growing flax, or getting sinew, or dacron for a bowstring.

Sisal or jute would work, they are both pretty easy to get.
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Douglas_The_Black
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #4 - Jan 23rd, 2006 at 7:33pm
 
I like sinew Smiley
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
randelflagg22002  
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Arkanii
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #5 - Jan 24th, 2006 at 12:44pm
 
Quote:
Your bowstring looks a bit like cotton, maybe you want to look into growing flax, or getting sinew, or dacron for a bowstring.

It's fastflight i don't know what it's made of but it does the job.  As for growing flax, I would like to but i have no idea how to make it into a bow string.  Sinew is not that easy to obtain where I live becaue every thing is ilegal to hunt Angry
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BlackSnow28  
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #6 - Jan 24th, 2006 at 2:01pm
 
Hey, cool bow  Grin

Personally, though, if i want to kill something, i like to use a recombobualtor  Tongue
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Roy
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 that was a rock.

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Re: My First Bow
Reply #7 - Jan 24th, 2006 at 3:29pm
 
Looks good,  can we see a pic at full draw?    Smiley
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Hellfire
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #8 - Jan 24th, 2006 at 4:53pm
 
looks unusually thick. Fastflight will be stronger per mass than flax or dacron even. You should make it thinner. How many strands are you using?
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Arkanii
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #9 - Jan 25th, 2006 at 1:57pm
 
18 strands
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BlackSnow28  
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BrianS
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #10 - Jan 25th, 2006 at 3:59pm
 
Just in case you are interested here is a great
link
(I think so anyway) on how to process flax into cordage (at least the beginning steps).  I think I found this site from a different thread here on bowmaking but I am too lazy to look it up so whoever posted that.....thanks!  It is now in my bookmarks.

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Hellfire
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #11 - Jan 25th, 2006 at 11:25pm
 
I think a dozen strands would work fine. Nice bow you have there. What tools did you use to make it with?

If you have access to saplings, I have some good advice for you. Cut down the sapling, and debark it.

A 1.5" wide sapling is plenty for a 40 pounder. Work down the belly some more, a hatchet and hand plane are good here. Get it bending eight inches with about 40 pounds of resistance at eight inches.

Then string it backward, with a brace height of 2". Wait a week, then shape it just a little more, get it bending 14".

Wait another week.

Then get it fine tillered, nocks cut, get everything nice. You just made a bow that was green for most of the rough  tillering process. Making a bow green like that will really cut down on your work load, on the necessity for tools to be sharp, time even.

And nothing was sacrificed except two weeks of seasoning time.

But one thing to keep in mind, dont brace it or shoot it while it is seasoning. It will take a serious set, and will makea  very poor bow when fully seasoned. Just be patient.
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Arkanii
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Re: My First Bow
Reply #12 - Jan 26th, 2006 at 3:05pm
 
Thanks for the link BrianS and also thanks Hellfire for the advice.  I used a rasp, round file, plane, draw knife and sandpape if you count it as a tool.  Also for my next bow i might try to experiment with different wood backings.  Maybee white oak and teak, would that work and also i want to try tip overlays or horn nocks.  Oh yeah also which tbb shows how to back bows and which one shows how to reflex?  And are they worth buying?  Sorry for all the questions Wink
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BlackSnow28  
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