We've talked about pvc bows a fewtimes on here and most are pretty dissapointed to them compared to a selfbow. Well, this man has taken PVC bows to the next level! http://www.youtube.com/user/backyardbowyer?feature=results_main
 
He makes horse bows, recuves, takedown bows, egyptian bows, you name it and he'll make a bow with the same performance as a traditional bow out of pvc in a morning's work.
 
I made the 'youth recurve' but I didn't flatten it as much it's about 50lbds at 27in. Not quite as accurate as my self bows but I think it's becuase it's shorter. I also made it in about 2 hours so I was pretty happy with the great compact finished product. I definitely look forward to adding this skill and a few pvc bows to my arsenal.

Wow.  This is incredible.  I love his Egyptian bow.  I've wanted one exactly like that for years now and have never been able to find one for sale.  I can't seem to find a video teaching how to make it.  Does he have a tutorial for it?
 
Awesome find, Dan!

Dan, I glad you are also enjoying PVC bows, this couple month i am a bit addicted to archery because of this PVC bow. I have made several flattened PVC bows, one of them snap and two others fail, the others turn out nicely, and now Im in the process of perfecting it.  
The best PVC bow I've made is my reflex bow, its the fastest bow I've ever shot and so far its the most durable PVC bow and have a very small to none set, after a lot of usage the reflex angle is still same all the time not like the recurve one which the set was formed fastly, I guess its because the whole limb is moving not like the recurve version one which has the static recurve tips thus will put more stress on working limbs.  
I guess this reflex bow draw weight is close to 40#(at 27"). The shape is more like a native american reflex short bow. Here is the photo:

www.stickbow.com's Leatherwall has a four part video by the same guy on how to make a horse bow with wooden siyahs.  I believe the title of the thread was PVC bows or something similar.

This sounds awesome! Unfortunately, youtube is blocked here, so can you explain the process, Dan?

That's quite interesting! You don't cut the tube lengthwise or anything, correct?

Quote from benkolmer on Jul 9^th, 2012, 9:52am:

 
He makes a lot of differnt one and some have- as Bikewer said- fancy cutting but most are just simple bows. Constructed along the lines of what I said.

One of his videos he just used an electric heating element that you could get from  your stove or a hot plate. He also said that gas burners work too but you have to keep the PVC a little further away.  
 
y'know I've been meaning to get a propane torch to make creme brulee (though my lovely wife for some reason very politely and subtly discourages my access to fire ). One more reason to get one...

Way Cool! I may have to try this in the future. My last experience carving a bow ended with me getting it to the right pull, and 1 inch before I reach the draw I wanted, one limb snapped off. I was so mad I just left it lying there for a few months.

Everybody breaks bows when they are learning to make them, either that or you make a bow that is about right for a really skinny six year old girl.

After watching a number of Backyard Bowyer's videos I decided to try his "youth recurve" bow just to get a feel for the process.   Besides, with my wonky shoulders I felt that 30 pounds wouldn't hurt me....
 
Only took about 1 1/2 hours total.   I had a heat gun, and quickly made the wooden flattening jig out of some scrap I had lying around.   The PVC cost me 1.75.....
I found getting the heat gun at exactly the right distance to soften the PVC was a little tricky... But once it started to go it was pretty straightforward.  
Keeping the limbs straight was the hard part.
Bending the recurves around a pot as the kid shows worked just fine.
I whipped up a bowstring on my home-made string jig and strung 'er up.... Seems to work just fine.
The bow actually assumes a pretty good "tiller" with the tapering, and the cast for a short, 30 pound bow is respectable.
I may sand the graphics off and paint the thing.

With this little bow it's hardly noticeable; I only fired off a half-dozen shots yesterday and it's back up over a hundred again today so I have been lazy...
I suspect one of the heavier models made from the larger-diameter pipe might be different.
 
Edit:
 
I did a little more shooting yesterday with some cheap carbon arrows from Walmart.   Pretty impressive.  The little bow draws easily yet has pretty decent cast due to the recurves.   Easy-shooting; very comfortable.  Would be even more so if I built up a proper grip.
The arrows were actually spined a little heavy, and tended to shoot off to the left a little but everything went to the same impact point.
The problem I was having was a tendency for the recurve limb-tips to bend a bit.... I suspect it was the 100-degree heat outside!    
Next one I do I'll take more care to get the limbs flat and absolutely straight.

I may try that; I think I was working too fast and didn't let the tips cool properly so they're not as flat as might be.
I was just looking at the "simple" horsebow vid today... No flattening required and it draws 45 pounds or so in the 3/4" ID tubing.
 
I have to be careful; my shoulders are really giving me trouble and I think another trip to the ortho guy for some more cortisone is in order.

I just made a conventional bowstring....I still have a homemade string jig, serving bobbin, and plenty of Dacron string material.

I learned everything I know from either the Primitive Bowyer's Bible series or various websites like the Primitive Archer website and forum:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php
 
The jig is simple to build; you just need a few pieces of lumber and some wing-nuts.     Bowstring material is available from places like Three Rivers;   They recommend the traditional dacron for most "primitive" bows as the new stuff simply does not stretch... Quite a lot of shock to mere wood.

Is there a particular reason you would need a particular type of bowstring instead of a thin 3 strand braid string like we use for our slings?  I would think original strings would have been made from something similar to jute, which I have a bunch of

Use linen thread, it must be waxed and twisted.  Jute and hemp may be strong enough, but usually, they are very large and when they are twisted into a bowstring they will be too large to fit the nock of the arrow.  Braids will work but the strands rub against each other everywhere they cross, and they cut each other, it makes the string very short lived.  And, as a rule of thumb, you want the string to be at a minimum, 4 times the strength of the bow.  If the bow pulls 50 pounds, (approx.22kg), then the string needs to break at at least 200 pounds (approx. 92kg) although, a factor of 8 is much safer.

Braids also stretch a lot. If you insist on braiding a string (I have, as an experiment, haven't out it on a bow for some real use yet), when you are finished, anchor one end to something solid and stretch the heck out of it before you attempt to put it on a bow. I actually left one end "loopless" so I could make the nock loop where it was needed when I finish a bow.
 
I haven't tried twisting one. Growing up the best string I found was good old plastic baling twine, used in hay bales. Cheap, durable, and a little thick but it worked ok.

Quote from GIMike on Oct 29^th, 2012, 1:33pm:

It looks like you can do a cord making... stuff out of some nails in a wooden plank :  
Have a look
and
here to see how to use it

Quote from Dan on Jul 8^th, 2012, 2:07pm:

 
Hmm... not sure what to make of that without a gpp and draw length.  
 
That being said, I fully intend on trying this.  It's post-apocalyptic, which ups it's coolness factor by a huge amount in my book.   If anyone has made one of these and can provide us with fps, gpp and draw length I would be very interested.

What kind of arrow?  2117?  1816?  2020?  If you tell us what type, there are charts to tell grains per inch and tell us the length, we will know the weight of the arrow.  And aluminum will usually be the heaviest out there.

My first attempt at a PVC bow was with 1" pipe. Too heavy, and didn't work.
 
My second attempt, I had a sharp angle in one of the fades, and the limb collapsed when I went to string it. I checked out BackyardBowyer's tutorials on YouTube, fixed the collapsed spot, and when I tried for full draw, it collapsed again.
 
I went back, realized i had a twist in my jig, which made one side of the limb thinner than the other. I built a new jig, and use a half-round file to put a shallow notch in the end between the spacers. Haven't tried it out yet. Hopefully my oldest boy and I can try it out today.
 
By the way, I found out you can ask to look through the scrap bins at Lowe's and Home Despot and get wood for free. Nice if you just need pieces for jigs and such.

Well, my first bow was a failure.  It kept looking slightly crooked and wasn't flattening properly.  I think I reheated it too much.  When I tried to grab the ends of the box and compress it, the way the string would, to see how it would look (and to show the fiancee who didn't believe it would look like a bow), one of the limbs collapsed.  Luckily I got a 10' piece and was able to start over again with a new one.  I found a 5' piece of 1 1/2" sch 40 which I flattened ok, but yeah, WAAY too much.  I think it would work better cut down to about 18"-24" and used as a prod for a crossbow.  That's my intention for it anyway.  Found a scrap 4' piece of 4x4 along with the pipe that I may try to fasion into a stock of some sort, and also some 1/2" dowel rod.  It's like somebody knew I was wanting to build a crossbow lol