Red oak board bow build along

[AKmud]

I found this set of plans that are very well done and am in the process of making two. I am building a 48" for my 6 yo daughter that I am hoping to get down to 15-20# for her, and a 72" for me that will probably come in around 40-50#.

After just one day of working on them, I have the backing for the small bow drying and my bow is ready to be backed. I'll try to take some photos before long to see if I am screwing anything up!

I also built a tillering post like what the author has in his plans. This has really struck and interest for me (just what I need is another hobby!), so hopefully I will be able to make a shootable bow before long!

The website is here - Red oak board bow

[AKmud]

Well, I got the first bow in shootable condition tonight. It is a very lightweight draw for my 6 year old. Most of the build was pretty easy, but tillering is definitely an art form! I don't have a pic of the bow on the tillering tree, but this pic shows it pretty well.



I backed it with three layers of fabric/Titebond III glue which seemed to settle out pretty well. During the tillering the limb material got pretty thin and I was worried about getting a hinge that would ruin the bow, but in the end it ended up fairly well tillered I think for such a light bow.

I'm hoping that the second one (72") will be easier to tiller since I will keep the poundage up.

[ak_powder_monkey]

nice! I think you should watch out with that lower limb it looks a bit flat at the tip and at the center. Maybe someone who's broke more bows than me will chime in but I've broken enough bows now that I wouldn't want it to break on your kid... The fabric should keep it together decently though

[chrisWillh]

That's a nice bow for a first try, I hope mine turns out as good. I've had Sam's web page bookmarked for a while I just haven't had the time to start a bow yet. I've got another project that I'm working on. There's some other how-to's and info on his page too. You can find it here.

http://www.geocities.com/salampsio/index.html

[AKmud]

More pics/more bows

Here is a pic of the first bow finished. It ended up being really light draw (about 5#s) which is too light for my 6yo (my 2yo boy is enjoying it though!). I just built a string from some flat waxed twine I had. The bow is 48" overall.



This one is a 15# bow that I put together for my nephew who just turned 9. It is done and ready for a string. I inlaid a piece of walnut in the handle for some pizazz. This bow is 60" overall.

[AKmud]

This bow will be for me. It is a full 72" and I'm hoping to end up around 40#. Right now I have 23# at 12" so it shouldn't be a problem maintaining the weight.

I am leveling the handle and measuring from the ceiling to the tips for consistency and right now the left limb is only 3/16" less bow than the right limb.

What do you guys think about the tillering so far?

[Rick P]

Well Looks like my biuld along would be a bit redundant. Looking good Rob!

[AKmud]

Well.....I finished the tillering tonight and only got 30# @ 30" (my draw length). I still need to work on how to hit my target weight.....:rolleyes: It won't be a big game hunter, but should be a good one for stumps and small game. Tomorrow night I will rasp out the handle and shelf then take some pics.

[chrisWillh]

Those are some nice looking bows. Your tillering tree is a mite prettier then mine too.

[AKmud]

Ok....my 12yo daughter took over the 72" bow and gave up on her compound (proud dad moment here...). She even shot the youth league at the Archers Den last Saturday with it.

I started another 72" for my bro in law (It was his son I gave the 60" to.) and I promptly got a little carried away with my new bandsaw while I was roughing it out. It ended up being 60" also and about 35# which proved to be a bad combination.... I just broke it! Of course it had to break AFTER it was finished....:mad: So, back to the drawing board for his bow. I'm tillering a 72" hickory bow now, hopefully it will turn out around 40#. I'm using walnut and purple heart in the riser for some color.

Pics to come...

[AkCPO]

Looking forward to seeing it. That hickory, walnut and purpleheart mix should look really sharp.

[AKmud]

Ok, hickory is now my favorite wood! Today I finished tillering the 72" hickory bow (no backing!) and it looks great! Final specs are ~45# @ 28" which is the heaviest bow I have built so far. It is a great shooter, doesn't seem to stack very bad and the hand shock is quite tolerable. Scott over at Bear Mtn. Archery in Wasilla made up 1/2 dozen 1916 Eastons which seem to be a good combination. Some pics -





Kinda fuzzy, but the purple heart looks pretty good. There is no finish on the bow at this point, it is just medium sanded.



Here is it at full 28" draw on the tillering tree. The right limb has a bit of positive tiller so I made it the top. I though about trying to even the tiller a bit more, but I don't want to lose any more poundage -

[hntr]

Hickory

Where did you get the hickory? Local or ordered it?

[AKmud]

Reynolds Hardwoods on the Palmer Fishhook road has a lot of it. I also got the purple heart and walnut there.

Popperts mill (Parks hwy by Pittman) had some pieces of Jacoba (sp?) which is supposed to be pretty good to work with as well.

[AKmud]

Well, I finished up a "brother bow" to the first hickory one I made. Both of these bows were out of the same piece of 1x4 so they have a lot of the same color.

I thought they turned out to be a pretty good looking set. The first was 72" and drew 45# @ 28". The second ended up at 70" and draws 50# @ 28".