Bow Building Question

Joe(thebow)M · Bow Building Question

I've been reading "The Traditional Bowyers Bible - Vol. 1" and thought I'd take the plunge at trying to make a wood bow.

What I want to do is back Red Oak using Ash... The Red Oak is 3/4 inches thick and I thought I'd put a 1/4 inch Ash backing on it,,, get the tiller figured out,,, then build the bow (somewhere's between a R/D long bow and flat bow, the widest part of the limbs being 1 1/2 inches wide, the length of the bow at 72 to 76 inches.) I plan on using Tite Bond III for the glue backing as I understand it can be used for this purpose.

My question is; does any of this sound reasonable?

Remember, this is my first time in the kitchen building a bow so I expect trial and error to occure. I thought I might warm up on these two woods before moving onto Hickory since I have them readily available and the grain appears to running in the correct direction...

I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this, thanks.

kathyg

going to ask a dumb question, but isn't that combining two hardwoods? just curious, don't know a thing about woods or carpentry.

Joe(thebow)M

No, it's not a dumb question Kathyg,,, and yes it would be joining two hardwoods.

One reason for my thinking is that I would like to get the wood up to 1 inch in thickness, then go from there... However, (and I honestly don't know) I'm not sure two hardwoods can be used for this purpose, though I thought the Ash would be a nice touch as I understand it is considered a good wood to use for strength, thought it might help the Red Oak along in durability?

kathyg

well, don't take me for an expert, and i imagine a lot of people are sitting back and giggling at my audacity here. from what steve's given me to read about this, you can get away with your concept as long as the ash is much thinner at the end of the process than the red oak, which will allow it to stretch as a backing, as i assume you're going to do from your post. self-bows use very hard woods and do the same thing. with the woods you've mentioned, that's essentially what you'd be building, a layered self-bow. myself, i'd pick a wood like juniper for the backing, a little easier to work and stretches better even though dense. but if red oak and ash are what's available, then go for it, should work well enough.

Joe(thebow)M

I kind of figure I'm not out anything but the glue and time to do this since I already have the woods in my shop from some new kitchen buildup's and remodeling carpentry jobs I've done in the past, so what the heck, I'll give something new a try in the bow line.

My shop is actually setup for making traditional muzzleloading firearms such as flint and percussion lock rifles. It's a sideline income to my day job that I've been involved with for a little over 30 years. Nothing fancy, just good ol' traditional muzzleloaders that shoot straight and put meat in the freezer, as well as winning a few medals for some folks along the way.

However, I will say that for the last several years my interest has been with the longbow. I just got burned out with the compounds and needed a change to a more simplistic traditional style approach to archery. So I guess it stands to reason that I'd eventually get around to experimenting and have a desire to create something in the shop related to this fine sport/hobby.

I still enjoy learning new things and experimenting with new ideas.

kathyg

oh dear, don't get me started on muzzle-loading stuff. i miss that old tc hawken flintlock steve used to shoot in california. the thing scared the heck out of me, but watching the reaction at the range was a comedy. the snobs would move six stalls down to get away from it, and kids would gather around and cheer when he fired it, great fun. he had a civil war musket and a colt revolver as well, but all that went when we had to move. i loved the pistol, oh well sigh.

Joe(thebow)M

Yes, those old muzzleloaders can be addictive. Much like archery has become for me. Actually one big advantage of archery that I find is that it's a whole lot less expesive to have an outing which is relaxing and just as enjoyable as playing with the ol' smokepoles.

I glued that slab of Ash to the Red Oak last night, it looks pretty good I think. I still need to waite until 8:30pm tonight before I can do anything to this wood as they say the Tite Bond III should cure for 24 hours. I probably won't get back to this project now until this weekend, but that's o'kay, I have some archery shooting to do today since I'm off from work. Just waiting for it to warm up a bit more outside. They claim it'll reach 70+ degrees today, so that mean around 65 degrees where I live. I'll take that in late October...

(Without wind I hope)

CaptainBeaky

I had a go at clays with a muzzle loader a few years back - repro double barrel, modelled on an ealy 19th century sporting gun.

FUN!!!

Shooting the second clay of a pair was something of a problem when the wind dropped, but the noise was wonderful

kathyg

yes, wonderful fun things, and a drain on the pocket book. steve sold the civil war outfit (guns, uniforms and accessories) for $5K, hate to think what he spent on it all.

sounds like you're well on the way, joe. looking forward to hearing more, fascinating process.