I have been working on a board bow since around Thanksgiving. I have been doing it in my spare time and not trying to rush. I also took about a month break while waiting for my backing in the mail. If I guessed, I would say I have 20-25 hours into it. That includes my 2 hour redo when I messed up a tip. That doesn't include glue drying time.
My bow is a red oak board bow. I bought the red oak at Lowes. I backed it with hickory. The tips are left over red oak and the handle is a stack up of (from the back to belly) hickory, red oak, popler, red oak, and cedar. The cedar is almost gone due to the handle shaping but it was visible in the earlier pictures.
I have made many mistakes and hopefully learned a little from them. The main thing I learned is not to hurry. Every time I tried to hurry and take a shortcut or use a power tool, I ended up messing something up.
I started off following the poorfolk website then after meeting with Wingnut of Dryad Bows I decided to finish it his way.
I am shooting for a 62" bow with 40-45" at 28". I am close. I am at 45# at 26" currently.
Here is an early picture of the rough cut shape while I was gluing on the handle. Sorry for all the junk in the background of the pictures.
A little handle work.
Gluing the Backing on.
Gluing the tips on.
The tips before the groove was cut and a little reshaping.
The tip. Look at all the sawdust on the floor.
The handle complete with a pile of wood shavings.
Now as for mistakes I made:
Off of the top of my head,
* Used a band saw to shave the taper in the sides of the bow. This caused me to cut 4 inches off of each end when I shaved too deep.
* Shortened the length of the handle because I shortened the bow. My hand just barely fits. Any smaller and I would have to give this bow away.
* Used a horse shoe file to file the wood faster not realizing that the sides of the file also have teeth. Before I knew it, I had dug 1/4" into the side of the handle. It is scrapers for me from now on.
*Not leaving enough plateau before the string location on the tips. I had them drawn out perfectly, but I didnt' think about connecting the grooves across the back. This took away all the plateau.
I am sure there are more, but these stand out to me.
My bow is a red oak board bow. I bought the red oak at Lowes. I backed it with hickory. The tips are left over red oak and the handle is a stack up of (from the back to belly) hickory, red oak, popler, red oak, and cedar. The cedar is almost gone due to the handle shaping but it was visible in the earlier pictures.
I have made many mistakes and hopefully learned a little from them. The main thing I learned is not to hurry. Every time I tried to hurry and take a shortcut or use a power tool, I ended up messing something up.
I started off following the poorfolk website then after meeting with Wingnut of Dryad Bows I decided to finish it his way.
I am shooting for a 62" bow with 40-45" at 28". I am close. I am at 45# at 26" currently.
Here is an early picture of the rough cut shape while I was gluing on the handle. Sorry for all the junk in the background of the pictures.
A little handle work.
Gluing the Backing on.
Gluing the tips on.
The tips before the groove was cut and a little reshaping.
The tip. Look at all the sawdust on the floor.
The handle complete with a pile of wood shavings.
Now as for mistakes I made:
Off of the top of my head,
* Used a band saw to shave the taper in the sides of the bow. This caused me to cut 4 inches off of each end when I shaved too deep.
* Shortened the length of the handle because I shortened the bow. My hand just barely fits. Any smaller and I would have to give this bow away.
* Used a horse shoe file to file the wood faster not realizing that the sides of the file also have teeth. Before I knew it, I had dug 1/4" into the side of the handle. It is scrapers for me from now on.
*Not leaving enough plateau before the string location on the tips. I had them drawn out perfectly, but I didnt' think about connecting the grooves across the back. This took away all the plateau.
I am sure there are more, but these stand out to me.
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