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Made a red oak long bow

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    Made a red oak long bow

    Will state that I am not really a bow hunter or an archer, yet maybe down the road. But always have been somewhat interested in archery. Decided to make a red oak long bow. Good news it has not broken yet. Have shot 75 - 100 arrows. Most using some polyester cordage I had. This past weekend my roll of b50 arrived. Made a single loop Flemish twist line both bow and string based of poor folks bow build along on his web site. Feels better with a better string.

    My tillering process was not great and bottom limb has maybe a bit of a hinge. It seems to bend more. It was a fun process and have enjoyed shooting a bit in the back yard. 10 paces and hitting a 2x2 styrofoam. Not sure of draw weight need to oick up a fish scale and measure it tried barthroom scale but darn electronic scale has some lower limit and not registering.

    Have just been using some cheap wooden youth arrows from academy 1.99 each. Could probably benefit from something a little better. I might try making some too.

    Here are a couple of pictures used some stain I had and a few coats of tru oil. The string in pictures is the cheap string stuff I had on it at first. Handle is not great but feels decent in my hand did not want to remove any more wood than I had to at least not for my first attempt.

    So much to learn still and doing it all by feel. And watching online videos. Looking forward to getting more consistent shat and backing up more steps but it is a learning process.
    Attached Files

    #2
    That's cool!! Looks better than anything I could build for sure.

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      #3
      Yes sir, Impressive.

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        #4
        Looks good to me! Esp for a first try. Have fun with it!

        Bisch

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          #5
          That looks great. yeah, you don't have your limbs working evenly, but hey, does it really matter for your first bow?

          I can say I have built one. Still have it on the bow rack and my son tells me it is still his favorite to shoot. Sam Harper did a really good deed putting that site of his up.

          I like your handle... mine didn't turn out so great. I did make mine ambidextrous so I have shelfs on both sides. At the low poundage, I don't think there was much stress on the handle so I could get away with it. I did also back mine with linen eventually. Not real pretty, but it worked.

          It was a fun build. From there I tried building an osage bow... but got in way over my head too quickly when I hit a snag in the process (needed to heat bend.) I will come back around full circle one day and build one... unless I die first. Selfbows are awesome and I'd really like to kill a critter with a bow I built myself.

          Also, welcome to the trad forum!

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            #6
            Nice job! And welcome to the trad forum; lot of helpful and knowledgeable folks around here.

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              #7
              I followed Sam and built one a couple of years ago. I ended up thinning the limbs out too much and they cracked. Mine looks good, but it isn't a shooter.

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                #8
                Thanks, did not back this one. Did not like the look of the fiberglass sheet rock tape. < $10 to build a bow and another 11 for a 1/4lb roll of b50

                If it breaks I build another. That is half the fun. I got a little anxious toward the end of the build and rushed it so bends are not perfect.

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                  #9
                  Thats awesome! Good job, especially for your first.

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                    #10
                    Nice!

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                      #11
                      Warning...building bows becomes addictive...dont say you werent warned.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Cheapsk8 View Post
                        Thanks, did not back this one. Did not like the look of the fiberglass sheet rock tape. < $10 to build a bow and another 11 for a 1/4lb roll of b50

                        If it breaks I build another. That is half the fun. I got a little anxious toward the end of the build and rushed it so bends are not perfect.
                        I backed mine with hickory. I saw some guys backing them with bamboo flooring from home depot.

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                          #13
                          Nice!

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                            #14
                            Well done for your first. This is a good example of deminishing mass. It was 2-3 years before l got to see one like this. Arvin
                            Attached Files

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                              #15
                              Another try
                              Attached Files

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