Who Builds bows

[petew]

Looks like I got the bug bad. I just finished #10 a 48" Maple pirimid longbow for my Grand Daughter. It pulls 35# at 24" and have 4 more roughed out, ready to tiller and shape. I kid bow and 3 for me. One is trying to be a 72" Holmegard longbow the others are a 66"Flatbow and a 62"pirimad longbow.
The kids bows are the easiest, but I am getting to like Osage staves a lot. To bad we can't get Osage here. I can't even find Hickory, but I did score some nice maple boards.
I don't know what direction this is taking me but I do like the journey.

So far my favorite 2 are an Osage flatbow from a split stave, and a snakey Osage from a split stave. A Bamboo backed osage is on the horizon if I can get the oasge and bamboo poles or slats.

Pete

[Edmond Y]

I am now building a 60" board bow, use 1.2" oak board from Home depot. Looks like it is not as diffcuilt as I think. I aim at 25-30 lb at 28" draw. It may take one or two more weeks to finish.

Edmond

[Canuck Archer]

Hello. I build bows. I'm getting pretty good at it, but if you've ever tried it, you will know it's not as easy as it looks. I know where you can get hickory lumber if you live in Ontario. It's south of Ottawa near Manotick, called the Wood Source. I know a fellow in PA who has been making bows for over 20 yrs and he has wood to sell. His name is Denny Mears and he runs Jerbowden bows. Am I allowed to say Rudderbows on here? Jim supplies staves, roughed out bows in a variety of types, ie indian, longbows, etc. And you can get them almost finished, all you have to do is sand a bit and put on the finish. 3 Rivers Archery is a name to remember for the traditional archery nut. And they sell bow building materials. You might try Marc St. Louis of Mattawa for staves. He told me that he has ironwood staves for sale, and ironwood is as good or better than hickory in my opinion. I"ve used both. Pine Hollow in the U.S. also supplies a lot of things for the bow builder. The southern side of the Canadian border has many more bow makers than Canada, and there fore more suppliers of materials. I hope this is helpful. I hope a lot of my fellow Canadians try to build bows.

[ChrisMBows]

Hi, I also make bows. All kinds, but I have the most experience with Holmegaard style flatbows (selfbows) and "D" section longbows. I see all this talk of hickory which is a great type of wood, no doubt, but do not forget that ash, elm and maple are some fine alternatives. In many regions these types of wood are also much cheaper than hickory. Ash, elm and maple can be used to make both a selfbow or as backing for a laminate bow.
The bows I make and experiment with at the time are mostly "D" section laminate longbows made with an oak belly and an ash back. This is a great combination, very cheap and widely available. I can certainly recommend that you try making one.
Chris

[chep]

I've made a few bows. Here are a couple of them. It's great to do if you have the time.

Osage and Vine maple are two of my favorite woods. I have also taken a liking to hickory.

Vine Maple
http://www.traditionalarcher.org/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=8

http://www.traditionalarcher.org/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=7

Yew handle, osage and hickory backing
http://www.traditionalarcher.org/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=9

http://www.traditionalarcher.org/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=10

[ChrisMBows]

Nice bows chep.
Here is a replica Holmegaard bow I made not long ago.

[DDDave]

As you know, Pete, I am in the process of drying a saskatoon stave. So far it is looking pretty good. I think the fact that it grew very slowly is going to be an asset. Nice thing about it is I did not have to go far to cut it. It came from my yard.

DDDave